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
Farms:
F.R.E.S.H. New London
Arthur Lerner c/o UWFC
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