[Editors note] Barbara, her husband Jim and their Scottie Macky joined us in 2008, moving from Long Island. Jim is a retired lawyer and Barbara a professional cook and cookbook author. They are part of the farming and CSA leadership here and responsible for much of our agricultural momentum. They have three daughters and grandchildren who are also unofficial members of the community. Barbara wrote the following piece to provide insight into our CSA's operation.
In the twenty or so years Community Sponsored Agriculture (CSA) has been in existence, it has gone through many changes. Here at NNF our format is closest to the roots. Originally a group of people got together to purchase a farm, hire a farmer and share the financial risk, and that's what we have done. Currently we distribute according to the traditional model as we make up preset baskets to expose members to the full range of the farm's offerings while allowing them to add from an overflowing extras table.
In our two years running the CSA, we have experienced excellent growing seasons and the happy problems of overabundance. This year members have been able to freeze, brine, can, ferment and dehydrate while eating fresh vegetables to their hearts' content. While one or two crops have not worked out, the overall yield has been phenomenal.
At peak season, our harvest schedule involves pre-picking of beans the two afternoons before distribution morning. Bean plants are readily attacked by fungus, so it's best to keep hands off until plants are dry; harvesting the morning of distribution isn't feasible. As quantities of all crops have skyrocketed, we also do some harvesting the day before because we don't have the manpower to bring everything in, trim, wash, weigh and distribute before 9 AM pick up.
Saturday AM community work sessions --the prime time for [read on here]
eady for another day at Nubi Kids Camp. It was the first week of August, and my sister Catherine and I were running a camp for the kids who live with us at Nubanusit Neighborhood and Farm Cohousing. We went down to Nubanusit Brook one day, and, using nets my sister and I helped our neighbor-naturalist Dori make, caught water critters and learned about assessing water quality (see link below for more info) from Dori, a Nubi Neighbor and teacher-naturalist. You would be surprised at all the wonders that lie below the surface! [read on..] 
