decision made...finally

I emailed a link to all the posts about the battle of the CSA boxes to the contact people at both to give them feedback. The people at Inland Empire responded positively and were really happy to hear about it. Nothing from JR Organics, which is pretty much the amount of interaction I've had with them, other than when they scolded me for picking up on the wrong date (even though I had told them when I wanted to pick up and they had said ok). Part of the reason I decided to switch from Be Wise is the lack of interaction with the farmer, so this is a big one for me.

I have belonged to several other CSA's, starting when I was just out of college with Black Bear Food Guild, then to Chicago for Angelic Organics (which, though it is the biggest CSA in the country, has great communication with the farmer and lots of activities on the farm). And of course my beloved Plowshares in Gainesville, which I was very involved in and knew the farmer pretty well. Each has been unique; when I was a member Black Bear had two pickups, one at the farm and one at a farmer's market. There were bins and scales, each item had a sign that said how much of each thing to take and if you didn't like something you could take a little more of something else. So simple! Angelic Organics had a "swap box" at each pickup location, if there was something in your box that you didn't like, you just put it in there and took out something you liked more. With Plowshares, you were encouraged to give them 2 bags with your name on them, they packed your veggies into them and brought them 2 more empties at pickup. Volunteering was also encouraged and I found it fun to work the stand at the farmer's market, selling the amazing produce and flowers (there was even a flower share, Rosie's flowers are a thing of beauty indeed) and handing out people's shares to them. One of my favorite things about belonging to a CSA is the community aspect; Be Wise fails utterly in that and my experience of JR Organics wasn't much better (though they did give Larry free flowers one week, that was nice).

Thanks for coming along with me on this experiment, it has been fun!