Seasonality | Foody Fun CSA - My Farm
Community Supported Agriculture
Published April 25, 2019
Community Supported Agriculture
Published April 25, 2019
My connection to Judaism and the practice of keeping a kosher home also expresses itself as a connection to the farm.
It will be that if you give heed to My commandments . . . to love Adonai, your God, and to serve God with all your heart and with all your soul, then I shall provide rain for your Land in its proper time, the early and the late rains, that you may gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil. I shall provide grass in your field for your cattle and you will eat and you will be satisfied……Deuteronomy 11: 13-15
This familiar passage is recited daily as the second paragraph of the Shema, arguably the most important and well-known Jewish prayer. We recite the passage where God explains how closely our relationship with God is connected to our relationship with the Land.
In this context, the Land means the Land of Israel, but I would argue that our relationship with our environment can express a spiritual component no matter where we live. |
As May approaches, I look forward to the upcoming bounty from our farm. No, we don’t own a farm; although there is a working wheat farm at the end of my street. For the last ten years, we have belonged to a CSA farm about 20 minutes from our home in central New Jersey.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is the popular and growing movement where farms sell shares of their production before the season begins. As members, we share the bountiful harvest, we share camaraderie with other members, we share responsibility for the land and, most importantly for the farm, we share the risk that is inherent in business of agriculture. Our CSA membership is not just a way to buy vegetables. It is a relationship between us and the farmers. Membership fees let farmers purchase seed and equipment and pay staff. They don’t have to worry about whether they will be able to sell all of a bumper crop or suffer losses in leaner years. We live near the farm; we know first-hand whether it was a harsh winter, a rainy spring, or a too dry summer. When the weather is good; we all share in a plentiful bounty. When it’s not ideal; we understand that our share is smaller or less beautiful. Our farm is organic, so our membership helps preserve land and eliminate runoff of harsh chemicals into hundreds of acres of preserved New Jersey wetlands. Indigenous wildlife thrives side-by-side with our crops. The variety of produce is fantastic. From May through November, we eat our way through the flow of the season. We start with lots of greens and herbs, work through berries, leeks, radishes and beets to corn and tomatoes – glorious tomatoes – and finish the season with pumpkins, sweet potatoes, turnips and carrots. And flowers. Buckets and buckets of huge, bright, crazy flowers that fill the house with color all summer long. I have learned to love veggies that I would not have tried from a conventional store, like kohlrabi, tomatillo, and yes, okra. |
And of course, there is the flavor. You just cannot compare grocery store produce to our fresh plants that have not been packed into crates, trucked across the country (or worse, flown here from another continent), refrigerated and man-handled. (I worked in a grocery store. If you knew how many people touch your produce before you bring it home, you would scrub it with bleach before eating.)
Our farm produce was in the ground or on the vine just hours before we get it. And for all that fresh, delicious, organic produce the cost of a CSA is a bargain. Our NJ farm cost about $18 per week. Of course, some years are more bountiful than others, but that’s okay, because I know the farm will prosper enough to be there next year and for many years after. I haven’t yet decided on a CSA for when we move back to Cincinnati, but I know there are lots of options. Most offer box share pickup locations around the city, including at many of the neighborhood farmers markets. A year-round option is misfitsmarket.com, a company that reduces food waste by shipping not-so-beautiful produce right to your door. I encourage you to look for a CSA in your neighborhood. Or at least find the nearest farmers market. And enjoy the burst of authentic flavor that only fresh, local produce can deliver. |