To reserve your spot for next year reply to our email with the text "I'm in"
Spots are limited each spring and we run a waitlist... we don't like to promise more than we can deliver. Keeping the membership at a certain size relative to the entire farm operation allows us to always find perfect items for each member each week. Returning members are such a valuable resource; we like to get you guys signed up early. Please let us know if you're likely to want in next season. Reply to our email with a simple "I'm in" and we will be in touch next spring to seal the deal. We expect/hope to do a bit of a storage order next week so I will be in touch one last time. This week John has penned up his farewell letter and bit of discussion about what is Community Supported Agriculture.
What's in Veggie Box #17: The Potato Leek box! White Cauliflower: We're rounding out all the caulli colors and finishing on a classic note Potato: German Butters Leek: Obviously Onions: We're pushing through the last of the onions so we mixed these up. Some got red.. some got yellows Squash: Some got a Buttercup others got the Tetsukebota (Butternut-Kabocha cross). I would recommend letting these cure for a couple weeks on your counter. Especially the Tetsu. Green Kale: If you're feeling overloaded by these giant bunches.. just chop it up and saute it with garlic and butter. You gain 12 minutes of old age every bunch you finish(32).. and have less kale compost. Flowers to dry: If you can let these dry out.. they will be with you for a long time. I believe you already have yellows. Shallots: The fanciest and strongest of the onions.
John slogging through the cold and wet for this week's leek offering. If there is anyone who likes this weather... it's a leek!
Notes and a farewell from John: Veggie Man and Kale Boy
Fall in the mountains is a unique display of gratitude for the year that has been. The mountain peaks jump out of the sky, the fresh snow contrasting the dark rocks, and on the hillsides below, aspens of vibrant yellow dot the slopes of deep green. As I drive through neighborhoods throughout the Sea to Sky, leaves have fallen to the curb, and I ride waves of colour. Each leaf and snow flake seems to be thanking the summer for all it has provided, and the winter for the rebirth it will soon allow. It has been a treat all season, and especially now in the fall, to drive the Sea to Sky corridor twice a week, as I have delivering the CSA boxes. It has been a pleasure to meet some of you as you get your veggies, and to see the farm process come full circle, from planting to cultivating to harvesting to eating, and to see the joy our food brings to people. Delivering the Thanksgiving harvest box last week, I found myself reflecting on what this season has brought me, and the gratitude I have for the land, the farm and the community. “Its like Christmas morning!” many say jubilantly when I pull in their driveway. Not only the Santa Claus of produce, I have been called the veggie man, kale boy; most commonly I am simply the delivery driver. Mostly, people don’t call me anything, they just say thank you, and how much they have been enjoying the boxes. I yell back, “no problem!” as I hop back in the van and keep moving.
Thanksgiving box 2020 (Week #16)
Packing the boxes each week, it is no surprise to meet happy customers. Before coming to the farm, I was not someone who went to farmers markets, and I had never heard of a CSA box. But now, if I am not working on the farm, I know the only way I will buy veggies is from small, local farms. It may be a conflict of interest for me to say this, but seeing the quality and quantity contained in each box, I don’t know why people still shop at the grocery store. It is likely because many people don’t know CSA boxes exist. Even well into the season, I didn’t know what this stood for. Now I know it is much more than just an acronym.
Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, is the program you are a part of by purchasing our harvest boxes. As a member, you make an investment not only in your vegetables for the season, fresh every week, delivered to your door, but you also make an investment in our farm, and in food for the rest of the community. The support we receive from the community early in the season allows us to operate the farm until we are able to bring produce to market. To a farm, whose highest inputs are upfront, this investment is invaluable. We truly could not do it without you. And the support from the community is not only financial. When we were planting beds earlier in the season, Kerry would often say, “this is for CSA.” Every time we tended to that bed - covering, weeding, fertilizing, cultivating - the community was in the back of our minds. This was the food we were preparing for those who trusted us to feed them every week. We treated it like it was food we were growing for our family, because what more is community than a big family?
As with family, acts of love are repaid in kind. Often, I will replace an empty box with a full one and find it to be not so empty at all. Often there is a beer or two waiting for me. Sometimes, in a strange turn of fate, I find food made from the vegetables I delivered last week for me to take back to the crew for lunch. Of course, we don’t do it for the rewards, but as we share a donated meal or a round of beers, it reminds us that it is all worthwhile. At the end of the day, we do it out of love, for the land, for the food and for the community. And like the seasons, this love forms a healthy cycle, in which no stage would be complete without the others. Each piece is integral to the entire process, and we are happy to play our part. As I drop off the last boxes, grateful for the rest winter is about to provide, I am also grateful for the opportunity we have been provided this season, thanks to the community. In a strange year, it has been one of the best summers I have had. It has truly been an honour to be part of the Laughing Crow team, and a part of your weekly routine. From all of us at the farm, thank you.more.
Budgie here again! Don't forget to let us know if "You're In" for next season with a quick email reply..... and if you make it out to the Grand Majestic Pumpkin Patch of Pemberton or The Field of Screams, please introduce yourself so we can say hello and thank you for taking part in our farm project and supporting our growth in such an odd year. The CSA membership is the most valuable part of this farm project; it represents the spine and stability of this business and is our favorite and most valuable way to sell vegetables. It is always our number one priority. Thanks again!
Also!! Our friend Lisa is doing a fundraiser event at the farm and is haunting the sunflower maze. Field of Screams is a by donation format but you need to reserve your time slot online before coming. Ticket purchase link can be found at our website.. www.laughingcroworganics.com All proceeds are donated to PAWS and welfare organization in Pemberton.
