Just up the road from where we live is an organic farm. Organized as a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm, Cherry Grove Organic Farm allows individuals and families to purchase shares in January and receive a portion of the produce throughout the entire summer.
It’s a beautiful concept. Shareholders help the farmers by supplying capital for purchase of seeds and plants, and literally reap the benefits of the garden. The farmers get to sell the extra produce beyond what the shareholders receive and keep those proceeds as payment for the work they put in before, during and after the growing season. It’s a great deal if 1) You can get into one, (ours is full,) and 2) if you go every week and use or give away the produce that you receive. Just search CSA on your computer for a Farm near you.
OK. Thus ends my commercial for CSAs and back to “our” farm.
Together, we benefit from the great growing years and together we share in the burden when the season brings damaging storms, drought or pests. The community in CSA refers not only to the geographic area, but the smaller community of the farm itself. We gather together on Tuesday or Thursday, every week from June through the middle of November. I see my farmers and my fellow shareholders more often than I see my extended family. It’s a connection I have come to highly appreciate and value.
Traditionally, the first week in June is when our farm opens its barn doors for the first pick-up. Mitch and I share the pleasure of making the trip to pick up our share. I won’t say we fight for it, but we do both like to experience the simple pleasure of selecting our produce from the bins marked, “half shares.” Families probably need "full shares" but with just the two of us, we still receive with our half share more than we can comfortably consume in the week. We also enjoy chatting with one of the owners when she has a free moment. The expereince connects us to the people involved who are sharing with us not only the wonderful organic foods, but also some of the farming experience.
I grew up on a small farm, so for me it brings back precious memories. To this day, I have never found sweet corn, watermelons or tomatoes that taste as good as the ones my Daddy grew. The good news is , that for tomatoes and watermelon, this farm is a close second. (Sweet corn takes too much space for a small yield so Cherry Grove doesn’t grow it.)
We are fortunate in that not only do we have the farm, but we live in an area rich with a diversity of people attracted to the colleges and businesses that are close by. That combination seems to bring a beautiful diversity to the community both in people and in cooking traditions. It also means there is a wide age range of people. Young couples with small children through elders live around here and the farm attracts the full range.
I love going in the late afternoon, when parents come with their children in tow. The children help, with various levels of skill, bagging the greens, or weighing tomatoes or potatoes before helping put them in the bags. They also seem to glory in the opportuniy to pick things themselves. We start with sugar snap peas, and range through the summer with several kinds of peppers, green beans, cherry tomatoes, herbs and flowers. I relish the fact that while I was long a mature (well in age anyway) woman before I tried kale let alone learned to cook it, these children will have the chance to try this variety of vegetable in the most ideal circumstance possible - within hours of picking, organic and with the experience of seeing that vegetables do not grow in cans after all.
Organic, freshly picked and within a few miles of home, the luxury is something we savor all season, and miss in the winter time. What’s Zen got to do with it? The purity of the food is part of it, of course. Connecting with the actual ground from which to food comes connects me with not only my personal past and particularly my Daddy, but the distant human past that is a part of all of us. It also connects me in a real way with people in the community who look and sound different from me, but with whom I have something very important in common. Once again am delighted by this evidence of the connectedness of all things.
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