WASHINGTON — The farm-to-table concept is very popular with restaurants these days, and it can be popular in your home too.
Lean Plate Club blogger Sally Squires says that, just as with many things these days, it’s now really easy to find a local farmer online.
The concept is called Community Supported Agriculture, and Squires explains it this way: You buy a “share” in a local farm, supporting a local farmer, and you get to reap some benefits and rewards.
Be aware: this is not an inexpensive option.
Prices vary depending on the farm and the size of the bag or box you order, but expect to pay what you would at a farmer’s market. Some farms sign people up for the season. Others, by the month – which could be helpful if you’re going on vacation and need to cancel for a short time.
And Squires says there are definitely questions you should ask before signing up. Some of the questions recommended by the group Local Harvest, which provides a national directory of 30,000 family farmers, include:
- How long have you been farming?
- How long have you been doing a CSA?
- Are there items in your box grown by other farms, and if so, which farms?
- How did last season go?
- How many members do you have?
- What percentage of the food you deliver annually is grown on your farm?
- Can I talk to some other members before I sign up?
The CSA concept appears to have originated in Japan in the 1960s and emerged in this country about 30 years ago. The first American CSAs, Squires says, were the Indian Line Farm in Massachusetts and the Temple-Wilton Community Farm in New Hampshire — both began in 1986.
If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, Squires says, before you sign up, think about how much you really like vegetables and fresh produce. How adventurous are you with new foods? Will you know what to do with turnips? Or collard greens? And what will you do with the leftovers?
And if you’ve made up your mind, look through Local Harvest’s directory to find a CSA farm near you.
