Red Goose Garden Newsletter

This is from the Fifth edition of the 2010 season Red Goose Gardens Newsletter. It's from the segment 'Meet the Interns'.

Hello all Red Goose Garden Members

First, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being a part of this amazing CSA. Your participation has kept chemicals from entering the ecosystem, supported Thor and all the other interns, and brought organic, local produce to 100’s of people. Thank you!

I’ve been on a great journey since coming to Red Goose Gardens. My home town is Lakeville, MN. A truly great place to grow up! From there, I found my way to the University of Minnesota, Duluth. There I studied Biology with an emphasis on botany. Struggling with chemistry caused me to follow my other academic passion, Women Studies. Within the program, I took a course called Ecofeminism. This class took what I already knew about different aspects of our society that harm the ecosystem, women, and colonized others and really made it the forefront of my academic and professional world. Being already fascinated by plants and horticulture, the topics of alternate agriculture and specifically CSA’s grabbed my full attention. Seeing how food, which is at the very center of our lives, could bring communities together, support farmers, use less land, help protect and restore the surrounding environments being achieved through CSA’s made me so happy that I just had to get involved. Using wwoof.org I found Thor and Red Goose Gardens.

I’ve find myself being completely taken in by this CSA. Riding my bike to work, seeing bald eagles and hawks fly around, watching and being a part of all the beautiful and wonderful things in the field is an experience all the parts of me wished and wanted. That is not to say that everything thing is roses and rainbows (even though both are here at the farm). There are the buffalo gnats that bite and made us bleed and the ever present state bird, the mosquito. The storms and rain made planting the winter squash hell. 20 pounds of mud on each boot is not fun and something I hope to not repeat more than once a year. The summer heat makes 10 hour days really suck. And when the rain doesn’t come and whole beds dry up and the cabbage you planted is dead, makes me wonder if it is even worth it. But then the kill deer and gold finches fly around and the borscht you made for the week tastes so creamy and good (made with beets from the farm of course) makes me remember that it really the work and hardships are all part of the deal.

Losing 25 pounds of excess weight and getting a good deep tan isn’t bad either.

I can’t say how the rest of this summer will be or the future of our agriculture system will look but judging by the past, I can firmly say that it will get better with time, and taste amazing too. For things to improve, it will take visions, dreams and lots of hard work. I will take storms and droughts. It will take more farmers and more members. If we all do our parts, do a little more than we did the year before, take what we learned as kids and adults, and build something in harmony with the nature and ourselves, we can create a system that is something we can be truly proud of. What I am learning here at RGG, I will take with me to Duluth and my classes. I will take it to the next CSA I work at and hopefully to my own CSA someday.

I hope that you find some time to come volunteer at the farm. Come meet me and the fellow interns. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or just want to chat about CSA’s, plants, agriculture or social justice movements please feel free to contact me at grabu004@d.umn.edu or check out my blog at http://almost-chosen.blogspot.com. Thank you for your support. The farm wouldn’t be here without us.

Green Blessings,

Charles Grabuski