September-The Cyclospora Effect
You never know what's around the bend. Among all else that busies a person's mind, cyclosporosis inserted itself and made room to hunker down in the amygdala this summer. Food safety recalls aren't uncommon, but such an outbreak has everyone looking over their shoulders for the evil lettuce coming for them and theirs. I joke, but I shouldn't. The fear was instantly palpable at the market booth in July when the news broke. Rich and I were stunned at the influx of folks who came out of the woodwork to join our regulars in line. And what a line!
Suddenly I feel like I am back on the line. The other line. The restaurant line. We are about two months into this outbreak and working the booth on Saturdays is reminiscent of weekend dinner service in restaurants with tickets coming in faster than you can turn out plates of food. Rich and I work the booth together these days and overnight, way back in July, we were inundated with a massive increase in demand. In order to work the booth: restock veggies, cash out customers, answer questions and hand out preordered bags of produce, we have been doing a sort of Viennese waltz, perhaps with a lack of elegance, but with real urgency and sprightliness. For those of you who know me well enough, yes, I have attempted to cut down on my chat time to serve the line. My tireless mom and even May and Jack stay for the first bit of market each week to help hand out preorders and restock the table. A village really comes in handy in times like these.
We've met scads of new people this summer and are grateful to the OG customers who have been with us through thick and thin, some for nine seasons. How incredible it is to be entrusted with growing fresh food for so many households! We couldn't feel more purposeful than in times like these. Of course the Covid pandemic comes to mind too, with its essential worker classification. A time when folks were bathing their groceries after coming home and the world felt as if it was spinning on its head. Folks were living life solitarily as they perhaps never had before, and yet, they felt safe enough to venture out to the open air market to procure their weekly produce. The market may have been one of the exceptions to their week, where they were able to have a real, human experience and interaction and commiseration and a laugh. That is worth spending your Saturday morning on for sure. I know that the togetherness across the market table was remedial for us. Still is :).
In the utopia in my mind, there exists a vast network of small farms, independent of each other, each having their small effect, good or bad, on the community. When one farm fails, there are many others immune to its problems, whether it be finances, cyclospora, ecoli, a lost crop, an act of God, etc. Therefore, when one small farm is down for the count, the fall out is small. The rest of the food supply is safe and stable, while the farm rebuilds or rolls with the punch. Each farm in that scenario is unique to itself and brings something different to the market. Regional distributors exist in utopia which circulate foods from the local farms, so that the farmers can stick to farming and the masses can access the foods through coops or local groceries which are stocked by the farmers they know from the weekend farmers markets. Sure, we would like to eat mangoes in Ohio. So in utopia, the regions of the world which can grow tropical fruits, rice, etc are shipped in to supplement what grows well in our soils and vice versa. Harmony. And relative safety!
In utopia, corners aren't cut to pinch pennies. Safety and quality are prioritized and volatility is diminished. In utopia, we are one of many small farms who feed their families on their harvest...a testament to its safety and nutrition. And all within the community have access to what is grown on the skirts of town, and plucked for them within a day or two of eating. The farmers who grow for them rely on the others' services or goods to run the farm and live their lives. The local economy is largely self-sufficient and the people are familiar enough with each other that they trust each other, some to grow the food and others to eat what came from the growers' hands. Familiar enough to care about the welfare of the various members of their society, so much so that they offer support in trying times and don't just turn the other way-every man for himself style.
It's a great pleasure to feed our people. I dub them ours because we have exchanged something very personal with each other...trust. And in so many cases, love. The tomatoes that we pick and pint and the bread that Rich ferments and bakes, is a manifestation of our love and dedication to the community. Thanks for supporting local farmers. We love you and we are so happy to be yours.
Updates from the Farm:
-In order to supply the demand- Since our demand suddenly increased, we have been holding produce back from our wholesale partners to try to meet more of the demand at market. Feeding Dayton households is our top priority. We are, in fact, a family farm and there is only so much we can do to serve the masses within a season. Going forward into 2027 we are intending to focus on growing for market and selling excess produce to Dorothy Lane Market. We just wanted to keep you all in the loop as we make decisions within the business.
-Eggs this month?-We are expecting our hens to begin laying this month and couldn't be more excited. The first eggs which young hens lay are called pullet eggs. They are smaller in size but but have more yolk to egg white which makes their texture rich and creamy. Something to look forward to!
-Hit hard in the field-As written about in my previous post, the farm was hit hard by the damaging storms last month. We are breaking more than one record a year at this point when it comes to weather. We fared much better than our neighbors in Indiana and east of us in Columbus. But the ground remained saturated for so many successive days of rain that we lost a portion of our fall plantings of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, etc. We also lost a portion of our current salad plantings (we plant a new batch every ten days). We win some and we lose some in this line of work. We only have so much control. But all in all, we feel we dodged a bullet and are still able to stock a rather colorful table of produce at market.
-Fall seeding-Although some of our fall transplants suffered in the rain, we seeded a number of other quicker growing crops after the soil dried out enough. Radishes, watermelon radishes, salad turnips, spinach, etc. We have a lot of hope seeded in the field now :).
-Oakwood Market continues- There are six more weeks of Oakwood Market left this year before we start off-season pick ups. We are excited to head into fall with you all. 9-noon every Saturday you can come and shop our booth at the market located at 22 Orchard Drive.
Thank you for reading
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