Wanted: CSA Stories

 AND...it is not too late! Submit your tales even if you miss the October 1 deadline listed below!

            CSA is more than budgets, production schedules, and member recruitment strategies. While such things are important to be sure, at its heart, CSA is about relationships – relationships to the soil, to a place, and to all the critters (human and otherwise) that reside there. It is through these relationships that we begin to know physically, intellectually, and spiritually who we are, where we belong, and what it takes (of us and others) to live sustainably and well. Being part of a CSA is a felt and meaningful experience (as well as a delicious one).

            Inspired by their session at the 2006 CSA-MI conference, “Metaphors, music, and meaning: CSA and the arts,” poet-farmer Scott Chaskey and anthropologist Laura B. DeLind have decided to compile and edit a “CSA storybook” as a way of communicating the textures and culture of CSA. They are soliciting stories, large and small, literal and allegorical, humorous and serious, that express some of the many relationships, sensibilities, and discoveries that form (and emerge from) the CSA experience.

            This project is meant to benefit CSA’s—farmers, community members, etc. – deepening our understanding of this most holistic form of farming and sharing its community spirit throughout the US. The editors do not currently have a grant to fund the project, but are undertaking it as a labor of love (love for CSA and love of the written word), underwriting the effort with their own resources. When they have a sufficient number of stories, they will prepare a book outline to share with potential publishers. It is too early to tell whether they will find a commercial publisher (the preferred option) or pursue a form of self-publication. In either case, royalties or income generated from book sales will go to a non-profit dedicated to sustaining the work of CSA. All authors whose stories are accepted will receive a complementary copy of the book.

            If you (farmer, member, youth, or senior) have a CSA story that you would like to have considered for publication, please e-mail it to Laura B. DeLind at

delind ATmsu.edu (substitute @ for AT and paste into your email program)

or send a hard copy to Laura at 3257 W. Howell Rd. Mason, MI 48854. Be sure to include your name, your e-mail and US postal address as well as your CSA's name and location. The deadline is October 1, 2007.