As much as I love my sweet red midsize SUV that gets me to work in the morning, takes me adventuring on the weekends, and brought me here all the way from the east coast, there’s nothing like a farm truck. I didn’t know what I had been missing out on until I met Red Dog’s beautiful fleet of multicolored trucks that are consistently muddy and worn, finicky yet reliable, and bouncy but cozy on the coldest, wettest fall days. Each truck has a name and each one most definitely has a personality to fit it. When I first started here, I didn’t think I’d ever remember which was which, and which preferred to be started in which certain way. Now, it’s become second nature for me to ask “Is someone using ‘Denise’ (a.k.a. the Nissan)?” if I’m taking food out to feed our growing pigs, or to check “Does Buster have enough crates?”, referring to the two-toned brown truck, not a coworker like you might think. I’ve also had the chance to learn a thing or two about engineering, or so I like to pretend, every time I get lucky and figure out how to start one of the more difficult trucks.

The day I started at Red Dog, one of our managers gave me a tour of the farm, driving from field to field, and I distinctly remember feeling the jostling of the truck as we navigated the muddy farm roads. Now I’ve learned to sway slightly as the trucks bump over puddles and varied terrain. Time after time, these vehicles have proved their importance as we continue to harvest heavier and heavier crops. It has become almost a weekly ritual to take a truck, or sometimes two, out to our far back field and return them absolutely filled to the brim with crates of cauliflower. Similarly, before we brought all of the winter squash out of the fields, the trucks were a saving grace when we would causally pack stacks of squash boxes weighing hundreds of pounds.

As the rainy season rolls in, the mud puddles grow bigger, the temperature drops, and with it so does the size of our crew. As I see my end date in sight at the end of October, I’ve begun to reflect on all of the wonderful things I have learned this past growing season, from this place to these people and these trucks. So thanks to Buster, Romeo, Ranger, Denise, and even Rambo for making me a more confident backer-upper, finicky engine starter, and tight space fitter-inner. I can’t wait to pass by your way-too-clean look-alike cousins on highways during my future travels and I’ll cherish the way those moments will remind me of a lovely season here at Red Dog.

Hope you enjoy this week’s CSA harvested by our awesome crew and some well-loved, mostly trusty farm trucks!

~Lilly