We are nearing an exciting time. We are preparing to send you notifications that your first boxes will soon be arriving. Up until now you were anonymous people who filled out a form on a website … that is about to change 🙂
Did you notice that we refer to you as „Members” and not as „Customers”? Customers simply pay for a service or product. Cutia Taranului is a product and a service and more. It is about a healthy, collaborative relationship between peasants and … well … you. Relationship implies a caring and conscious effort on both sides. We have been speaking to peasants about their part. About growing food responsibly, packaging it effectively, delivering it reliably and learning to appreciate the wonderful qualities of this new relationship with … well … you 🙂 Your part in this new relationship has the potential for more then just trading a few bills of money for a box of food.
To share with you what more you can do to make this relationship healthy we feel the need to share with you a bit about what we’ve learned about the peasant families who will be appearing at your door. They are caring people that, for the most part, do what they do with a sense of purpose and appreciation. They work hard (sometimes too hard). Yet they have been cornered into a difficult position that forces them to sell their products within constraints that make it very difficult for them to make a decent minimal living … despite the caring hard work. As a result they feel unappreciated and cornered. Being cornered makes them doubtful, untrusting and fearful.
Most peasants have reached out to us after hearing about Cutia Taranului from others … and yet they were doubtful. They were trying to understand what were we not telling or even hiding from them? Would they have to sign a contract that traps them somehow? (no, like you, we prefer relationships based on faith and trust). Even when they were holding the first members lists in their hands they were doubtful. Even after they spoke to you and found encouraging and supportive voices they continued to be doubtful. They were and continue to be afraid they would lose „customers” if the price was too high or if the contents of the box were fixed (which we asked them to create to keep things simple and feasible for them) instead of „bending to the will” of individual paying customers customer.
Even now, when they are about to bring their produce to you, who have demonstrated to them that you really do care, they are afraid of doing anything to lose you as a customer. They are afraid because they have reason to be. Over the years they have been losing customers and finding it harder and harder to make a living. They are coming from a world of distrust and often abuse and we are inviting them to an embracing world of trust and appreciation. They are afraid because Cutia Taranului is a challenging mental and cultural shift for them. Its a lot for them to take on.
What ultimately opened up their minds was not us but you. When you filled an online form it was an act of pure good will and faith on your part. When you answered them with enthusiasm on the phone you offered them encouragement and support. What remains for you to do is … to keep on doing what you’ve already been doing. Embrace them. Let them know you do care about and do appreciate their efforts. When they’ve made you happy let them know. If there’s something you don’t like, let them know too … share your thoughts and feelings with the same supportive care you do when you are happy.
Please be responsible and fair in you relationship with them. Creating and maintaining new, healthy and hopefully long-term relationships is going to take conscious and caring effort from everyone. If at any point you find it difficult to continue making this effort on your own please reach out to us so that we may try to help.
In our (Andreea and Ronen) hearts and minds, you and the peasants are making a difference. Cutia Taranului is so much more then growing and consuming food. We believe that your good will and faith in each other is both proving that Romania is already a better place than most people make it out to be (so many locals and foreigners like to put Romania down as a backwards and corrupt country) and at the same time making it an even stronger, resilient and healthier place to live in. We are awed and inspired by you.
We wish you delicious food and inspiring transformation 🙂