Saturday, June 7, 2008

3: CSA


I felt an interloper, allowed a quick glance at the chickens, a quick whiff of pony barn, the swish of tails and wary glances from scattering creatures as my rusty Toyota rumbled up the dirt-and-stone drive. Our CSA share began last week, and I'm so grateful we discovered this little trick of skipping the grocery stores and the long haul trucks: simply dirty your feet a bit and discover the wonders of a small farm.

I have to admit, I was smitten. Absolutely, utterly. If you had told me ten, twenty years ago that I would secretly wish, wish, wish we could live on a small farm with chickens and an herb garden sprawling just off our front porch, I would have laughed. Heartily. Ridiculous: I am a city girl. (Or rather, I was a girl who loved convenience.) This place we live in now, it's the smallest town I've ever lived in, and I threw tantrums about it. Sure, there is that charm that really threads into my heart, but I wanted dozens of great coffeeshops, not just two sandwiched together; I wanted a late night bookstore and a humming co-op.

But we have: the Mississippi River just blocks down the street, a vineyard welcoming picnics and golden retrievers, an independent bookstore, a charming theatre, a large arts organization.

This will do.


As you can see, this week's CSA theme is green, which happens to be a color with which I can never tire. Paint my world green, blue, shades of brown. I will be content.

4 comments:

Robin said...

This is so nice!
I'm jealous, I've gotten tired of the city lately.
I'd love to be so close to the Mississippi River!

shari said...

we are enjoying our rural existence but i just hate the amount of driving we have to do. i miss our csa in nc. the ones here were full so it looks like we will be visiting all of the different farmer's markets instead. still feeling like a time traveler. the nc markets have so much and yesterday we only came home with spring onions and tiny tiny radishes.

Jannie Funster said...

Congrats on your new site and new country digs.

I often resented my years growing up on a farm 15 miles from town but I'd give a lot to be back there now.

A Jannie

Julia said...

i'm with shari that my biggest complaint about rural life was the driving. although i'm sure if i had stuck it out i would have found an alternative (read: bike trailer and bigger muscles). i'm liking the small city thing for now, and probably forever. (yes, to a manhattan girl, minneapolis is a small city!).

we thought about doing the csa thing this year, but opted for a more productive garden plot (squishing more in there that i thought possible this time last year) and more frequent visits to the farmers market. we'll see how it goes. can't wait to follow your csa journey!