Outstanding in the CSA

Most of us SoCal residents never think about this, but 2009 was a bad year for East Coast farmers. A tomato blight fungus spread in late July to almost every farm in every state in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The fungus, which could easily travel 10 miles a day, was especially virulent in what was a rainy and windy summer for that region. And it completely destroyed most of the organic tomato crop that season.

One of the things that prevented the tomato blight from being a total financial disaster for the farmers was that many of them had CSAs. They had customers who had bought a share of the successes or failures of the farms, and although the CSAs were unable to provide all members with an abundance of tomatoes as they had planned, the loyalty of the CSA members helped ensure the continuation of those farms. CSA members had bought into people rather than products, and together they made sure that these people could continue farming regardless of the blight.

On Saturday, Outstanding in the Field is coming to our CSA. In addition to providing amazing food cooked from ingredients grown here, they will be raising awareness of the tremendous importance of supporting your local farms. Their persistent focus on eating fresh local foods has played an important role in the growing participation in CSAs throughout California. We are excited to work with them this weekend, and look forward to sharing the experience with you!

- Christiana Thomas