Yesterday we picked up our vegetables from our very own farm. What do I mean when I say “our own farm”? Our farm is located just outside the City. The farmers from this farm come into town once every couple of weeks in the winter, and once a week in the summer to deliver quantities of foods produced on the farm. Ok, so it’s not really “our” farm, but it feels like it is. It is an awesome way to add more vegetables to your life!
Image via Wikipedia
Here are ten reasons to love Community-supported Agriculture!
1. Eating with the seasons, the vegetables are always optimally fresh.
2. You don’t have to enter a drab grocery store and look at dozens of irradiated, sad little vegetables and scan prices, calculating the best value to find your food. The farmer does the choosing for you and the CSA partnerships are a good deal for both the farmer and the city partner. I find this to be a convenient system that reduces stress.
3. Speaking of convenience, if you are lucky like us, your farmer drops off the vegetables 2 short blocks from your home.
4. It’s more than veg. Sometimes farmers will partner with other producers who deliver eggs, cheese, breads, honey, maple syrup and more to the pick-up site.
5. Encounter vegetables you have never eaten before in your life. CSA partnerships have introduced me to celeriac, kohlrabi, sunflower sprouts, paddy pan squash, other unidentified squashes and more.
6. The farmer often sends you a newsletter with new recipes, especially for the lesser-known vegetables.
7. Speaking of surprises, you get a range of vegetables that need to be used soon, as well as ones that can be stored for weeks. For those with short attention spans, or who find it difficult to plan menus days ahead, this is a wonderful way to always have “something for dinner”.
8. Are you on the “Hundred Mile Diet”? It’s a cinch with this partnership!
9. The people at the drop-off place are really friendly. There are smiles all around. It feels like “Community”.
10. The vegetables are all organic. They all come from the same farm. This adds biodiversity, which strengthens the land. This empowers our farmer to grow what she wants, and allows her to respond in an intuitive way to what her land needs and requires.
If you are in Quebec, check out the equiterre website. Summer is a great time to join a CSA partnership, but there are also many winter partnerships available.
http://www.equiterre.org/solution/fermier-de-famille
written by: Tammy Schmidt and Natasha Henderson!
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