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 Predictability?
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Over the weekend I was anxiously following the weather forecast predicting an extreme heat wave over Northern California. With temperatures over 95 degrees, our fog-loving crops such as the berries and leafy greens typically get stressed to the point that we lose a large amount of fruit and plants. It was a relief to wake up to a cool morning, the day of the Fall Equinox, and feel that the marine layer hugging the coast was going to keep temperatures tolerable.  With the length of night and day being equal, we welcome the beginning of the Fall season.
Weather patterns will soon shift, the leaves on our plum trees are turning red , the apples are sweet, and trees, waiting to be picked, are straining from the weight of the fruit. What I like about seasonal transitions is that just when one gets too comfortable, thinking of having things under control, one has to change direction. Seasons don't fit into neat little boxes. One couldn't tell by looking at the harvest this week that we are facing any kind of transition. On the Central Coast seasons change more gradually, so ignore all the Halloween merchandise and enjoy our summer bounty of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, summer squash and basil for a while longer. For all who like to see and experience the first signs of fall here on the farm join us for our last "still feels like summer" Community Farm Day
this weekend. - Tom

  

Community Farm Day this Saturday Sept. 26th
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This is the last Community Farm Day before our October Harvest Festival. Just like in previous Commmunity Farm Days you have the option of sleeping over from Friday to Saturday. We will start at 10o'clock on Saturday, by the firecircle, to go over the day's activities.  It will be another day focused on harvesting, this time we will harvest Pippin Apples, Corn (Popcorn) and Dry Beans. Of course there are our usual add-ons of milking the goats, baking in the cob oven and pressing apples into cider. Please bring sun-protection, water bottles, proper footwear, your own snack and lunch. Usually the day ends around 4 o'clock. Please RSVP the farmer at thomas@baymoon.com.

New CSA Management System in the works
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Yes, it's true! We are actively in the process of developing a new CSA Management System, which will (hopefully!) make everything easier for everybody. For members (and waitlisters!) the signup (and waitlist) process should be much more streamlined and user-friendly. For us, the management of membership and the administration of packing and distribution should be better organized. Ultimately we hope to have not only that, but also email communication, newsletters and website all connected in one system (right now, the parts are disparate, and I have to manage the interconnections manually, which is a lot of work and of course leaves room for error). For Farmer Tom, there are even plans for some really swank field management tools (about which he's very excited).

"Our Developers" are actually Benzi Ronen and Yossi Pik, of Farmigo, a software startup with a vision to help not only Live Earth Farm, but CSA farms across the country with their CSA Management System. If there's one thing all CSA farms can use, it is a better tool to help with administration and coordination so they can focus on the farming part! I'm very excited about this too; they're doing something I've dreamed of doing for years but have never been able to pull off. They have the resources, the backing, and the technical expertise I lack, so it is great to be able to work with them.
 
But as in any process such as this, it must proceed in steps, and we are only at the very beginning. We are working closely with Benzi and Yossi, and you will see the first blush of what we're working on when it comes time to sign up: the process will be different than it has been in the past (better, we hope!). We don't have a schedule yet of when the other parts of the system will be up and running, but we will keep you updated through the newsletter.
 
Meanwhile, thank you to everyone who participated in our Pilot test of the "signup wizard." Your feedback is all being poured over, and I expect most of you will see the direct impact of your comments. They were all very much appreciated!!
 
Lastly, but most importantly: that personal, direct connection between you and your farm is what makes Community Supported Agriculture what it is, so fostering that connection is absolutely at the heart of this new endeavor. We will never lose sight of that. Our hope is that this new system will make it easier for us to strengthen that connection. :-) Debbie

Preserves Option Clarification
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A couple folks have asked if the Winter Share CSA box will still come with some preserves, like it did last year. The answer is: yes! The "Preserves Option" is in addition to that. Think of it kind of like our Fruit Options during the regular season, i.e. the shares come with 'some' fruit, but the Options add more quantity and diversity.

Important Message for Waitlisters!
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I got an email from someone last week saying, "I've been on your waitlist since 'like forever' and haven't heard from you. Can you tell me if I'm still on your list? I really want to be a member..." Well, she had indeed been on our list last fall, but I had emailed her last November about signing up (and I remove people from the waitlist once I send out sign-up offers). She didn't sign up -- but not because she wasn't interested: she somehow never saw that 'signup offer' email. (The thing is, I can only assume that when people don't respond to the signup offer, they are no longer interested - you can't force people to reply in the negative, so usually lack of reply = lack of interest.)
 
Anyway, fortunately, I keep a back-up list of everyone that has at one time been on our waitlist, so I went back and found her and she's back in business. She will get a share.
 
Now there may be more of you in her situation, so I'd like to make a request: I have emailed and offered shares to everyone on our waitlist up to about mid-May of this year; if you've been on our waitlist longer than that and did not heard from me, you may very well have also missed a signup email. If you think you may be one of these people, please email me back and let me know! I can search for you in my 'backup' list, and move you back into the active waitlist to make sure you are notified this November about signup for spring 2010.
 
Thanks,
Debbie

Notes from Debbie's Kitchen
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Please forgive me for having no new recipes this week. I am deeply involved in working with our developers on our new CSA management system, trying to see that all our ducks are in a row in time for the beginning of signup season... which is in less than two weeks! There is nothing new in this week's shares, so I don't feel like I'm leaving anyone in the lurch... especially when there's that extensive recipe database to refer to ;-) Thanks for your understanding! I hope you will take the opportunity to make up new and wonderful recipes of your own... and then email me with them so I can share them here next week! - Debbie

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