Seasonal Eating | Foody Fun CSA - My Farm
Community Supported Agriculture
Published April 25, 2019
Community Supported Agriculture
Published April 25, 2019
Honey Brook Organic Farm, Pennington, NJ
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My connection to Judaism and the practice of keeping a kosher home also expresses itself as a connection to the farm.
It will be that if you give heed to My commandments . . . to love Adonai, your God, and to serve God with all your heart and with all your soul, then I shall provide rain for your Land in its proper time, the early and the late rains, that you may gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil. I shall provide grass in your field for your cattle and you will eat and you will be satisfied……Deuteronomy 11: 13-15
This familiar passage is recited daily as the second paragraph of the Shema, arguably the most important and well-known Jewish prayer. We recite the passage where God explains how closely our relationship with God is connected to our relationship with the Land.
In this context, the Land means the Land of Israel, but I would argue that our relationship with our environment can express a spiritual component no matter where we live. 
As May approaches, I look forward to the upcoming bounty from our farm. No, we don’t own a farm. For ten years, we belonged to a CSA farm about 20 minutes from our home in central New Jersey.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is the popular and growing movement where farms sell shares of their production before the season begins. As members, we share the bountiful harvest, we share camaraderie with other members, we share responsibility for the land and, most importantly for the farm, we share the risk that is inherent in business of agriculture. Our CSA membership is not just a way to buy vegetables. It is a relationship between us and the farmers. Membership fees let farmers purchase seed and equipment and pay staff. They don’t have to worry about whether they will be able to sell all of a bumper crop or suffer losses in leaner years. We lived near the farm; we knew first-hand whether it was a harsh winter, a rainy spring, or a too dry summer. When the weather was good; we all shared in a plentiful bounty. When it wasn't ideal; we understood that our share would be smaller or less beautiful. Our farm is organic, so our membership helps preserve land and eliminate runoff of harsh chemicals into hundreds of acres of preserved New Jersey wetlands. Indigenous wildlife thrives side-by-side with our crops. The variety of produce is fantastic. From May through November, we ate our way through the flow of the season. We started with lots of greens and herbs, worked through berries, leeks, radishes and beets to corn and tomatoes – glorious tomatoes – and finished the season with pumpkins, sweet potatoes, turnips and carrots. And flowers. Buckets and buckets of huge, bright, crazy flowers that filled the house with color all summer long. I have learned to love veggies that I would not have tried from a conventional store, like kohlrabi, tomatillo, and yes, okra. And of course, there is the flavor. You just cannot compare grocery store produce to our fresh plants that have not been packed into crates, trucked across the country (or worse, flown here from another continent), refrigerated, and man-handled. Our farm produce was in the ground or on the vine just hours before we got it. And for all that fresh, delicious, organic produce the cost of a CSA is a bargain. Our NJ farm cost about $18 per week. Of course, some years are more bountiful than others, but that’s okay, because I know the farm will prosper enough to be there next year and for many years after. I haven’t found a convenient CSA in Cincinnati, but there is a farmers' markets somewhere every day of the week. There are year-round options - online companies who reduce food waste by shipping not-so-beautiful produce right to your door. Misfits Market Imperfect Foods Hungry Harvest I encourage you to look for a CSA in your neighborhood or find the nearest farmers market. And enjoy the burst of authentic flavor that only fresh, local produce can deliver. |