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Community Corner

Local Food Season Starts - It's Not Just A Fad Anymore

Demand for fresh food from local farmers on the rise

Last year, my husband and I subscribed to a season’s worth of produce from a local farm. Every Thursday one of us went over to collect that week’s pickings. In the beginning weeks we made a lot of jokes about bok choy and greens we’d never heard of. It had been two generations since people like us were relying on local food.

But by the time Thanksgiving came, and the frost was visiting that farm’s rows, we were attached to our routine of seeing what was growing that week. We were telling everyone we knew about Jerusalem artichokes—incredible nutty, crunchy roots native to southern New England—and relishing the last of the heirloom tomatoes, blackberry preserves, autumn olive jam (made from the fruit of the invasive vine that chokes our highways) and—yes—bok choy.

When Connecticut’s local food movement started picking up steam only a few years ago, I wondered if it would only last a short time, or be a hobby for the rich. I was wrong. Each year more farms crowd the list of local growers and although Connecticut is not to the point where it could feed its population with local food, many thousands now are doing so. Community gardens and backyard gardens are on the rise, too.

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Local food is good for society. It is fresher and therefore contains more vitamins and minerals. It reduces the numbers of trucks and planes importing food from afar. Food grown locally keeps more land in farming. It would be a dead state where the land is all lawns and buildings and asphalt. Finally, local food ensures that a critical mass of people understand how to feed ourselves even if an emergency blocked highways.

The state’s farms account for about 7 percent of the land, but farming acres increased slightly from 2002 to 2007 (according to the United States Census of Agriculture). An increase sounds promising, but some of that increase came from how shellfish beds are calculated, Connecticut’s Working Lands Alliance said.

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The subscription produce my family ate last year came from a “CSA,” a farm that sells shares called Community Supported Agriculture. We joined dozens of others who helped keep that farm going with our installment payments. Every county has CSAs now—some more than others—and they are inspiring more people to grow vegetables, now that they know what they look like. At my house, I grow blueberries, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. This year I will experiment with all manner of greens because our CSA farmer has inspired me. I haven’t planted Jerusalem artichokes yet, but when the tubers can be bought in the fall, I’m putting in a patch.

Not all Connecticut farms are organic, and those that are organic sometimes choose to forego the onerous federal organic certification program. So, if you are unsure and want to know whether a farm uses chemicals or has certification, ask the farmers.

Farmers’ Markets

 

New London Farmers' Market

13 Broad Street

Tuesday and Friday, 10-2

Expected to start in July

 

New London  

Fridays 10 a.m.‐ 2 p.m. 

June 3 ‐ October 28 

Downtown New London's Parade Plaza

 

New London  Farmers’ Market 

Wednesdays 12 noon ‐ 3:30 p.m. 

June 8 ‐ October 26 

L&M Hospital Employees Parking Lot

 

Groton Farmers’ Market 

Wednesdays 11 a.m. ‐ 6 p.m. 

July 13 ‐ November 2 

Groton Shopping Plaza, Next to the Post Office, Rte. 1 

 

Waterford Farmers’ Market 

Saturdays 9 a.m. ‐ 1 p.m. 

June 25 ‐ October 29 

Town Hall Parking Lot, 15 Rope Ferry Road 

www.waterfordfarmersmarket.org 

 

Farms:

 

F.R.E.S.H. New London

Arthur Lerner c/o UWFC

374 Broad Street

New London

860-444-8050 x 14.

www.freshnewlondon.org

 

Groton Family Farm

Warren Burrows

70 Fort Hill Road

Groton

860-235-1011

www.grotonfamilyfarm.blogspot.com

Farm stand seven days a week, 9-5.

 

Hunts Brook Farm

Teresa And Rob Schacht

108 Hunts Brook Road

Quaker Hill

860-443-1770

 

Valchris Farm—CSA

Don Hess

400 Ridge Hill Road

Oakdale, CT 06370

860-848-2635

Email for details: hessdc@ct.metrocast.net

Certified Organic by Baystate Organic Certifiers

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