Welcome to the third week of the 2020 CSA! Just like last week, the customization period begins once this notification lands in your inbox (which should be around noon on Friday) and will end at 11:59pm on Sunday, June 7th. We realize that this cut-off time is not ideal for all members, but is necessitated by the needs of the farm. This season, the farm has about 90 CSA members! The decision was made to increase the size of the CSA this season in response to the Covid situation and the unknown future of some of the farm's other markets. With that number of members, it works best if the farm can start picking for the CSA shares on Monday morning each week. We continue to pick on Tuesday mornings and pack the boxes on Tuesday afternoons. We appreciate everyone's understanding as we balance the desire of the membership to have a larger customization window with the constraints of the farm's harvest and pack schedule.
It's probably not hard to believe that farm life can be all-consuming. As farmers and crew, we often joke that we live and work in a bubble. Long, focused work days don't necessarily leave a lot of time for off-the-farm socializing and social media consumption. Much of the time, day-to-day life on the farm is not deeply impacted by many of the cultural and political news events. We plant, harvest, weed, trellis, eat and sleep. We go to the farmer's market, deliver to restaurants and connect to members of the community through food.
But recently, names in the news including Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, James Scurlock, David McAtee, and Tony McDade are capturing the attention of the farmers in a way that little else has in recent memory. We wish to be clear and resolute when we say that Black Lives Matter. Period. This time in our human experience offers great opportunity for understanding, growth, tolerance and love. It is our current perspective that it is up to white folks (including the farmers at ATG) to increase their awareness of their privilege and work to affect positive change.
In this time, ATG farmers find themselves asking questions like: What does it mean to be an ally to people of color? How can the farm do more to foster racial equity and anti-racism on the farm, while also supporting community-wide efforts? What specific conversations does the farm need to be having among farmers and with the crew? How can the farm do more to increase food access in local communities of color?
As a farm, which was founded by two white farmers, we are dedicated to increasing our awareness and understanding of the ways in which our privilege has impacted the growth and development of the farm itself. Our wish is to continue to develop the farm as a place of equality, love and respect.
The farm always grows and thrives anytime engaged people come to the farm, regardless of their heritage, skin color, intellectual background, and culinary tradition. As farmers, we are firm believers that diversity is essential to the resiliency of both the farm and our human culture, at large. We have seen the farms knowledge and experience grow immensely from the contributions of many and we are grateful for all the folks that come to share in the experience of living and working together for a common good.
As a farm, we stand humble and with open hearts to learn and grow and continue to work to contribute in positive ways to our community. We acknowledge that we will most likely stumble along this path, but we are dedicated to moving forward in solidarity with people of color across the country and the globe.
Much love and happy eating,
Holly, Andy and Ben
