|
Excerpted
from Central
PA magazine, May 2008
Community-supported agriculture (CSA), is the difference
between eating carrots trucked 3,000 miles across the country and eating
carrots picked from a field 300 feet away.
As well as eliminating the enormous cost
in fuel, including the pollution those trucks generate, CSAs support local
farmers using organic-based growing methods (instead of relying on
chemical-based fertilizers and pesticides) and produce food rich in flavor,
color and nutrients.
A CSA also can create a community, help
people get in better touch with nature and promote relationships between farmers
and people, rather than just grocery stores and consumers. All in all, CSA is
arguably the most environmentally conscious concept green-minded folks can
embrace.
LocalHarvest, a popular
informational website on organic and direct-marketing family farms, lists 106
CSAs in Pennsylvania. Many of them are in Central PA, which makes sense
considering this area’s rich agricultural heritage.
Basically, a CSA works this way: A member
buys a share, which financially supports the farm, and is then entitled to pick
up a predetermined amount of seasonal produce each week. The growing season
generally stretches from early June through mid-October. That, along with what
and how much produce is available, depends on the weather. Most shareholders
pick up their food at the farms, but some CSAs have pickup locations away from
the farm.
Scott Breneman, the farm manager at Goodwill
at Homefields Farm CSA, a 14-acre property near the college town of Millersville
in Lancaster County, says most of his shareholders live within four miles of
the farm.
The farm can support about 175 shares,
which cost $595 for the season (about $24 a week). Also available are
half-shares, which cost $395. “Our shareholders tend to be more
health-conscious people, definitely environmentally minded people,” says
Breneman, who grew up on a Lancaster County dairy farm.
If the weather cooperates, shareholders
can begin picking up produce, including radishes, snow peas, lettuce, bok choy,
Asian greens, cilantro, strawberries, kale and garlic scapes, beginning the
first week of June. The season ends the week of November 15, when shareholders
will find, among other vegetables, turnips, garlic, broccoli and cauliflower.
The hardier shareholders also are welcome
to root through the farm fields in search of overlooked vegetables after that
date, and the farm has pick-your-own fields throughout the growing season. “You
get a real sense of the change in seasons here, and you learn when things would
naturally be available,” Breneman says. “When you go to a grocery store and get
strawberries in January, you lose sight of the reality of nature.”
Like most CSAs, the Homefields Farm
practices sustainable agriculture, which, according to Breneman, means feeding
the soil, not the plant. Key elements of that philosophy are the use of organic
matter as fertilizer, crop rotation, cover crops, beneficial plants and
companion planting.
“We have very few pest or disease
problems, and I would attribute that to a couple of different things: the
health of the soil, and we’re not growing acres and acres of one crop,”
Breneman says.
Breneman, who taught English after his
family stopped operating their dairy farm but couldn’t resist the lure of
getting his hands in the dirt again, says he has considered selling produce
away from the farm but rejected the notion.
“We believe one of the greatest aspects
of this CSA is being able to come here, see the food growing in the fields and
walk down to the pick-your-own field and cut fresh herbs and fresh flowers and
pick hot peppers,” he says. “It’s the joy of being here.”
REACT
TO THIS ARTICLE
Please specify the article to which you are reacting,
and include your name and town in your signature. Sending us a
reaction implies permission to post your message on our website. |
