More about this week's delivery + Plums

We gave our produce members some credit for this week's delivery

One of the things that excites me about our produce share is the ability to bring in special varieties of organic fruits to try. This week’s plum variety is known for being extremely juicy when ripe. But: hindsight has shown us they were a bit too ripe and shouldn’t have been delivered (even if some of them are fantastic).

Had these plums arrived a week or two sooner, I suspect they would have been a standout item for you to enjoy. However, as it was, they just didn’t meet TC Farm’s expectations.

This week’s mangos seem to be the perfect ripeness and what we would normally expect for a stone fruit. Nobody has touched them in a grocery to damage them during ripening and the mangos are ready to counter-ripen in a bag for 3-7 days. (Pro tip: add a banana or apple to the bag along with your mangos.)

Not all of our plans can be perfectly fulfilled: The hot and unseasonable weather has had a big impact on some crops from our farms and that last avocado delivery wasn’t up to snuff either (ugh).

As such, we are viewing this as an opportunity to do two things:

1. We are issuing everyone who got a delivery this week a $15 credit (more than the value of this week’s plums)
2. Reminding ourselves how appreciative we are of your support to build a better local food system

THE BIGGER PICTURE

I have spent over a decade working on the local food system. First, simply trying to survive our hobby farm and then, over the later years, realizing all of the gaps and challenges that prevent conscientious eaters from finding food that was raised the way they expected it to be.

Over the coming weeks, we will be sharing more about those specific challenges and how you, as a member, are critical to fixing the gaps that exist in the broader local food system (well beyond TC Farm).

In order to build a viable local food system, we need the time and space to make mistakes (like these plums or those avocados). Everything that goes perfectly as planned is a great win. However, If our goal is to build the infrastructure and systems needed to really have the impact we desire, then we need those missteps too.

Together we are learning and growing something that is larger than TC Farm and I am humbled to have the opportunity to be a part of it.

Thank you for making that possible. And look for more specific stories and updates soon!

-Jack