(CSA Newsletter: Week 30)
Meet this week’s vegetables:
I apologize in advance that this isn’t the most ‘romantic’ topic for a CSA newsletter. We’ll return to our regular ‘everything is beautiful’ farm narrative next week. In the meantime, we wanted to address a less-than-pleasant (but important) topic:
The last two weeks, you may have noticed a new presence on our CSA pick-up table: a bottle of hand sanitizer with a little sign asking people to clean their hands before picking up.
Since we here at Oakhill Organics are highly intentional in how we manage and operate the CSA, we wanted to fill you in on the long series of thoughts and conversations that led to this new development.
First of all, we want to make it absolutely clear: we have no reason to think that anyone has ever gotten sick via contagions spread by our CSA display. Most likely, no one ever will since most of our members only touch the vegetables that go in their own bags and most veggies get washed or cooked before eating.
However, over the last few months, we’ve watched the CSA pick-up process and begun realizing that there is the potential for a sick or contagious person to touch other people’s food, even if very briefly. The pick-up is much like a buffet line, with food on display and the potential for cross-contamination.
Here at the farm, we take many basic precautions to keep vegetables clean: washing our hands, only putting washed produce into clean bins, keeping bins from touching the ground, etc. Adding the hand sanitizer to the pick-up line is just another way to keep that level of basic cleanliness constant until everyone has picked up their veggies — especially now that we’re approaching what is rumored to be a potentially rougher than normal cold and flu season. Health professionals continually stress the importance of frequent and effective hand washing in avoiding illnesses, and we think cleaning our hands is a very low risk, simple thing we can all do to help keep our community as healthy as possible this fall and winter.
Some of you voice skepticism at hand sanitizer’s effectiveness. Hand sanitizer is not as effective as hand washing with warm running water and soap and should not be used as a substitute in all situations, however, studies show that hand sanitizer does slow and prevent the spread of infection. In situations where hand washing is not possible (such as at the pick-up), hand sanitizer is an effective measure. We hope that everyone practices conscientious hand washing throughout the day, especially before and after eating and after using the bathroom.
It also came to our attention last week that many people have sensitivities or allergies to some of the ingredients in commercial hand sanitizers. To that end, we have added a second bottle to the line of an all-natural, fragrance free hand sanitizer containing the same active ingredient. If for some reason, you would prefer to avoid the hand sanitizer all together, we simply ask that you take a moment to wash your hands before leaving your home or work to pick-up your veggies.
I also want to share a quick story, one that might help people understand where Casey and I are coming from with the use of hand sanitizer. A few years back I ran a large commercial kitchen at a mountain retreat center and community. In the summer, we fed up to 400 people three communal meals a day. We were very conscientious about all the basic food handling laws and regularly passed our surprise inspections with perfect scores.
However, one morning a family dropped by to tell us they believed they had been food poisoned. This was an accusation we took very seriously and we quickly tried to figure out where we had mishandled the food. We quickly found out that actually these people had contracted Norovirus, the same nasty stomach bug that plagued the cruise ships a few years back. It is an incredibly contagious virus and spreads quickly, especially in dining settings where people are either cooking for each other or handling the same utensils or food (such as in a communal dining room!).
Once it arrived in our small isolated community, Norovirus ravaged the staff — probably about half the staff became ill within a few weeks. It was very difficult to run a kitchen on lower numbers, since sick persons couldn’t handle food for several days after being ill. Plus, we were trying to host guests in a pleasant, fun family environment without getting them sick too! Eventually, we took an aggressive tactic and posted signs on all the dining room doors reminding people to WASH THEIR HANDS before eating! We also put hand sanitizer out at all the buffets. The reminders and opportunities to wash hands worked. Finally, we contained the virus and returned to being a normal healthy community.
And, of course, I should quickly mention the other big recommendation from health professionals for preventing the spread of illness is to STAY HOME WHEN SICK! This is something we practiced in our mountain community that I’m sure also helped bring health back. For this fall and winter, staying home should include your weekly errands, such as picking up the veggies. If you can, we request that people ask a friend or family member to pick up whenever you feel severely ill (have a fever, for example).
In conclusion, no, we’re not ‘germaphobes’ here at the farm. Far from it — we spend most of our time being dirty and sweaty after all! But, we do think it right for us to consider the wide range of people who eat our vegetables, ages zero to 92 and including individuals who fall into some of the ‘higher risk’ populations for H1N1. Even though this flu in particular is not at risk for spreading through the CSA (it spreads most quickly through people living or working in close proximity for long periods of time), who knows what other little icky viruses will pop up this winter? We’d like to avoid the pick-up being a place to spread any kind of illness.
We hope that you now have a better understanding of our thoughts in putting out the hand sanitizer. If you have any questions or concerns about any of this, please speak with us. Obviously hand cleaning isn’t a miracle, but it is a very simple, safe, proven precaution against the spread of illness. May we all stay healthy and happy as fall slowly creeps up on us. Of course, another good defense is boosting our immune system (and staying happy) is through the consumption of lots of tasty fresh food! Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
P.S. Want edamame? We’ve got some! Contact us to arrange a time to come out and pick for yourself for free. We won’t be harvesting them for the CSA, for various reasons.
