六月份一开始，我们就要进入CSA的份额运送季节了。我们常常开玩笑说，夏天来了，夏天很快就走了。一个生活在这里50多年的农民说，这些年都没遇到过今年这么反常的季节。我到现在还常常穿着棉衣，这哪里是夏天。

NICK说每年第一次运送蔬菜，都有很多料想不到的事情发生。这一次同样也如此。

我们这一年度有33个预订的成员，分别在周边的五个社区，每周四是我们的运送日，周一到周三是种植和收获、清洗、打包的时间。每一个份额成员都有三个相同的箱子，每次我们将本周的收获放进去并运送到固定地点之后，这些份额成员将到指定地点取他们的箱子，下一周再取时将上一周的箱子放回再放回到这个地方。在每周的箱子里面我们还会放上一封信，信里是对本周收获蔬菜的介绍，并附一个菜谱。

下面这幅图是我们在收菠菜。

这是AYLA在清洗菠菜，我在装袋。

这是我们种的一种罗勒属植物，叶子绿油油的，还有一种特殊的香味，国内好像没有见过。

这就是我们第一周每一个成员箱子里的东西了。除了蔬菜以外，你还可以从我们的农场订够鸡蛋和面包。当我们把箱子都装好放到冷藏室里，运送当天我们突然发现箱子里的东西都结冰了，特别是那些芦笋，把我们都急坏了，赶紧给已经运送了的家庭打电话，将没有运送的箱子里的芦笋替换成新鲜的。

除了份额的运送，我们从六月份开始最主要的任务就是不断的种植了。这两周我们主要种了西红柿、辣椒和瓜。其实在种植上也有一定的科学性，比如，喜阴的植物可以挨着大棵的西红柿种，因为西红柿有些品种枝叶非常繁茂，这次我们种的一种西红柿据说主干有一人多高。比如，每年每一块地要轮作，这样避免相同的害虫和杂草。还有，我们在第一排的末端种了一些有颜色的花，据说这种花能够吸引害虫；在西红柿秧的上端放两小张报纸，可以防治害虫，等等。

这周末，我大学同学的姑姑带我吃了一顿非常正宗的川菜，竟然没有美国的味道；还带我去了一个植物园，让我沉浸在了植物的海洋里。“独在异乡为异客”，在异乡能感受到亲人般的关怀，让我的内心充满着感激。

Our first delivery

Once June started, we were into CSA delivery season.  We often joke that summer is here, but it goes away quickly.  A farmer who’s lived here for over fifty years said that he’d never experienced a weirder season than this year’s in all that time.  Even now I’m still wearing padded clothes – this isn’t summer. 

Nick says that a lot of unpredictable things always happen during the first delivery every year.  It was the same this time, too.

This year we have 33 members who’ve placed orders, divided amongst five surrounding communities.  Every Thursday is our delivery day; Monday through Wednesday is the time for planting and harvesting, washing, and filling bags.  Every share member has three identical boxes, and every time after we put in that week’s produce and deliver it to the arranged place, the share members arrive at the arranged spot to pick up their boxes, and when they come again the next week they bring the box from the week before with them.  We also put a newsletter in each week’s box introducing that week’s produce, and also attach some recipes.

The photos below are of us picking spinach.

This is Ayla washing spinach – I’m filling the bags.

This is a kind of basil we grow – the leaves are glossy green, and it has a very unusual scent – I’ve never seen it in China before.

This is what each member got in their box the first week.  Besides vegetables, you can also order eggs and bread from our farm.  We finished filling the boxes and put them in cold storage, but on delivery day we suddenly discovered that everything in the boxes had iced over, particularly the asparagus.  We were worried sick – we quickly phoned all of the families we’d already delivered to, and switched the asparagus in the boxes we hadn’t delivered yet for fresh bunches.

Aside from delivering the shares, our main task beginning in June is to be constantly planting.  These two weeks we’ve mainly been growing tomatoes, peppers, and melons.  Actually, planting has a certain scientific quality.  For example, shade-loving plants can be grown next to big tomato plants because some varieties of tomato have a lot of thick leaves - I’ve heard that one variety of tomato we’re growing this time can have a stalk taller than a person.  For example, every year every plot of land has to be put in rotation to avoid having the same kinds of pests and weeds.  Also, we planted colored flowers in the border rows, which apparently attract pests; we put two small strips of newspaper on top of the tomato sprouts to prevent pests, and so on.