Hi everyone!  Our first CSA delivery was yesterday, and one of our members E-mailed me about her CSA box - I thought I would share our conversation with you to give you a better idea of questions and concerns people have, and our response to those concerns:

Hi Lillian,

Thanks so much for the feedback - it's much appreciated!  Arugula is difficult to grow in hot weather, and flea beatles LOVE arugula, thus the holes.  The only way organic farmers can avoid that is to use row cover to keep them out, however, when row cover is used, you run the risk of having the arugula "bolt" (go to seed) because it gets too much heat, so we figure the holes, while they don't look great, doesn't affect the taste!

I understand the spinach quantity concern - this delivery of spinach was more to add to a salad or make a pesto or side dish, not the quantity you would need for cooked spinach.

Thanks again for giving us your input - it only helps make the CSA better each week!

 Deb

 -----Original Message-----

From: Lillian Li

Hi,

My lettuce and strawberries looked great yesterday.  I'm not expecting them to hold up like supermarket produce.   The arugula had some yellowed leaves and some with a lot of holes, but not a big deal since I probably won' t use it all.  My only "complaint" might be that the portion of the spinach seemed kind of small.  My kids won't eat it probably so it is just right for my family, but I can see that it might not be enough for some.

I appreciate all the communication around this first week.  The newsletter was very helpful.  I told myself yesterday I should have signed up years ago.  I am looking forward to my next box and being part of this csa in upcoming years.  I've also been telling friends about it.

Sincerely,  Lillian Hsu

-----Original Message-----

From: Simply Wisconsin  LLC <simplywisconsin@yahoo.com>

Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:17:30

Subject: CSA - fun and delicious . . . and now for the education part!

Hi everyone,

With very few exceptions, it sounds like our first CSA delivery went very well - thanks to the combined efforts of our farmers, our staff, our site hosts, and you (our members)!  My thanks for everyone for making a concerted effort to help make the first week successful.   We have had quite a few compliments on the produce, and a few complaints.  Since an important part of the CSA is educating our members, I thought I would share a few items with you all . . .

First, while we always anticipate that produce will hold exceptionally well for the period listed in the newsletter, we have had rain every day for the past 7 days (and almost literally no sunshine (until this morning) for the last 6 days!  Because of the extra moisture, the holding quality of the lettuce and strawberries won't be what we hoped, and those items should be used first (for those of you who didn't eat all of your berries when you received them that is!). 

Second, my apologies to those of you who received sub-par strawberries or lettuce.  Our farmers do an exceptional job, and really know their stuff, and although everything may have looked terrific when it was picked and shipped to us, and subsequently when it was packed into CSA boxes, you may have received a product that was not the quality we intended.  Any time you have excessive rain, it leads to the possibility of more dirt or sand on the produce than expected, and overwashing on the farmer's end to give you a more appealing produce visually also makes the produce less viable on your end. 

Third, we are hoping that everyone can receive strawberries in next week's box, as the sun is shining here - an almost unfamiliar site, considering . . .

Last but not least, thanks to all of you who received and understood the E-mail request for my need for family time last night as we watched my daughter Rachel's varsity basketball summer league in three exciting games last night!  They won 2 games to 1!

As always, thanks for your support of local family farms - they're a fading breed, and it helps to know that you all want to keep them in the forefront of midwestern agriculture!

Deb