Lots of exciting things going on at the farm.
But first, is anyone interested in a Facebook Group for members to share ideas about how they use the produce or other interesting tidbits? I’m not a big Facebooker (I have no friends) but every time I go to the farm page it asks me if I want to create a group to “help my audience connect.” Are we feeling unconnected and we need help connecting? If there is interest I will figure out the steps necessary to make it happen. I think sharing recipes, storage tips, etc. would be helpful especially for those who are new to the CSA gig. Let me know your interest!
Farm News
So last Thursday we opened the tent at the usual time — 3:30. For the first half hour or so we had three families show up. When the last of the families left — they spent some time feeding the horses — I sat back and wondered why this afternoon was so slow. Typically I get a steady flow of people or a big rush between 3:45 and 4:15 but on Thursday there was but a trickle. A few minutes after the last person left she drove back with an interesting bit of news. “Hey farmer Chris. Did you know there are a bunch of cops up at the corner with their guns drawn?” she asked. Seemed like an odd question to me. It isn’t typical we have cops roaming the neighborhood with their guns drawn so why would she think I knew about it? This was not normal.
I replied, “Well, no I do not know about the cops. What are they doing?” She wasn’t sure other than having guns out and looking for trouble. So I suggested we hop in her car and go find out what’s up. As we exited the driveway I realized by “corner” she meant the corner of our property not the corner a half mile down the road. This was highly unusual.
We drove up to the police and they waved us through. Instead of driving past I rolled down the window and asked, “What’s up?” I was told there was a “domestic down the street and that a white male in his thirties, last wearing a blue t-shirt was on the loose and considered armed and dangerous”. Not normal at all. One cop was in full battle gear — helmet, bullet-proof vest and military style rifle — the other was looking through binoculars searching for the white male in his thirties wearing a blue t-shirt. I mentioned to them that this is highly inconvenient since it is occurring during our normal pick-up hours. Obviously he didn’t understand my urgency since he suggested I “call whoever I’m meeting with and tell them not to come.” Does he even realize how many people pick-up on Thursdays?
Anyway, I told Deborah — the lovely member who offered me a ride — that I could walk back since we were literally feet from my property line and a few hundred feet from my driveway. The binocular-using officer said, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” He seemed to imply that the white male in his thirties wearing a blue t-shirt was armed and dangerous to me. Like that has never happened before. But I also got the sense that he was implying that I, a white male in a blue t-shirt, could in fact be mistaken for the dangerous man if I was nonchalantly walking down my street. When I recalled this story to my wife later that evening she said, “There is no way you would be mistaken for a man in his mid-thirties.” Ouch! That one stung. “Not even at a distance?” I pleaded. “Nope” was her answer. Ouch again!
So Deborah kindly drove me back to the pick-up tent where she decided her best option was to leave me to fend for myself. Garfield and I sat together in the tent trying to figure out what are our options. Nobody has come for at least a half hour by now, maybe even an hour. Then I got the call from an unknown 800 number. I’ve been trained to ignore calls from numbers I don’t know so that’s what I did. Surprisingly the caller left a voicemail message. Hmm, wonder what that could be? It was an emergency message from Washington County Sheriff’s office urging all residents receiving this message to stay inside and lock all doors. The police have setup an approximately three-mile perimeter around the last known sighting of the armed man, which was just up the street from the farm. They were not letting anyone enter the area. “But how are people going to get their produce?” I wondered. Garfield seemed less concerned.
So I did what everyone else would do in a similar situation, I went inside to change out of my blue t-shirt — can’t be too careful — and started looking around the property for an armed and dangerous white male in his mid thirties wearing a blue t-shirt. During this search the only excitement for me was when I startled two deer who were not wearing blue t-shirts — this gave me comfort — that ran off into the horse pasture. If there are two deer hanging around I seriously doubt there would be some deranged man nearby. But not being deranged I can’t be certain.
So I decided I would send out an email to all the Thursday members telling them to come on Friday then set about putting the produce back into the cooler. I told my son Alex to stay inside and lock the doors. I also suggested he watch the news to see if any more information is available. He mentioned later that evening that he had the news on but had it muted because whatever he does on his phone is more important than the news. When there was a break in the action on his phone he looked up at the TV and there was map of our area on the screen with “Breaking News” splayed on the bottom. But with the TV muted he had no idea what it was and besides his phone had other more important news.
Nothing more exciting happened that night. Apparently they cornered the white male, mid-thirties, blue t-shirt in a shed near the property where it all started. Around 10:30 he finally surrendered and we could all rest easy. It sure was an eventful week. First a bear and then a dangerous, mid-thirties armed man wearing a blue t-shirt. What could possibly top that? I probably shouldn’t ask…
So, what will we have this week? Other than bullet fragments (just kidding), we’ll have tomatoes, corn, zucchini (sorry, it just won’t die), onions, cucumbers, beans, cabbage, watermelon and other odds and ends.
The only add-on shares this week are CoffeeShare and FlowerShare.
Storage Tips: Here is a good place for storage tips from the University of Minnesota.
Only one person got the right answer to last week’s puzzler, which turned out was a 50% success rate!
As always, please send in questions, comments, suggestions, jokes and brain teasers.