This may not be fair, to create a whole post around a single, unique encounter. But it is an example of the kinds of interactions that happen all the time between people who are unprepared for natural world experiences and farmers.
This is a true story. I am not making anything up.
I got an email tonight:
Hope you are doing well. I purchased organic mixed greens for $5 on Saturday in courthouse at the farmers market. We opened the bag at home and noticed at least 15 small green alive bugs. As a result we had to toss the greens. I was wondering if you can issue me a refund due to this. Thank you!
Now, to be totally fair, no one really wants to find green alive bugs in their bag of lettuce. I wonder whether dead bugs would be better, though. It seems like alive bugs would be much more reassuring. Just think of how fresh those greens must be!
A couple of comments, probably not that important. We never ever say we are organic because that is illegal. So she was imprecise. She had to toss the greens. She was unimaginative. Or she has no water. Issue her a refund -- how? She didn't tell me how she spent the money but I am guessing she paid with a credit card. Should I refund her the full amount or take out the credit card fee which we have already paid? How should I figure out how to refund her the $5?
I wrote back:
I am sorry about the bugs. I bet they were aphids. It would be simplest to give you a credit for your next purchase at the market unless you tell me how to send you a check. The next time you go to market, you can just tell them that Hana said you have a $5 credit or you could take this email with you if that seems easier.
If you would rather just have a check, please send me an address and I will get that out to you!
At this time of year, we have a lot of resident tiny bugs that have been hanging out in the warm tunnels. The simplest thing to do is float the leaves in a sink until everything comes off. That's what we have to do in our world of non-chemical farming -- we have to figure out how to eat the food even if bugs got there first.
Before sending that, I had my current daughter-in-residence check it for tone/snarkiness. She said it was okay. I figured I had given the customer a way to get her money back AND I had told her how to deal with bugs in lettuce.
To my surprise, she said:
Thanks so much!
Do you mind sending me a check? My address is: XXXXX
Appreciate it.
So I wrote her a check, put a stamp on the envelope and thought of all the things I would still like to say. It's not that she shouldn't complain if she finds bugs in her salad. I was actually hoping that she would say she wasn't ever going to shop at our stand again, and we would be done. But no. She is going to have to deposit this $5 check (I am paying both her credit card fees and her sales tax, without comment) and in the memo line it says: "refund for greens with bugs."
A guest in the house, someone with skills, looked up this person on the internet. She is a dermatologist who has worked at NIH. She is not a medical student. Of course we don't know about how much debt she has. But we do know that she does not know how to float her unsprayed greens in a sink and that she is clear about her rights as a consumer.
This is just one example of many, but somehow it surprised me that she persisted.
At the other end of the spectrum today: we have a longtime CSA customer who has been out of town for a few weeks and has missed two pickups. They have been in touch, letting me know that they were returning today and hoped to get two shares. Their tone was warm and appreciative, as it always is. Because the vegetables from the weekend looked so tired and droopy -- they were picked about five days ago and have been displayed for too long -- I decided to go and pick her some fresh vegetables. This is not normal but these people are so nice (I have no idea what they look like, but they are excellent communicators). I picked a few heads of beautiful red lettuce, some gorgeous chard, some kale with aphids, and a handful of scallions. I ran some water over it but did not float it in the sink. I collected up some carrots and popcorn and tomato sauce and eggs to round out the share and put the whole thing in an open crate in the room with a note: DOUBLE DELUXE SHARE.
Tonight I got this message:
Thank you for the beautiful veggies! I feel like a kid with an Easter basket!
These are the people who make my heart sing. I will do anything for someone who pays full price, ahead of time, sends nice notes, and even sends a thank you note. She will never mention the aphids on the kale because all she saw was how beautiful the leaves were.
