Greetings from Against the Grain and welcome to the sixth week of the CSA! Just like past weeks, 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 28th. Just as a reminder, if you'd like to change pick up locations for the share that is currently open for customization, please email Harvie support to request that change. Always feel free to double check with Holly to make sure the change was made. It is so important to the farm that CSA members have flexibility in their pick up location.
For the next several weeks, we'll be profiling farm apprentices in order of their arrival on the farm in 2020. It is our intention to introduce to you members of the ATG crew who work so hard to plant, produce and harvest the food that ends up in your box each week. M Mueller, the farm's mentor and Biodynamic gardener, will be interviewing and writing the profiles, so the following is in his words:
For Melinda Maier, our longest serving volunteer, plants really rock her world. Whether in the greenhouse, the vegetable beds, or across the broad landscape, she is alive to them. Known affectionately as the "Steward of the Greenhouse," she nurses our plants in their journey from seeding, through germination, hardening-off, and to the final trek to the fields where they are transplanted into production.
Hailing from the outskirts of Budapest, Hungary, where the city meets the fields, Melinda graduated with a degree in horticulture from Szent Istvan University, and from there set out to gain "real world" experience as a WWOOFer (willing worker on organic farms) in the EU. A lover of Country and Western Music (think Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins and Kenny Rogers), Melinda turned her gaze toward the southern Appalachians for more WWOOFing opportunities and found us here, where she seems to be prospering.
Once descending Tater Hill where the crew had been wildcrafting ramps, Melinda looked out at our mountain vistas and felt it strike a chord in her. "The flora here often looks so alien to me," the horticulturalist says, but the people of the region she appreciates for being laid back, friendly and trusting. She is happy to have tasted in Boone her "first decent hamburger," and loves exploring other US foods which she finds intriguing for the high use of sweeteners even in savory dishes. In fact, we all got a good laugh when she contrasted a campfire at the sugar shack (a gathering place for apprentices when they're not working on the farm) with a typical Hungarian campfire. "Here you roast marshmallows and make s'mores," she says, "while at home we roast fatback, onions and bratwurst on sticks."
What Melinda likes most about life on the farm is the ability to do hard work, the view from atop Goat Hill, and a good night's rest. That and conversations with the crew as we all learn more about one another. As for the future, she hopes for a life, if not one of farming right at first, at least one spent "digging into the soil" alongside her beloved plants.
Until next week, much love and happy eating!
Holly, Andy and the ATG Crew
