This is Erika’s write-up as mentioned in my previous post…
My husband Scott, son Aksel, and I enjoyed an afternoon visit to the farm for their annual CSA Shareholder Open House event. We had a tour of the farm’s barn, cleaning/sorting area, greenhouses, and fields, as well as a fabulous potluck meal and boot-tapping entertainment by 1-man band blues guy Ben Prestage. And last night, our 9-month old baby Aksel slept through the night for the first time ever. Guess all that farm fresh air does a baby good.
Eating locally has many benefits, both for the individual/family as well as for the community. Rather than traveling an average of 1,500, as is the case with food at the grocery store, our CSA vegetables travel less than 50 miles. They are grown on a certified organic farm that has the soil tested annually, and Native Offerings invests in remineralizing of the soil to compensate for the nutrients lost by past crops. The farm also employs people locally with a living wage, which supports local families. The food is rich, wholesome, and as nutritionally dense as you can possibly find anywhere; everything has been harvested within 24 hours of us picking up our weekly share.
An organic farm faces many challenges that are easily “solved” by conventional farmers with sprays, but must be more creatively and naturally solved by the organic farmer. Crop rotation as well as planting of crops to attract pests away from food crops are all a part of the solution, as well as resting of certain fields and electric fencing to keep the deer at bay. We learned so much about the food we have been eating, as well as about the challenges and rewards of organic farming in general. Anyone with an interest in changing their family’s eating habits and being part of a solution to the food crisis this country is facing should look into joining a CSA.
