Small Family Farm CSA

I remember when I was a child and *they* told me that what goes up, must come back down again.  And even as the years have been passing me by, in my rebellious nature I am still trying to come up with something that goes up and does not come back down again.  Isn’t there an exception to every rule?  So long as I am still searching, even in my youth I do understand, and have even accepted, that all good things must come to an end.

A former Texan, neighbor-friend of ours who loves to garden told me that she just can’t bear to see the garden die and all of that lovely basil shrivel up, just like that, after one light frost.  There’s something very sad about the “going back down” of the garden.  I suppose it happens just to remind us that we’re not in control and something much greater than our personal love and desire for fresh food is holding the reigns.  We all need our time to rest, and oh Lordie, do I need mine!  My batteries need a little re-chargin’ and my body needs to remember how to be horizontal and with feet elevated.

Read more: Week 20, 2008

Instead of listening to me blab this week, I want you to read this.  Mark Spoke in Viroqua a couple weeks ago.  This article was published in the Kickapoo Free Press a three weeks ago:  http://www.kickapoofreepress.com/cms/node/170

The pinnacle of good taste by Mark Kastel

No community in this country has more at stake, in terms of the integrity of the organic food industry and viability of the local food movement, than the greater Kickapoo Valley. That claim is hard to verify, but Vernon County is thought to have more certified organic farmers than any other county in the entire United States. With a number of organic business enterprises also located here, including the $500 million Organic Valley cooperative, we can all be proud to say that we live in a truly agrarian community.

As elsewhere, the local food movement has exploded here. Recent growth in direct marketing by farmers, including farm stands, farmers’ markets, and community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs, has eclipsed organics’ 20 percent per year increases. In the 10-year period ending in 2006, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the number of farmers’ markets around the country doubled to about 4,400, although this estimate may be low.

Read more: Week 19, 2008