Notes from Our Farmer

Every Thursday morning during the summer, I get an e-mail note from Blue, our farmer who grows the vegetables for the CSA share we get that day. His notes have a straight to the point section:”In today’s box” so we can think a bit ahead of time for the night’s dinner.

But they also have his heartfelt thoughts on his week as a farmer. Recently, there was the epic explanation of how the racoons got to the chickens (40 or so layers gone) and why we would have a few duck eggs instead that week. There were the stories of the rain, which seems to be too much or too little. I read the letters to my children, so they understand a bit more where food really comes from. Some of the notes, honestly, are so full of fraught and despair I expect it to say at the end there will be no box that week. But, then, there is a cheery sentence about the spectacular colors of the potatoes, the perfect shape of the carrots and the resiliancy of the bok choy.

As every gardener knows, there are both good and bad surprises every time we look at our patch. We are enjoying Blue’s literary take on our food, and his dedication to the way we feed our families.