Yay for my farm (that I shared with 101 other people)

This will be a very housewifely blog. Feel free to tune out if you are not a merry homemaker like me.

A decade or so ago, my younger sister was irritated with me going on and on about some new exciting passion I discovered. I think I was harassing her in a manner such as "What is wrong with you? Why don't you want to try (whatever it was I was excited about). She said "Whenever you like something, you think everyone in the world needs to like it and if they don't, then they're stupid." A truer statement has never been made about me (and it's probably why I majored in marketing)

Anyway, the new thing I'm super excited about and I think everyone else should be equally excited about is my farm!

I have joined this CSA-deal. It stands for Community Shared Agriculture, or something like that. But basically what it is, is that you pay a fee to a farm in the beginning of the season, and in return, you get a share of the bounty. You're kind of like a shareholder in a corporation. In this case, I joined up with Country Corner, out of Alpha and once a week for 16 week, I will get a box full o' veggies and fruits. In the box will be whatever is in season and is growing at the time.

I'm excited about this for so many reasons. One, I love fresh fruit and vegetables. I adore the farmer's market but it's really hard to wrangle the kids there. There's way too many people and places for the kiddos to run off too or produce stands to knock over (also, a freakish amount of people bring their dogs---dogs who often seem way too jumpy to be in a big crowd of people. I'm not hating. I used to bring Zelda back in the day too) So with this farm deal, I get fresh foods all picked out and boxed up for my to pick up.

Which brings me to my second favorite part about this: it gives me an excuse for a day trip. While I could have chosen to pick up my loot in town, I chose the option of going out to the farm to pick it up. It's a nice little 20-minute drive out there, and once there, it's a lot of fun. There's a playground, and u-pick it berries, and a little grocery store with farm-fresh eggs and Amish cheeses. It's a neat little operation.

Thirdly, I like grab bags. When I was a kid, there was a store in Maquoketa that sold grab bags of stuff and that. was. awesome. You'd buy a little bag and have no idea what you'd find in it. I seem to remember toothbrushes. Anyway, when I picked up my box today, it was totally like a grab bag, pulling all sorts of vegetables out. Strawberries---Yum! Lettuce---good for the perpetual diet I'm always on. Potatoes---great for when I feel like going off my perpetual diet (I'm very Irish in my passion for a good spud) And then there were lots of things I didn't recognize.

Which brings me to my fourth reason why a CSA is awesome and why you should think it's awesome too or else I'll think you're stupid. Variety! I got out my list that came with my box to try to figure out what else I had in there. I had never in my life actually seen an onion before with the green parts still attached, but that was in there. Then there were lots of other root vegetables to figure out...turnips, radishes, beets. I seriously have never in my life held a beet in my hand, but now tahnks to the CSA, I have. So I like this variety in that being given a big box of food forces you to think about eating foods you wouldn't usually try. Seriously, in 30 years, I've never though to buy a beet in my life, but right this very second, I have a pot of borscht cooking on the stove. Also, a zucchini bread baking in the oven. New foods=experimentation=fun.

I feel very housewifely and organized now. I know what we're having for breakfast (zucchini bread). I know what I'm having for lunch (salad of turnip and beet greens for me, with a delicious hard boiled range free egg) and borscht for dinner, with some strawberry shortcake for desert.

And my fifth reason---I get to be a ghost.

One of the deals with this is that you get a reduced price if you agree to work on the farm. Apparently they want helpers for the fall festivals they hold out at the farm. One of the jobs is to be a spook in their haunted corn maze. I'm ALL ABOUT jumping out and scaring people in the middle of the night in the middle of the country in the middle of a cornfield. I'd totally do it for free, but it's nice to be paid in turnips too.

So, anyway...yay!

The CRAZIEST thing about this (or coincidentalist(?) thing, anyway) is that my friend Jenny is a co-owner in this thing. Completely independently of each other, we both decided to go in on the same farm. Either that, or she mentioned her involvement and I subconsciously heard it but consciously forgot it and I'm a big copycat. Totally an option. But anyway, great coincidence!