Dear Norman’s Community,

First I would like to share my sincere wishes for everyone during this time and hope you and your families are staying healthy and positive. So much has changed in such a short period that personally I’m still trying to get my head around these unprecedented events and how they are impacting our daily lives. Although I understand the importance of social distancing and staying home to combat the spread of the virus, it seems to attack the very fiber of being human and the desire for supporting our neighbors and community, for social bonding and consoling each other, and for rising to the occasion, and figuring out a solution.

The other evening while settling into our new home (yes we moved to a new house just a week ago), one of our neighbors invited us to a “social distance” happy hour on the street. Everyone made their beverage of choice and stood a comfortable distance apart as we were greeted and got to know our neighbors. It kind of felt like an old school block party. It’s such an interesting contrast with all the doom and gloom of the coronavirus, its shocking headlines and statistics, with shuttered businesses and quarantines, that the cherry trees and japanese magnolias are in full bloom, joyous forsythias decked out in canary yellow accompanied by daffodils and hyacinths. As the sun comes out everyone is out riding bikes and walking dogs, waving hello and greeting neighbors, albeit with some shouting from the front porch to the street. It feels like something out of a Ray Bradbury story or Twilight Zone episode.

At home we are doing a lot more cooking and enjoying meals in the dining room as a family. Eris even has me doing a 3 day/week outdoor boot camp with her. I’ve been doing a lot of journaling, reflecting on a recent road trip across New Zealand, and finding the time and desire for sitting at the piano or picking up the guitar (which hasn’t happened much in the past year).

Aside from these leisurely activities, I wanted to assure everyone that Norman’s crew is hard at work planting in the greenhouses, and getting ready to break ground at the farm for the season. We will start transplanting onions and fertilizing strawberries on March 28! We are planning on being back and in business, on schedule, with our initial distribution on Sunday, April 26. 

We are taking Covid-19 very seriously and value the safety of our members and crew with the highest regard. We realize we will have to make some modifications to the way in which we distribute our CSA shares, (at least temporarily). We will keep the distribution limited to no more than 10 members at a time. Expect lots of food safety gloves, hand sanitizer, and disinfectant spray. We are trying to come up with new ways to serve our members who may be at higher risk regarding Covid-19 (due to age or pre-existing medical condition) which may include curbside pickup and/or delivery to some extent. Another idea is permitting those over 60 to arrive a half hour early for pickup. We are staying tuned to the CDC and WHO for updates and have not figured out everything yet, but are working on it and would appreciate input and/or voluntarism.

We appreciate everyone’s patience and support and are thankful for our local community. We are looking forward to seeing everyone soon enough with some fresh and nourishing local produce.

John Norman