I was working with the Biodynamic Journal when Robyn died. At the time I was taken back by how many prominent NE CSA farmers could not 'make the time' to write a rememberance of her. I had no idea at all about the pre-history.
There was choked energy coming from the BD side also. I remember that the year that Steve Moore et al got the big grant to nationalize CSAs (which led to the Van En center and to an (almost!) effective national database) they held a national CSA conference. The BDA held their own national conference on that date, at a differnt location. I spoke with the national CSA people about this and they all said that they could not get calls returned from the BDA. I think the discussion of this took up much time in the early days of BD Now!
It still makes no sense to me. Nor does what's going on with CSA.
The 'ad' for the CSA at Blue Ridge Center next year says 'This year we are offering no only CSA but also a farm stand, pick your own vegetables and fruit and flowers, flower sales and sales to restaurants. We're finally becoming a true community farm!' This will always remind me of the first CSA here in Shepherstown, which sold itself on the fame of its organic strawberries. They had a roadside stand also. When strawberries were at their peak, the CSA wasn't getting any strawberries. They'd hear from the CSA manager 'Oh, there just wasn't enough strawberries this week for everyone to have a lot so we decided to just sell them at the stand.'
What I'm trying to say is that if a CSA is not really a CSA, the shareholders are not being treated fairly.
Thanks again for this information, Jane -Allan
Hi Allan et al,
I forwarded your post about csa's referencing Robyn's website to JP because he had just given me a little synopsis of how csa's actually started. He should know, since he was one of the first few csa's to start in the northeast. He was trained as a biodynamic farmer, which included an anthroposophy education in the Netherlands. He gave me permission to forward his response to the list which follows:
JS
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Hi Jane
An Important thing that most people either don't know or conveniently have forgotten is that Robyn was a trained Waldorf teacher and I assume well versed in the Threefold social order. They (Robyn, John Root, Andrew Lorand, and other anthroposophist) employed two biodynamic trained farmers named Hugh Radcliffe and John Donovan, which ended in a falling out between Robyn and the farmers. After all Robyn owned the farm and was able to terminate the relationship. (so much for the community impulse people want to give her credit for). John Donovan and Hugh Radcliffe started "Sunways" a few miles down the road and took a lot of the members with them. It was pretty ugly and I assume this is why Robyn decided to rewrite the history on CSA given the roots of it to Japan. Jean-Paul
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