Meet the farmer potluck and tour
Monday Oct 27, 2008
Last night we went to a "meet the farmer" and potluck event at the community supported agriculture (CSA) farm we joined for the fall harvest season. The farm is Hands of the Earth, not too far from the Austin airport. Our boys were impressed by the planes going by overhead. Having grown up near the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, I can tell them it's not always so much fun.
The farm is pretty small, probably around 10 acres, and I think they said about 4 were cultivated. We had a tour from a long time member and after dinner another tour from Marisol, the farmer. She was obviously really into it, and most excited by the carrots that were growing in about 5 rows at one end of the farm. Nice to see the person growing your food getting really into it.
The potluck was interesting and fun, as they usually are. My wife Karen brought some chili she made that day using beef from our grass-fed beef (cattle?) CSA. She got some compliments, and I agreed, it was quite good. There were lots of other good dishes, a great blueberry pie, wine, beer, etc.
Karen thought we were a bit out of place with this crowd, which mostly seemed younger and more urban. Some had kids, but many couples did not, or didn't bring any kids. But really, the thing that brought us there was a love of good vegetables, right?
There were also lots of dogs at this event, and Nick and Sam loved it! They particularly liked this male gigantic lab cross. He was the biggest lab I'd ever seen, more the size of a heavy Great Dane. Funny thing, his mother was also there, and she was a lab-sized black lab or lab cross. There were lots of other dogs, and they were all pretty well behaved, which was nice. There was a little terrier that was zipping around the fields having a great time!
This is our second time with a CSA. We joined a CSA in the spring, and while it started out okay, that farm didn't communicate very well. After the season was over, we signed up for another half share, and didn't get any of it, despite repeated attempts at communicating with that farm. We're hoping this goes better, and I have a pretty good feeling about it after this potluck.
We start getting our vegetables on Wednesday at the Triangle farmer's market in Austin. Since Sun is at least part of the way there, I'll be picking up the veggies. I'm looking forward to it.
