Community-Supported
Agriculture, Farm Markets, and Pick-Your-Own
By Nava Atlas
A growing movement in my region
encourages people to use at least one locally grown food each
day. At a time when small farmers are struggling to survive, this
helps local economies and is a more sustainable practice than
continually buying food trucked into supermarkets over thousands
of miles.
The call to use one local food
per day has gotten me to thinking about how drastically my own
shopping habits have changed over the last few years. I pick up
my family’s share of just-picked organic produce once a
week from May through November at the CSA (Community-Supported
Agriculture) farm we belong to.
I shop at a local natural foods
store once or twice a week for fruits and veggies I can’t
get at the CSA, as well as other staples for my rapidly growing
sons, and in season, I visit local farm markets on a regular basis.
My new food-gathering habits have
become pleasant rituals. I enjoy chatting with the growers and
fellow members at share pick-up at the CSA. Supporting local businesses
like Mother Earth’s, the natural foods market, feels better
than traipsing the aisles of impersonal supermarkets.
I always chat with the employees
and often sip on organic coffee or freshly made juice while I
shop. I don’t really need to shop at farm markets,
but that too is a pleasant ritual and helps support the efforts
of small, family-owned shops and businesses.
Using seasonal (and ideally, organic
and local) produce and ingredients, you can create meals that
dazzle the eyes and palate and are incredibly simple to prepare.
Eating locally, organically, with the seasons not only helps foster
rewarding food traditions but benefits the environment. Supporting
sustainable agriculture reduces our dependence on imported produce
and in effect, the energy required to transport it and the pesticides
used to grow it.
It may not be practical to eliminate
supermarket shopping (after all, we do need our tissues, paper
towels and such), but think of ways in which you can localize
at least some of your food shopping, especially during warmer
months. Take full advantage of local foods by joining a CSA, shopping
at farm markets and picking your own produce. All are superb experiences
to share with children, allowing them to see the connection with
their foods and their source.
Community-supported agriculture
Apart from the obvious benefits of getting freshly harvested organic
produce and attending special events, it seems to me that CSA
members most enjoy the ritual of the share pick-up -- chatting
with the growers and fellow members, seeing what produce is new
that week, enjoying the scents and colors, then taking it home
to the kitchen.
CSAs foster a sense of community.
The one I belong to holds regular potlucks on the farm to connect
the members, honor the growers and interns and share food made
from the produce. The farm also serves as a springboard for various
outreach and charitable activities and a catalyst for further
social bonds. I gleaned a few fellow members when I formed a book
discussion group a few years ago.
Ask around out about CSAs in your
area that you might join. CSA groups are available in urban areas,
not just in the countryside. To find a CSA in your area, search
the database at Alternative
Farming Systems Information Center.
Farm markets
Hothouse tomatoes, waxed apples, rock-hard peaches, lettuces that
get a shower every few minutes — welcome to the supermarket
produce section. Though this venue for fresh food has improved
over the last few years, primped, pre-packaged fruits and veggies
still serve as reminders that mass-produced produce is bred to
look good and last long, rather than taste good. Meant to withstand
long rides on trucks and planes, “hard and sturdy,”
not “lush and ripe,” are the watchwords.
While most supermarket produce
sections are serviceable (where would we be without them in winter?),
they can’t compare with the colorful, fragrant offerings
from farm markets and roadside produce stands. Just-picked produce
bursts with fragrance and invites touching and comparing. Here’s
one instance where impulse buying and letting your senses rule
is half the fun. After all, turban squash, fiddlehead ferns or
a peck of habañero peppers may never appear on your shopping
list.
Farm markets have proliferated
in rural as well as urban areas everyone, so chances are there’s
one near you. Their seasons run at least from June through November,
even in colder climates. You’re not only buying produce
that’s fresher and riper that anything mass-produced, but
also casting a vote for small farms and sustainable agriculture.
Shopping at farm markets is a sure
way wake up your senses, and is a wonderful outing to take with
children, who enjoy meeting and talking to the people who produce
their food.
Make it a practice to patronize
farm markets once a week, in season. Once you develop a routine,
find your favorite stands, and get to know the farmers, you’ll
surely grow to regard these weekly excursions as a favorite food
gathering ritual.
Pick-your-own outings
When my sons were young, they loved to pick berries. Filling wooden
baskets with sugary strawberries and blackberries, they gobbled
up small berries like candy; we used the larger berries to make
toppings for yogurt or ice cream. After a day or two, any that
we left would go into freshly baked muffins or cobbler.
If you live in an urban or suburban
area, picking your own produce will take some doing, but even
if you can manage it but once a year, an annual ritual of picking
your own fruit is well worth the effort. Picking produce induces
a dreamy alpha state, and the scents of vine-fresh fruits can
be intoxicating.
From late May through July, look
for opportunities to pick berries. If you live within driving
distance of apple orchards, an annual apple-picking expedition
is a delight. The Northwestern United States and New Zealand are
among the few climates in which it is practical to grow entirely
organic apples, so at least seek an orchard designated as low
spray.
Some small farms offer pick-your-own tomatoes in late summer,
so that you can make fresh sauces to use right away or can for
future use. You might find venues to pick your own cucumbers,
zucchini, green beans and other veggies to savor immediately or
preserve. In October, fall harvest festivals at small farms offer
opportunities for picking pumpkins, a great favorite among small
children.
My friend Wendy and her husband
began an annual apple-picking ritual when their first son was
a Snugli™-wrapped infant. Twelve years and three additional
children later, a year has not gone by with at least one and usually
more fruit-picking outings. The family most often frequented a
nearby apple farm, spending an entire day, complete with picnic
and gorgeous views of a river valley.
Now that the family is concerned
with the pesticide issue, they prefer to visit farms where they
can pick organic berries. What is most appealing, she says, is
reaping and gathering food directly from its source — a
process we don’t get to experience at the supermarket. Wendy
has often extended the pleasure of berry-picking outings by making
and canning jam — one big batch per fruit picking, ensuring
her family the enjoyment of delicious jam all winter.
© Nava Atlas
Nava Atlas is the
author
and illustrator of many books on vegetarian cooking and other
subjects, including The Vegetarian
5-Ingredient Gourmet, The
Vegetarian Family Cookbook, Vegetarian
Soups for all Seasons and Vegetariana.
Her site In
a Vegetarian Kitchen with Nava Atlas features dozens of easy,
healthy vegetarian and vegan recipes, tips, forums, a monthly
e-zine and opt-in newsletters.
