Community Supported Agriculture

To some, the summer equinox represents the start of summer. To others, it is Memorial Day. To me, the longer days and warmer weather are nothing compared to the prospect of fresh, local, summer food. The start of summer is heralded by the beginning of the Community Supported Agriculture Program or CSA.

On a recent Thursday afternoon, giddy as a schoolgirl, I pull into Greenfield Hill Congregational Church in Fairfield, Conn., and I can see Stacia Monahan in the process of unloading the boxes, which share members of the Stone Gardens Farm's Community Supported Agriculture program will claim. I, of course, had to be one of the first to arrive.

For foodies in the Rye area craving local food all summer long, one of the easiest things to do is become part of a Community Supported Agriculture Program.

Last month, Jaclyn Bruntfield discussed the differences between local and organic food. It got me thinking that these words, which seem to be used interchangeably, do in fact represent different concepts. For example, I subscribe more to the sustainable food concept; a philosophy of growing, producing and eating food in a way that respects the environment, animals, farmers and farmer workers. The benefit to consumers is eating healthy and the benefit to the local community is supporting farmers. Sustainable food is often organic, but is normally local although living ten miles from a huge industrial farm doesn't count. Often times the real success comes when the two concepts overlap.

CSAs are a prefect example of a sustainable food system at work and ingenious in their simplicity. A farm offers so many shares, and share members pay a one time, usually up front, membership fee. Both farmers and share members share in the risk and rewards of the growing season.

Some CSA's also require their share members to work for a set period of time on the farm. In return, members get weekly share boxes of what the farm grows during the harvest season, become part of a community of similarly minded foodies, and understand where their food is coming from.

This is the second year I've belonged to the Stone Gardens Farm CSA. Stone Gardens is based in Shelton, Conn., but like many CSA's, it provides numerous drop offs. The farm is not organic, but takes a sustainable approach to managing pests called Integrated Pest Management. In other words, the farm takes into account economic, environmental and social goals, and only uses pesticides if absolutely necessary.  

Every Thursday from June to October is like Christmas. Each week I make the drive up to the hill to a church in Fairfield, Conn., where the goods are dropped off never entirely sure of what's in store.

Stacia, along with her husband Fred, run Stone Gardens Farm. Much as picking up cookbooks at the bookstore inspires hours of creative and careful culinary planning, Stacia provides a weekly newsletter describing what's in store for the week, farm news and a recipe. The recipe is also useful for new members to the CSA and those who might never have tried a particular food. Stacia's original recipe for Garlic Scape Hummus with Kohlrabi chips was so delicious and simple to create that I included it at the end of this column.

For more information about CSA's or to see if any in the local area are still accepting applications, go to Local Harvest, an online directory of locally grown food and CSAs.

Garlic Scape Hummus with Kohlrabi chips from Stone Gardens Farm

6 Garlic Scapes steamed

1 can chick peas

1 tablespoon olive oil

1-2 tablespoons lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

up to 1 cup of water for blending together

Combine all the ingredients and blend, adding water as needed, until smooth. Chill until ready to serve. Peel kohlrabi and slice about 1/8" thick or like French fries and dip into hummus and enjoy.

Local Eats, a summer column about eating locally grown foods, will appear once a month on Rye Patch.