one small change- our csa

at the beginning of the year, i joined in with one small change, making a small change each month to reduce our impact on this beautiful planet. though we have continued with this challenge, i found that keeping with the time line and keeping up with posting were my two biggest downfalls. as a family, there are already a few areas that we have agreed to target. as we tackle one and it begins to feel habitual, we move on to another area. though we have not necessarily made these accomplishments within a month, we continue to move forward and are changing our habits for the better.

so i will continue to share, just not in a timely fashion, or necessarily in order. this was one of our earlier accomplishments. we finally joined a csa! we have been talking about buying a share from a farm to get a weekly box of produce for several years now, but the chunk of money upfront has previously held us back.

our first box! i swear those were the most delicious strawberries ever to cross my lips.

last year, my dear friend, emily, posted about her kids working and playing at their csa farm. i was intrigued. i wanted this kind of experience for my children. my kids already love their vegetables and have some experience gardening, but i wanted them to spend time on a farm this summer and connect in a new way to the foods that nourish our bodies each day.

washing purple viking potatoes.

turns out, full sun farm offers work shares. for a reduced price, we agreed to spend a designated amount of hours pitching in at the farm. perfect!

we have been out twice now. the first time, sienna blew me away. she worked so hard and refused to stop! she dug carrots and onions and helped with the beets. jasper has a very low threshold when it comes to the heat, so we retreated to the barn to help with washing and sorting. sienna was having no part of that and asked to go back down to the fields! off she went with maggie and the other farmers to harvest flowers, wielding clippers and all. upon her return she continued to pitch in by washing squash and zucchini. on the way home, i asked her what her favorite part of the day was. she quickly replied that it was when she was harvesting the carrots because that's when she worked the hardest. that's my girl.
we returned to the farm yesterday. sienna put in another hard day's work. meanwhile, jasper feasted the entire time. i started the morning picking green beans and then headed up to the barn. that little guy ate his weight in green beans and cherry tomatoes. i swear he was munching most of the time we were there!
i feel so blessed to be able to share this with my children. it has been priceless. to say they have a deeper connection to where their food comes from is putting it mildly. sienna asks questions of the farmers regarding the foods we get in our box. *we got rainbow chard this week. will you show me where that grows?* and *the corn was yummy! can i help pick the corn today?* yesterday she was so excited to tell me how you clean onions. *you don't use water mommy!*
they love picking our box up at the farmer's market, too. we usually know what will be in it and they are waiting to dive in. they have been known to eat an entire bunch of carrots and a pint of sugar peas before we get home! when we came home with corn last week, they insisted i cook it for them immediately.thank you alex, vanessa, nick, megan, and maggie! the farm is beautiful and we are enjoying working with you. getting everyone out of bed and out the door so early in the morning and my burning thighs today from squatting half the day make me appreciate all the hard work you do for us that much more.