Connection January 8, 2007

It's the little things that keep me going. The bits of life that compress into diamonds that make me laugh and feel connected. Like the time my friends Matt and Maria ordered an elegant seafood meal to surprise me for my 16th birthday. Maria, who was Swedish from Sweden, and a year older than we were, knew about seafood and other exotic dietary items like seasonal produce. At dinner, Matt and I looked like we were trying to eat something encased in combination locks. I wrestled with a lobster, nearly falling off my chair, while Maria let Matt struggle with eating a whole, unpeeled shrimp for five minutes until she calmly informed him that he could remove the shell and legs. I always thought Maria and her family were cool - and not just because they didn't need the how-to-eat-seafood course at the local Red Lobster by the mall. Her family made an effort to connect to the seasons and to food in a way that our suburban family didn't. Their annual summer Maypole party always generated gossip amongst those who preferred the sound of their TVs to the melodic wanderings of Swedish songs echoing across the Pennsylvanian neighborhood of quiet backyards and locked houses. Their traditions have left an impression on me that outlasted the plush terrycloth Bjorn Borg head bands that seemed so important in my late teens.

Dan, our produce buyer, and Erik, our COO, are also interested in this idea of connection to food and time. Starting this week, we'll be working with CAFF - the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, an Oakland-based non-profit that helps small California family farms build relationships and get their product to people. The Satsuma Mandarins we will have on Wednesday will come from a CAFF farm. As you may know if you've worked with us for a while, we are constantly switching up our fruit mixes to make sure that we are brining you the best of what we can find. This week we have Pink Lady apples from Cuyama Farms and Fujis from Jon Smit's ranch. Both are organic and in all of our crates. We also have fresh, organic Minneola Tangelos in the Harvest Flyer and Organic crates. These come from Rucker's Homestead in the Coachella Valley. As a special treat (even if it is not local) we have included cherries from Chile. We have both organic and conventionally-grown cherries from that region of the world and have put them in all our crates (except the Staples). We hope you enjoy the fruit mix this week.
Enjoy and be fruitful!!