Somebody is stealing boxes of food from Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscribers. During one month that my husband and I subscribed through a regional supplier, we received only two of what should have been at least four boxes.
We went with a regional supplier because at the time that we placed our order, the Lake County Community Co-op was testing a new online ordering system that was open to current members only. Since then, the Facilitated Online Ordering and Distribution System (FOODS) has become available to new member sign-ups.
The regional supplier made regular deliveries once a week to a site in Middletown. When subscribers came and picked up their boxes, they would sign next to their names printed on a sign-out sheet.
Unfortunately my husband and I were often late on scene and all the boxes were gone.
Even during weeks when one of us arrived earlier in the evening, there were always fewer boxes on scene than there ought to have been, given the number of blank signature lines remaining on the sign-out sheet.
There”s no other word for what has happened than stealing and I think it”s pretty low.
Someone has been taking boxes that they are not entitled to and, as a result, someone else is going without. Just because the boxes don”t come labeled with subscribers” names, doesn”t mean that each of those boxes wasn”t intended for somebody and their family.
We”re angry because we paid hard-earned money to be able to eat this food. We didn”t choose to “donate” our food to someone who chose not to pay for it.
I know it isn”t fair to blame the supplier for these ongoing thefts. But I was disappointed that the supplier never once asked us if we”d received our box.
The blank signature line next to my husband”s name should have been an obvious sign that something had gone wrong with the week”s delivery ? and there would surely have been signature lines left blank every week, whether next to my husband”s name or next to somebody else”s.
It took two e-mail messages before the supplier responded and extended our subscription by two weeks. During the first week, we were able to get a box but during the second week, the boxes were again all gone by the time we could get to the site.
So, during a month and a half that we paid to receive four boxes, we ended up one box short. We decided to cut our losses and not go with the supplier again. We can”t afford to allow ourselves to be ongoing victims of theft.
Besides, now that co-op ordering is open to new memberships again, we”d prefer to support Lake County growers of produce. A mid-August bulletin from the co-op reported that its CSA boxes had been sourced all-local that week.
We”re hoping to have better luck with the Lake County Community Co-op. For one thing, there are enough drop points to choose from that we”re confident that we”ll be able to make a pick-up earlier in the evening: during posted hours of 5 to 7 p.m. or otherwise stated by the drop points.
Please note that the co-op”s Web site states that items not picked up by 7 p.m. will be donated.
I could not find a similar disclaimer or posted hours of pick-up on the regional supplier”s site. So if somebody is taking boxes on the pretext that their buyers were too late, I refuse to accept that excuse. I still call it theft.
Another advantage of ordering through the co-op is that FOODS will let us pick and choose among producers” seasonal offerings instead of requiring us to take an entire box. Buyers still have the option, however, of buying a CSA box on a weekly or multiple-week basis.
For more information about ordering through the co-op, visit www.lakeco-op.org/FOODS.html. Those people wishing to become new members can click the “Shop” link from that site. People who have questions can call 993-4270 or e-mail buyer@lakeco-op.org.
Cynthia Parkhill is the focus pages editor for the Record-Bee and editor of the Clear Lake Observer-American. She can be contacted at ObserverAmerican@gmail.com or 263-5636 ext. 39.
Cynthia Parkhill is the focus pages editor for the Record-Bee and editor of the Clear Lake Observer-American. She can be contacted at ObserverAmerican@gmail.com or 263-5636 ext. 39.
