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Post Halloween Reflections
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Celebrating Halloween is an exciting opportunity to experience the enchantment of the dark and often scarier side of life. This year, Elisa's excitement was the catalyst to have us all embrace the Halloween spirit from carving and lighting up pumpkins, choosing her costume, and of course going trick-or treating.  Farms are spread too far apart to count as popular trick-or-treating destinations, so we typically choose more densely populated neighborhoods nearby. This year David wanted to be on his own and "hang" with his teenage friends in Santa Cruz, so we skipped our usual trick-or treating grounds in Corralitos and set off to explore the "haunted" historical alleys and streets of downtown Santa Cruz.  Elisa got dressed as a fruit bat, which in turn inspired  mom to turn herself into a  walking cluster of grapes, and dad opted for the usual wizard outfit. It was a good thing we started early in the evening while it was still light outside since by eight o'clock walking the downtown streets of Santa Cruz was mostly an adult affair, scary enough for at least the three of us to decide to head home. 
Here at home, on the farm, a different type of creepy, yucky, underworld like phenomena of decay and rot is taking place.  Many of the windfall apples are laying on the ground turning brown and soft, oozing through their skin as bacteria are slowly fermenting the sugary insides.  The funny and happy looking pumpkin mask worn by Mr. Pumkinhead only a week ago during the Harvest Celebration is now a  scary looking putrefying blob sitting on a pole near the goat pen. And the once glorious looking sunflowers are nothing but sinister looking black stalks with droopy pecked out seedheads hanging onto them. It is a reminder how our food and crops can quickly turn towards the "shadow side" - into garbage, compost or trash.
Food when we get it freshly picked can be enchanting, it's smells and tastes inspire us to cook and bring restaurants, shops and our own kitchen and dining rooms to life. 



But  equally inspiring can be the bucket of "compostables" where the alchemically transformative laws of life take place - decomposition and decay, holding the key to continued fertility.  Fall is the time most fruit bearing crops are turning their energy inward, to form seeds or store their energy in the roots or trunks. Most perennial plants drop their leaves, or in the case of annual plants  the entire plant is sacrificed to give their seed the best chances of survival. In our culture where youth and endless growth in an often overly sanitized, lifeless environment is all that's promoted, Halloween and other celebrated traditions such as Dia de Los Muertos, are important events where we learn to acknowledge the equally important darker, decaying and dying aspects in life.

- Tom

Bring a flashlight
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We just all set our clocks back so it's getting dark early. All our site hosts are supposed to see that there is light for their pick-up site, however sometimes they forget. Members should be prepared for this possibility - if you are going to be picking up after dark, be sure to have a flashlight with you just in case!

Thanks,
Debbie

Curious about the Goat Milk Share and want to try it? 
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For anyone who's been curious about the goat milk and cheese that some members are getting but don't want to sign up for a full season to try it, Lynn Selness of Summer Meadows Farm is offering a 'two-week trial' of her "Goat Share" program, which will coincide with the last two delivery weeks of our Regular CSA season.
Lynn writes:

An invite from Summer Meadows Goat Farm
We've found sweet homes for some of our kids and are suddenly swamped with milk and cheese so we're offering you a great opportunity!  You can sample our products now to see if you'd be interested in a full season share in December or next spring.

Try a goat share for 2 weeks.  Sample all our products; fresh raw goat's milk, yogurt, kefir, and our artisan cheese: ricotta and chevre.  All for a reduced share cost of $25/week.  If you prefer, you can try just milk or any combo of products.

Goat shares normally range from $23/week for 1 gallon milk to $30/week for a combination of all products.  Half-shares are also available. I have lots of French chevre right now, my most popular cheese; if you'd like 2 weeks of chevre, it's yummy!  A pound of chevre each week is one share, for $23 (usually $25).

So call me, Lynn, ASAP, (831) 786-8966 to sign up and receive your share at your pick-up site on the last 2 weeks of LEF's deliveries before Thanksgiving.

Thanks so much!  We'll love to share our wonderful, loved goats' healthy milk with you!

- Lynn at Summer Meadows Farm

PS - if you already get a goat share from me but would like to 'stock up' on extra French chevre (it freezes well for up to a couple months) to last you through the winter, that works too!

Upcoming classes from Companion Bakers
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Erin and Jessie of Companion Bakers, the bakers who make the bread for our CSA Bread Option, are going to be offering baking classes throughout the winter, including "Holiday Baking", "Coffee & Pastry", "Sourdough Basics", "Companion Pantry" and "Pastry Basics". Sounds like fun? Click here for their flyer with ALL the details! - Debbie

Take Action: signatures needed to keep "Big Ag" lobbyists out of Dept. of Agriculture
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From a recent Pesticide Action Network Action Alert:

"Despite President Obama's early promises that 'lobbyists won't find a job in my White House,' he just nominated two 'Big Ag' industry insiders who come straight from the pesticide and biotech sectors to vital posts.

"We need to reach 50,000 signatures to have an impact and we're organizing with a broad coalition of partners to do it. Help us make the hinges on the 'revolving door' between corporations and government too squeaky to operate.

"The facts:

"Islam Siddiqui -- current VP of Science and Regulatory Affairs at CropLife USA and former lobbyist - must be approved by the Senate Finance Committee before taking his post as the Chief Agricultural Negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative office.

"CropLife is Big Ag's influence peddler -- it's among the most powerful lobbying groups in the world. CropLife Mid America are the folks who 'shuddered' when Michelle Obama planted an organic garden at the White House.

"Roger Beachy -- long-time president of the Danforth Plant Science Center, Monsanto's defacto nonprofit research arm - has been appointed as the first chief of the USDA's newly created National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Beachy's appointment has no public approval process despite the fact that this office comes with a $500 million budget, and therein, the power to set the U.S. agricultural research agenda for years to come.

"Let Obama know that putting a pesticide pusher in charge of U.S. ag trade and the former head of Monsanto's defacto nonprofit research arm in charge of the national ag research agenda is not 'change you can believe in.' "

Click here to sign the petition.

Michael Pollan fans heads-up!
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Alert CSA member Lori Clemmons passed along this gem for any Michael Pollan fans out there: apparently he will be speaking at the kick-off of Silicon Valley Reads 2010, Wednesday evening January 27th in Campbell. This is a free event; first come, first seated, so you may want to get there a little early! Click here for the details on Silicon Valley Reads website.

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