Dear Kendra

I’ve been asked what my favorite First is (so far) by a few people. I’m not much for defining things in that way, but I will say that there have been a handful of things that have really made an impact to get me thinking in a new way.  

 

This past May, I experienced a day-in-the-life of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farmer, and immediately fell in love. She was gentle, giving and forgiving of my fumbling fingers. Dear Kendra is the darling cow I milked for the First time on Val’s CSA farm just north of Toronto.  

CSA is a farming model that was developed in Japan and Europe in the 1930’s to provide security of access/consumption to non-farmers and a consistent/sustainable market to growers.  As a co-op (NOT an organic buying club or home delivery service), CSA provides share holders who invest a set fee at the beginning of the season with locally grown food (or sometimes milk - but there are very strict rules for that).  

Apparently, we could reduce our use of fossil fuel by 1.1 million barrels of oil (per week) if we each ate one locally grown meal a week. If you’re curious, visit the Ontario CSA Directory to get connected with a local farm.      

Anyhoo. Rather than detail my day, which was full of surprises, learning, interesting characters and quirky fun, I’ve put together a little photo strip to tell the tale. NOTE: this First was sweetly set up by my super awesome friend Ben who brought along his alter-ego, Uncle Speedo. If you find Uncle S. as dreamy as I do, you can see more of him on Etsy.