Little Cars of the World Unite!

Considering we cart large amount of produce around the countryside, you'd think we drove a diesel pickup or some other powerful machine.  But, instead, we like to drive little cars to get produce from point A to point B.  To get the CSA boxes delivered on Fridays, Maree drives towards Detroit Lakes and I drive towards Pelican Rapids.  All told, it is an investment of 2.5 hours for each of us and a round trip of 80-90 miles.  Since we do this trip every Friday for four months of the year, we really want to get the best fuel economy possible.

New Honda Fit with CSA Boxes

Our long-time car is a diesel Jetta wagon.  It gets 40-45 miles per gallon, I love the sound, and it's fun to have truckers ask you, "Are you sure you don't want to use unleaded in that thing?" when at the pump.  But with over 230k miles, we were not
surprised when our mechanic informed us of the transmission going out.  Our other vehicle is the farm workhorse, an old GMC Safari van, but, with about 15 miles/gallon fuel economy, we knew we really had to make the switch to something else.  So just last week we purchased a new Honda Fit, which fits our bill of having good fuel economy (about 35 on the highway) and being able to transport a fair amount of cargo.  Today was it's first trip on the CSA delivery route and I was almost giddy that this little car can fit 14 CSA boxes in the back plus one kid.

After droning on about your car situation, Ryan, what's the significance?  Well, we are like all other businesses and households working to find whatever ways possible to save energy and money in this age of $3.50 gasoline.  Doubling our fuel economy on one delivery vehicle definitely does this.  The added benefit to you, our members, is that it also cuts carbon footprint for the food you eat each week.  The greater significance, however is that I don't think we're alone in this trend.  I would expect the commercial fleet (delivery trucks, couriers, etc) of this country to get smaller and smaller in size as I imagine many businesses small and large will be making this switch towards fuel efficiency.

In the CSA box:
A Mix of Peppers: Everybody got one red pepper, an 'Italia' (long red/green one - it's sweet, not hot), a Pablano (a fairly mild hot pepper), and a Jalapeno

A Melon: I tried getting everybody a melon other than a cantaloupe, but I just didn't have that many.  Some received a white-flesh Ananas melon called 'San Juan' and others received a crisp and white fleshed-Korean melon called 'Sun Jewel' (it's the one which is oblong and yellow with white stripes).

A Half-dozen Sweet Corn: I suspect the last of the season.

A Couple Summer Squash

Beets: All are a mix of traditional red beets and a gold beet variety.

Carrots

A Couple Leeks

Garlic

Roma Tomatoes

A Cherry Tomato Mix