Darkness falling was no reason to stop harvesting. Picking tomatoes by flashlight added a treasure hunt component to the evening.
At the harvest celebration for
Harvest of Joy Farm about 40 of us had already shared a potluck dinner, walked the property, taken a hay ride, harvested a final crop and some were settling in to sit by the fire.
Coming from the hoophouse were squeals of delight as peppers and clusters of tiny tomatoes were revealed. The parents at the fire nodded, realizing their children were creating memories that would endure.
This is part of what it means to be a member of a community supported agriculture, a CSA -- getting to know the land where your food comes from, the farmer who provides your produce and meeting the others who share in that bounty.
Inspired by a
Second Wave story on how farmers get ready for the growing season, my household for the first time this year became a supporter. We joined the growing social and agricultural movement that is helping small farmers stay on the land.
In some ways, we are coming late to the party. I have a friend who has not set foot in a conventional grocery store in three years. As the popularity of CSA's grows, their number in the region appears to be taking off with at least 25 found on the website
Local Harvest, which tracks the farms as farmers let them know they are in business.
By guaranteeing the farmer gets paid regardless of the outcome of the crop, CSA members share in the risks that come with a business at the mercy of the elements and pests that make their own feast in an organic farm bed. This year vine borers attacked the squash. Zucchini, summer squash, butternuts were hit hard. Aphids infested the brussel sprouts.
But if I hadn't asked my farmer, Amy Newday, about the challenges of the growing season she and her business partner Diane Glenn experienced this year I might not have realized the implications of aphids. Because each Thursday, our box was full of more produce than we could eat. Then again, we ate more vegetables than we ever have before and that for us was success.
We found ourselves developing a whole new relationship with vegetables as we tried out recipes our farmers provided to help us deal with the unfamiliar chard, kale, beets and long red peppers. (Well, we never did figure out how to use the long peppers. They are very decorative when dried, however.)
Soups and roasted vegetables made their way onto our table. And having tasted the heirloom tomatoes off the farm we will never eat an out of season tomato again.
Having taken the baby steps of becoming fresh vegetable eaters, next year we expect to do even better at finding ways to keep up with vegetables that got away from us this year. Blanching and even canning may be in our future.
Another celebration of the local food scene
The Third Annual Fair Food Food Fair will take place Thursday, Nov. 15, from 6-9 p.m. at the Girl Scouts Heart of Michigan Program & Training Center, 601 W. Maple St., Kalamazoo.
Proceeds benefit Fair Food Matters, which works to improve the physical, economic and social health of the community through local food.
The Fair Food Food Fair is a celebration of local food, with more than a dozen chefs competing for the coveted "Golden Ladle Award" for the best appetizer made with local ingredients.
Michigan-made beer, wine and cider will be available, along with several surprise local food products.
The event will also feature a silent auction, live music from Red Tail Ring, plus the presentation of the William R. Wood Locavore of the Year Award.
Tickets are $30 in advance and $40 at the door. Admission for students is $20 in advance and $30 at the door.
Advance tickets and more information are available by visiting www.fairfoodmatters.org.
This was year two for the farmers in Shelbyville, a rural area about 25 miles north of Kalamazoo. The first year was largely an experiment to see if the idea could be put into practice by the two women, both with family roots in farming, who simply love to grow things. They started the first year by offering six shares. That grew to shares for 25 households in 2012 -- some full shares, some half shares and some who took a full share and split it with others.
Newday says one of the challenges and one of the joys of the work this year was deciding what went into the box of produce each week. Figuring out the right amounts for each share and how to fill a box that was to be split was others was a puzzle some weeks, but one that was like "putting together a little present for people."
Conventional wisdom is that it takes about five years to know if a CSA is going to make it. "Our attitude has always been to start small and make sure we can come through on the things that we have committed to," Newday says. "We have never wanted to get too big, too fast."
Knowing it takes years for such an enterprise to turn a profit, both farmers have held on to their day jobs and it made for some intense, long days, harvesting in the morning, rushing to Kalamazoo to work, rushing back up to the farm for more harvesting. They have taken on a third partner and hope that will help them keep up with some of the demands of the business next year.
Their new partner knows a lot about plant breeding and heirloom vegetables and they plan to go in the direction of saving seeds in the coming year.
The response of those participating in the CSA was so positive this year that the farmers have been encouraged to keep going as they continue to try and find ways to make it more efficient in their use of the sustainable farming methods that Newday hopes will keep the farm going even after she is gone.
Then I am reminded of what Paul Stermer of the area's local food advocacy group Fair Food Matters often says--local food is about building community.
Around the fire, the talk turns to reading to children and letting them read to you. A youngster who has been in the farmhouse writing comes out to share her poems on dirt and erosion. And then we look up. There is a giant ring around the moon. The kind of sight you might never have noticed it you were not sitting around a fire talking food and books with a new set of friends.
Kathy Jennings is the managing editor of Southwest Michigan's Second Wave. She is a freelance writer and editor.
Photos by Zinta Aistars.
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