CSA Shareholders Enjoy Fresh Produce Every Week

 

 CSA Shareholders Enjoy Fresh Produce Every Week

 

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By Sandy Vondrasek 

Most supermarket food is well-traveled, with the average piece of produce transported an estimated 1500 miles, to get from farm to store.

According to Bill McKibben, who teaches at Middlebury College and lectures and writes books on the environment, it takes 97 calories of fossil energy to bring one calorie of iceberg lettuce from California to Vermont. And, it’s not just California: The U.S. also imports produce from Chile, Honduras, Israel, Spain and other nations.

Consumers can reduce the fossil fuel emissions, cut out "middleman" costs, increase the freshness of their foods, and get to know a local farmer by joining a CSA—or Community Supported Agriculture.

CSAs, wherein consumers pre-buy a "share" in a farm’s planting, and then receive a weekly share of the harvest, are exploding in popularity, nationwide. Central Vermont is part of that trend.

"Valley Food & Farm," an annual guide for consumers of locally-produced food in the "greater Connecticut River Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire," now lists 35 CSAs.

According to the guide (copies of the 2008 edition, published by Vital Communities, are available for free at local farmers’ markets and other sites), eight of those CSAs are located in Herald towns. Most of these farm-run CSA’s offer a weekly array of vegetables, and sometimes herbs and flowers to their shareholders. An increasing number of CSAs are now offering locally raised and butchered meats, fresh eggs, and other animal products.

One local CSA also offers a "winter share," which provides shareholders with potatoes, root crops, and hardy greens from the greenhouse.

Two of the newest and younger CSA operators in the area are brothers Christopher and Jon Piana, who have put in a two-acre vegetable farm, with greenhouse, in Barnard. Their Fable Farm is on Bowman Road, on land leased from an organic beef producer.

Chris, 29, and his brother, 24, are college grads who "had been studying theory for a long time."

"We needed to back it up with action, and we made our way to a vegetable garden," he added.

Piana explained the CSA movement grew out of the theories of Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, who promoted organic, or "biodynamic," agriculture, and "a direct relationship and communications between producer and consumer."

The CSA system of selling "shares" in advance gives the "young farmer" a way to get working capital, Piana noted.

"Instead of going to a bank for a loan, you just go to the community," he said.

Another plus of CSAs is that they offer inescapable exposure to vegetables one might not otherwise ever try.

Suzanne Long of Luna Bleu Farm in South Royalton said "the joke of the farm is that one of our missions is to introduce kohlrabi to the White River Valley and Upper Valley."

Joking aside, most CSA operators gently support shareholders who are wary of kohlrabi or celeriac by including tips and recipes in the weekly bags of produce.

There are plenty of other advantages—theoretical, practical, and delightful—in running or supporting a CSA. Find them in the profiles of local CSAs listed below, in reverse alphabetical order.

A Rainbow of CSA Options

Tunbridge Hill Farm offers "a gourmet selection of diversified organic vegetables," including field-grown tomatoes, fingerling potatoes, shallots, and more. CSA season is 20 weeks, from early June to mid-October. Pick-up Monday at the farm, or at the Woodstock Market on the Green. For more information, contact 889-3565, or wendyjean@silicon dairy.net.

Maple Ridge Sheep Farm in Braintree sells grass-fed lamb by CSA pre-order only. Buyers have the option of receiving custom-processed and packaged meat, or a live animal "for you to do your own processing." Contact 728-3081 or mrsf@mrsf.com.

Luna Bleu Farm in South Royalton, operated by Suzanne Long and Tim Sanford, has been a CSA since 1991. They cultivate six acres of vegetables, have five greenhouse, and are certified organic.

Luna Bleu’s "harvest season" program runs June-October, and in addition to the veggie CSA, their farm offers flowers beef, pork, chicken, eggs, and farm crafts. They offer three share sizes, a sliding scale for cost option, and a working share option.

The farm’s "winter share" CSA offers storage vegetables and cold-hardy greens. There are a variety of pick-up options, either at the farm, at drop-off points, plua car-pooling options. Contact: www.lunableufarm.org or 763-7981.

Four Springs Farm on Royalton’s Gee Hill Road is owned and operated by Jinny Cleland. Her veggie CSA comes in two share sizes, regular and jumbo, with the first good to feed "two adults, with little kids along for the ride."

Pickup options are: At the farm, in White River Junction at the Co-op there, and a home delivery possibility at an extra cost.

Contact www.fourspringsfarm.com, or 763-7296.

Fat Rooster Farm in Royalton has a unique program, in which each share member makes an investment early in the season by purchasing "localvore dollars," redeemable for any producs the farm has throughout the season. Pickup at the farm and at the Norwich Farmers’ Market. Work share option. Contact www.fatroosterfarm.com or 763-5282.

Fable Farm is a small, diversified vegetable, fruit, herb and flower CSA that is certified organic. Chris and Jon Piana offer small and regular shares. They plan some "you-pick" options for labor-intensive harvest crops like peas and cherry tomatoes.

Pickup will be at the farm or at the Barnard General Store, and possibly at a farmers’ market. Contact fablefarm@gmail.com or 802-591-0868.

Camp Merrishko is a certified organic CSA operated by Clotilde Hryshko and Jim Merriam at their Route 14 farm.

"We have been operating our certified organic vegetable farm for 18 years, and also offer vegetable starts for gardens," Hryshko said. Members may also help themselves, during the June-October season, to a cutting garden that is well stocked with flowers and herbs.

Camp Merrishko will also offer Brotherly Farms organic meat to interested members, and will be a drop-off site for them.

There are small and large share options, and pickups are Wednesday and Thursday afternoons at the farm, and the farm will help members to make carpool connections. Contact 276-3950 or clotildeh@gmail.com.

Brotherly Farm Organic, on Lavender Road in Brookfield is operated by Craig and Angela Russell.

Their farm produces organic beef, poultry, veggies, flowers, and eggs, and non-organic pork. Beef and egg shares are available in three sizes and "chicken shares coming this summer," Angela said.

The Russells are also offering a "create your own" CSA to include quantities/mixes that shareholders want.

Veggies, flowers, and pork are only available as an additional purchase at pick-up time or at the farmers market. CSA pick up is the first Sunday of the month at the farm, or at the Randolph Farmers’ Market, if pre-arranged. Contact www.brotherlyfarm.com or 276-9904.

 

 

CSA Shareholders Enjoy Fresh Produce Every Week By Sandy Vondrasek