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| A Community Supported Agriculture Pickup Site in Northeast Baltimore...building community health and relationships for a 4th straight year!
25 Weeks of Organic Vegetables every Monday 5:00 - 7:00 p.m., June 2 - Nov. 17, 2008
There's a solution! During the 2008 growing season The Episcopal Church of the Messiah will host a community supported agriculture pickup site for One Straw Farm. This White Hall, Maryland farm, certified organic and in business since 1983, is the largest vegetable farm in Maryland. One Straw Farm belongs to the Chesapeake Sustainable Business Alliance, and has a stall at the Waverly Farmer's Market. The Farmers, Drew and Joan Norman, grow a large variety of produce and are wholesale suppliers to Whole Foods and other large concerns. But their crops stay fresher and tastier if they are shipped fewer miles, and the Normans, who want to focus on staying local through their CSA program, are pleased to work with the Church of the Messiah to offer this pickup site to our neighbors for a fourth straight year. Nutritious, fresh organic food, grown sustainably, helps keep both the environment and our local economy intact. It also tastes better! So What is Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA)?Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) creates a direct partnership between local farmers and consumers, eliminating supermarket middlemen and restoring the connection between a community and the source of its food. A good place to read about CSAs is at the Local Harvest website. To sum it up, people buy "shares" of One Straw Farm's harvest ahead of time and pick up their produce at Messiah under the shade of our maple tree on Monday evenings from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., for 25 weeks throughout the growing season. Advance payment helps sustainable agriculture survive in Maryland by defraying spring startup costs and guaranteeing an income for the farmers. Investing up front along with farmer saves about 25% over the cost of the same produce bought at a farmer's market, and even more when comparing supermarket prices. Direct delivery to a CSA pickup site also saves on gas and transportation costs, and your vegetables are handled less. In return for investing in the future harvest, CSA shareholders:
2007 shareholders also enjoyed a twilight tour of the farm and enjoyed two potluck suppers together. Owning a CSA share is like belonging to a green, community buyer's club where neighbors come together summer and fall!
Pictures of Messiah's CSA Pickup SiteHow One Straw Farm's CSA WorksThe CSA season is 25 weeks long this year (instead of the usual 24), but even so, the Normans have managed to keep the price of a share the same as last season’s. The cost of a share is $525 ($475 if paid in full before March 1st) or $23 per week if one joins at any time during the growing season, prorated until the end of the season. Unlike some CSAs, One Straw Farm has no field-work requirement. One share buys the shareholder 8 units of produce every week for 25 weeks, from June 2nd through November 17th -- almost half a year! The price of a share, divided over 25 weeks, is very reasonable, especially in light of sharply rising supermarket food costs. As an example, one week's pickup could include:
The bunches are what you find in the grocery store as a USDA standard. A share is designed to feed a family of four the vegetables they would need in a week. If one share sounds like too much for your household, you may make arrangements to split a share -- the Normans only require that each share be associated with a single contact person. Many families split the cost of a share and still have enough produce to serve their weekly needs. One Straw Farm's website, www.OneStrawFarm.com, has pictures, recipes, a harvest chart, and a "farmer's diary" giving news about the farm and which vegetables are being harvested when. |
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