Season End Review of a CSA....

Well, the end of the growing season is ending soon. we’ll see how the rest of the CSA does in the fall boxes. the CSA we tried out this year was Rise and Shine Farms in Fallon, NV. how to put this diplomatically. They are by far worse than the self righteous hippies that populate Berkeley. I haven’t even gotten to their “produce” yet. I believe that they treat thier subscribers like crap. Why? Because we were the second causality of ”sharing”. When we gave feedback to Great Basin Basket, we never got the treatment we got from Rise and Shine. We’ve been members of various CSAs from California to Nevada for the PAST TEN YEARS. I’d like to say that we have an idea of the concept of CSAs.

This started with a water issue that they had at the beginning of the season. They had a visit from the water district authority. the water authority found that they were in violation of home water use regulations and was ready to shut them down. Rise and Shine put out a call to their subscribers to “rise up and fight the man”. i never “rise up and fight the man”, unless i have proof that they are screwing the little guy over WITHIN the confines of regulation. i had a suspicion that the farm did not have the proper water permits so i did a little digging....the farm had NO PERMITS to water farmland beyond sustenance farming. so, in other words, one can use the water from one’s home well to water crops that one uses to feed oneself and family. but Rise and Shine is a CSA, there is money exchange. One non-subscriber asked the question of refund in the event of not being able to water the crops and got some run around. they posted a negative review of the farm on the google place page for their poor treatment by the farm. the farm responded by “sharing” this information with its members. the response from the most vocal of the members were those poo-pooing the reviewer and calling them “lame-os” for not supporting the farm.

does this sound familiar? does this sound like the political rhetoric that is going around right now? does this sound like tea baggers? i’ll leave that up in the air for now.

now the it’s our turn.

We sent an email letting them know that even though this was a hard year for a lot of farmers, we were disappointed at their baskets. we would get a dozen eggs and five sad looking produce. now for the produce/egg share alone, it’s roughly 25$/week. 5$ per item is just way too much. i can go to whole paycheck and get a bunch of produce for 25$. we didn’t even get into the fact that their produce suck! safeway does a better job at the quality of the produce they truck in. This was their email to the subscribers....

really? i’ve used public humiliation as a teaching tool when i taught martial arts. but come on....nobody can have an opinion other than “You’re doing great!”?

here’s what the sheep said....on FB...really? how blind are you people?

I may not agree with the farm’s philosophy on food, but i will never treat people like this. spray their honest opinion as a humiliation tactic and then solicit the followers for sympathy. Bad business skills.

But then again, i guess that if one has never known food, other than the local safeway, then they’ll never know what real food is. we are not “naysayers”, we just present the truth.

Rise and Shine....you want respect?  you have to earn it.  you are not entitled to it.  so, don't frack with me.  i will spray and i will spray more......


  i will support a nevada farmer, just not this one.

Some Fights could of been avoided.......

Stepping on the Soapbox.......

really? i sometimes wonder if folks think that they can run a business without going through the proper channels, like it’s their god given right to do so. Makes me really annoyed and feel a little duped. our CSA had a major problem with water use. the governmental water agency shut them down for not having the proper use permit. they told them to cease and desist the improper use of their water, even if they are well within their allocated amount. the issue wasn’t that the big gov agency was trying to “make us [CSA] criminals for providing you our customers and supporters with fresh wholesome food.” the issue was of permitted use. the immediate response of, “we’re not wrong. the government is wrong and trying to crush us” mentality is disturbing. the immediate response of defense is also not productive. so what happened? it was a permit issue. without the offenders actually divulging of what happened, i was able to figure out that they did not apply for a farm use permit. the water allocated was only for household use.

seriously people, when one goes into a small business situation, whether it’s selling knick-knacks to tourist, building a house, or growing food for sale, you have to go through the proper channels of permission. these things should be taken care of BEFORE money is exchanged between the seller and the buyer. never, should it effect your clients/customers (unless by some act of god, the farm becomes a dust bowl). if the regulating agency decides to screw the CSA when they are properly permitted, then i would be up in arms about it (i have no problems sticking it to the man). if the CSA brought this situation upon themselves by deciding that permits aren’t important and wants the subscribers to “fight the good fight”, then i have a problem with that.

so, do i feel a little bit duped? yes. would i be a repeat customer? i don’t know. as of now, i’m not sure.

in the end, enough of their customers “fought the good fight” and got them a waiver to keep watering until the permit process is started and complete. they still have to go through the proper channels. they still have to spend the money to do so.

water use and right will always be an ongoing fight out in the west, especially in the high desert plains. but this fight could of been avoided.....

said my peace..

signing off the soapbox.....

Ahh the County that I live in

Sierra County sits in the reddest district in the state of California. My dad’s colleague actually referred to California as the state filled with fruits and nuts. I don’t think he was referring to the agriculture economy here.

Apparently this year is an election year where many of the county posts are up for re-election. So far, we’ve gotten campaign letters and house visits from the candidates for superior judge. Last night we got campaign letters from the candidates for district 2 supervisor seat for Sierra County. The two that we know of right now is the incumbent Peter H. and challenger Todd S. Peter H. (from his campaign letter) talks about social responsibility, activism, and proper stewardship of the natural resources that is abundant in Sierra County. His challenger chose the Gl*nn-B@ck-Fire-and-brimstone method. Our dear Todd S. believes that the economics slump in Sierra County can be alleviated by logging. He believes that “with 1.6 billion board feet of timber in Northern California forests every year over the last 12 to 15 years, there is no reason for our local economy to fail.” So, in his humble opinion, the county should not go “along with every frivolous environmental action that emasculates our ability to harvest timber and other resources...” He goes on saying that he believes it’s the duty of the USFS to use it’s legal department to shut up the “Monday morning quarterbacks” (yes, he did say that)...”once and for all.” yes...he did say that too.

Todd S.’s campaign letter goes on (and this is the cherry on top not because of it’s tea party-esque sentiment, but the fact that it sort of doesn’t make sense).

“We must work together to cure a troubling form of mental illness known as "environmentalism’.  The obvious cure for this particular malady that has had a massive negative effect on the public’s ability to conduct its business is a thing called ‘conservation’.” - Todd S. candidate for Supervisor District 2 Sierra County.

Well, if DSM-V calls “environmentalism” a mental disorder, then it must be the entry next to “tea party-ism”. But looking closely at what he wrote, i really wonder if he meant what he meant? So, here’s the question du jour....Should I stay as I am, someone who believes in “conservation” of the natural resources and proper stewardship of the land, or become a conservative ‘Merican?

Needless to say, he will not be getting our vote.....because we have the mental disorder of “environmentalism”.....quick get me my fucitol pills.


from the Soapbox next to Sara’s