This was the week that everything broke. Kaput, busted, toasted—it seems for every synonym we have a piece of farm equipment. At the start of the week ,“Big Blue”, the beloved dump truck we use to transfer compost and large equipment went kaput a few meager strides from Sweetwater on Hanley and Hillsborough during evening traffic. Then the spreader got to know a very, very large rock. The spreader, in fact a crucial piece of machinery, is used to spread large amounts of compost over fresh fields before planting occurs. When a new field was being prepared with compost it seems a large rock took the time to bounce into the spreader and bend several metal bars inside of it, leading the spreader to go bust. On the last day of the week that went broke, while returning back to Sweetwater after the Sunday harvest we realized that the well-water pump was toasted. The water pressure would continually rise and plummet seemingly at its own willy-nilly will. The well-water here at Sweetwater is used for watering all the crops at the main farm, the green house, and washing vegetables; so it’s somewhat necessary. Now we should be on the mend and bringing relative peace back to the little urban farm.
And it is this “peace” that keeps us all going when nothing else seems to be going our way. While our Farmers were having a bad week, our Board of Directors had a very good week. Much work goes into budgeting for the next season, and although it was a little later than planned, they did announce that we are ready to begin accepting applications for our 2013-2014 Season. An increase in production at our Children’s Home farm location will allow us to add more shares, and a very slight increase in price over last year will keep this little sustainable piece of heaven growing for another Season.
Current CSA Members may sign up now until May 31 and receive the lower renewal rate. After May 31 the rate for all Members (Renewal or New) will be the same. Applications are being accepted online here with credit card (through PayPal), as well as at the farm with paper application and a good ole’ fashioned check!