Greetings!
This is to give you information regarding CSA pickup
procedures and safety protocols (for returning CSA members, they’re the same as
last year…but you may want to peruse this email anyhoo as it’s been a while).
In your weekly CSA email there’s a great video about COVID-19 and food safety,
and a website with more detailed info about the subjects covered in the video.
The Cinema Arts Centre doesn’t quite look the same. During
the pandemic, having no clear idea when they would have the option of opening
up again, they decided to do some previously planned renovations and long story
short…they’re in the middle of it. So you’re seeing the “before” picture, and
in the next few months it will slowly be turning into the “after” picture when
they will be finally be able to open up again.
What to bring to the CSA…
Bags to pack your food -
the CSA doesn’t provide bags and we pack our own food…suggest to bring an
assortment of paper – that’s what my Strawberries are going into this week
and anything that’s dry, plastic – that’s for the soaking wet greens we
get and are getting some this week, and canvas – that’s what I put the
whole CSA share into (or use instead of paper)
Consider putting a supply of bags
in every vehicle you own, or might find yourself driving or riding in (and
replenishing when you run low), so you don’t have to walk into the CSA and
utter the classic phrase…I forgot to bring a bag 😊. And if you ask someone
to pick up your CSA share for you who’s not a CSA member, you need to tell them
about the bag/packing thing too so THEY don’t have to utter the classic phrase 😊.
- A pen (or some writing
implement) if you have a Flower Share and/or an Herb Share so you can
cross out your name on the list provided on the table for each of those
shares (if you don’t have anything to write with, ask someone working at
the CSA to cross your name out for you).
Safety protocols and how to navigate picking up your
CSA Share
1.If you’re sick…STAY HOME!!! 😊 Have someone
who’s not sick pick up your produce. It’s never too soon to try and get at
least TWO CSA member’s contact info to have them pick up your food for you and
either hold on to it till you’re able to pick it up from them, or they can drop
it off at your house. If you’d like assistance with this process, get in touch.
2.The CSA starts at 3:30pm. The doors will be opened at that
time. If we’re running a little late at any time and the doors are still
closed/locked, please be patient.
3.The front entrance to the Cinema will only be used for
entering the building. All exiting will occur thru the doors that lead out into
the garden.
4.If you see a line outside the front of the building,
please get on the line to wait and maintain social distancing of 6 feet. In
rainy/snowy weather, there will be a line of cars in front of the building
(parallel to what the line looks like when the weather is nice), and after
first checking if there’s room for you in the building and seeing that there
isn’t, you can wait in your car until someone lets you know you can come
inside.
5.If there’s no line outside of people or cars, peek inside
and if there’s a line in the theater, check how many people are on the line as
the plan is to have up to 3 people/couples/families in the CSA at one time, and
up to 3 people/couples/families waiting in the lobby at a time, and 1
person/couple/family in the bathrooms washing their hands at a time (line up
outside the bathrooms and please socially distance…more than 3 people on line
for the bathrooms, wait outside the building and check periodically…or if
there’s a Hall Monitor check with them), and everyone else will wait on a line
outside the building starting at the entrance and continuing down the ramp that
leads up to the entrance (or in their cars in rainy/snowy weather).
6.Please wear a mask/face covering when entering the Cinema
Arts Centre
7.Once in the building, please wash your hands. Handwashing
is better at preventing COVID-19 (or the flu or food poisoning) than hand
sanitizer or wearing gloves. Both men’s and women’s bathroom doors will left
open so you don’t have to touch them. FYI – My handwashing procedure…Grab a
paper towel to turn on the faucet, get soap by using my forearm to push soap
dispenser, wash hands for 60 seconds (Happy Birthday…or the song of your
choice…twice), grab a paper towel to wipe hands dry, use paper towels to turn off
faucet, throw all paper towels in the trash can, and go on my merry way! Washing is
more sanitary than wearing gloves which can give a false sense of security of
being germ-free. COVID-19 HATES soap…and it doesn’t have to be anti-bacterial
(and it shouldn’t be as…1) it’s a virus, not a bacteria, and 2) the use of
anti-bacterial soaps, and products in general, creates antibiotic-resistant
superbugs that can make you sick and kill you and there’s no cure…not a good
thing).
8.Once online in the theater to get into the CSA, you’ll be
admitted once there’s room
9.Check-in at the CSA sign-in table (give your name, or if
you’re sharing with someone – the CSA member’s name and your name)
10.If you have any paperwork to drop off, there will be a
table with a box on it behind you as you’re checking in. Please place it in
there and it will be gone over at a later time.
11.Once you’ve checked in, go around the stanchions to the
entrance to the CSA and proceed to Table #1 where you’ll see the CSA Wall Chart
posted which tells you what we’re getting that week, how much of each food item
we’re getting, and the price our farmer charged us for each food item.
Any questions about anything on the CSA Wall Chart, please ask the folks
who are working at the CSA (they’ll be wearing name tags). Start packing your
food at Table #1 from the left side of the table, and proceed to the right and
around the room to Table #2, then Table #3, and then out the exit door to the
garden. Each food item will have a copy of the CSA Veg Info Sheet on top of it
to identify what it is (same ones you’ll have emailed to you every week so you
know what everything is and what to do with it) and if there isn’t one, there
will at least be a sign to identify what it is (again, any question…please
ask).
Sounds more complicated than it is, but this is the first
time and the first day. It’ll be a breeze soon enough.
See you at the CSA! 😊
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