CSA sales scares the bejezus out of me. There's a young farmer over in Chelsea who came by my place and was telling me that last year he started a CSA and also had a great deal of low production. After taking their money and doing the best he could, he felt so bad about his lack of productivity that he just couldn't bring himself to try it again this year. His error stemmed mostly from trying to be heirloom-based only but as he was telling me how badly he felt, I almost repeated the same words as to why I cannot bring myself to do this.
As it stands today, I wanted to have a lot more variety this year and I had purchased some specialty melons and eggplant varieties that I intended for a particular restaurant in Sapulpa - and I just never got those items planted. Blackberry cleanup ate a great deal of time from us. And I feel bad enough disappointing one business let alone a whole passle of CSA investors.
I am not sure I can envision my ever feeling like it is ok for me to take money and feel ok about letting them all take the same hit I do for a crop failure or low production. That would sit double heavy on my shoulders and I'd be making refunds - guess I'll stick to the "here's what I have, come and get it" cash method instead of the "I'll promise you the moon (and stars) and full sacks of produce but if I screw up, you get screwed" prepaid method. So am I crazy for thinking this way? I know some of the younger growers can make this decision and let the consequences happen - but for me, it feels like gambling with the CSA money and I don't like what Wall Street did to the American public.
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