A poem by Julie Morris, beet poet

Julie's been writing midnight beet poems, and sent us one this morning.

On meeting the beet week after week

First, I resist the foreigners.

Next, I resolve to include them in the hot melting pot.

Soon, I preach their inherent goodness.

To my surprise, my eight year old speaks their language.

Hauerwas defines family as “strangers God has given us to love.”

They all arrive on Tuesday, in my CSA box.

If any one else wants to share CSA-inspired poems, email them our way!

Of Pie and Pentecost

In celebration of Pentecost Sunday, the day in the Christian liturgical tradition when the Spirit of God descended on the disciples of Jesus, I baked a "Tongues of Flame" pie for our potluck dinner. Loquats from our backyard and mangos saved from a Whole Foods dumpster went into the filling. I was pretty proud of how it turned out. If you look close, you can see the tongues of flame as slits in the crust :)

"Tongues of Flame" Loquat-Mango Pie

I don't come from a liturgical church tradition that celebrates Pentecost Sunday, and I've really enjoyed participating in the multitude of special days celebrated by the Episcopal/Anglican Church. From Epiphany and Lent to the Passion to Pentecost and Advent, it feels like I'm a part of a story that's larger than myself. This story is the broader story of the church that throughout the year is dying and being re-born through the re-telling and remembering of the narrative of Scripture.

I think that our journey as an Abundant Table community can also be told through this story. In just the past year, we've gone through a lot of growth, and also a lot of change. We're working through fears and questions about the sustainability of our project, and much is still unknown. Will we live and flourish? This church tradition, with its living memory of an old, old story, is a comfort to me and also hope-giving. Pentecost Sunday seems to come at just the right time for our questions, breathing life and wind into our sails and bringing an energy that excites me. There is something new in the air...

“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams..."

-Acts 2:17, from the prophet Joel

what a great idea!

Check out the great blog started by our members at our newest drop off site (Calvert St. Elementary School in Woodland Hills), talking about what they do with their boxes!

http://calvertgreencsabox.blogspot.com/

A blessing for the Abundant Table

Thank you, john o'donohue

On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.
And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets in to you,
may a flock of colours,
indigo, red, green,
and azure blue
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.

Meet your Farmer

This post comes from an interview for our CSA newsletter a few weeks ago with Agustin, who, along with his brother Juan, has been helping us with farm work at "Join the Farm." Agustin is something of a farm manager for us here. He does everything from cultivating, mowing, weeding, irrigation, and maintaining equipment to watering the outer roads of the field to keep down dust. With his background knowledge from growing up on a farm, he gives us tips on extending crop life and advice on plant problems. I've loved getting to know Agustin, and his jovial nature and jokes make our work lighter. Here's his short bio from the newsletter:


Agustin Contreras has been working on the DeBusschere family ranch for 18 of the 37 years that he's lived in the U.S. As he helped us wash carrots, turnips and leeks for your CSA boxes, he amiably answered some questions for this newsletter. Agustin comes from the town of Querendaro, Michoacan, Mexico. Some of Agustin's favorite memories from Querendaro include tending his family's cattle and helping out with the farm work there. His father left the farm in Agustin's care to work in Temecula, CA as one of over 4 million Mexicans contracted for agricultural labor as part of the Bracero program during the 1940's.
After 18 years of working on his family's farm, Agustin also left Mexico along with four of his siblings because it became too hard to feed the family there. He recently became a U.S. citizen, along with his brother Juan, the other employee on the Ranch. Agustin lives in Oxnard close to his sister and brother and is a favorite uncle of his nieces and nephews. On his day off, when he's not taking his nieces and nephews to their various appointments and activities, he likes to relax with a beer or two. His favorite vegetables are onions, garlic, and chili peppers. Agustin brought us back some chili seeds to plant from a holiday visit to his hometown, so hopefully we can share them with you too this summer!