For the month of August I am so very pleased to introduce you to our current local CSA: Root Radical.
I wrote a bit about Community Shared Agriculture (CSAs) in my blog on May 12Th: Eat Local? Eat Organic? I am now happy to follow-up on my promise to "write more" about how a CSA works and why it might be right for you and your family.
Putting this blog together was an absolute pleasure. I loved learning more about how the CSA is run and how Emily Dowling, head farmer, decided to to get involved in Community Shared Agriculture. It was difficult to read about the damage to this year's crops from the hail a few weeks ago. Though I know we'll be missing the extra veggies in weeks to come, it was clear that the disappointment runs much deeper for Emily and her team. Hours upon hours of work destroyed on whim by Ms. Mother Nature.
Though we may end up unlucky with the crop this year, I believe that this is one of the many lessons my family learns from purchasing a share with a CSA. Food does not come easy. A multitude of vegetables and fruit do not end up on the shelves of supermarkets on their own. A constant supply of bright shiny vegetables comes at the cost of nutrition, taste and the environment. Fresh, local food, on the other hand, is affected by the soil, the seasons, the weather and the result a numerous hours of hard work. Being a part of the CSA is teaching us to appreciate where our food comes from and to be grateful for what we have.
More about Root Radical
"Root Radical CSA was initiated in fall 2006 with our first growing season in 2007. We grow an assortment of organic vegetables in our acre and a half garden. From June until October, we supply produce to approximately 100 households in Kingston and a handful on Howe Island."
[from www.rootradicalrows.com]
The Team
"Emily Dowling, the main CSA farmer, grew up on the family farm and has many years of organic vegetable growing experience. In addition to running Root Radical CSA since 2007, her experience includes a season-long apprenticeship in 2002 on a CSA farm near Guelph and the running of a small CSA with two other farms in 2006 here in the Kingston area.
Emily works with her partner, Aric McBay, and her parents, organic dairy farmers Peter and Dianne Dowling, staff, four workshare members and many other volunteers". [from www.rootradicalrows.com]
An Interview with Emily
Jill: Can you tell us what a CSA is and how a CSA works?
Emily: The term ‘community supported agriculture’ was coined in the late 1980s when the first CSA farm was created in Massachusetts. Farmers Robyn Van En and Jan VanderTuin were inspired by similar arrangements employed by farms in Europe. They envisioned this model as a way for eaters to participate directly in the growing of their food by making a pre-season commitment to a particular farm. In exchange for investing in the CSA, each eater would receive a weekly share of the harvest. Since then, the CSA idea has been extremely successful and has taken many forms in North America and around the world.
Prior to the creation of the first North American CSAs, a similar model called 'teikei' (meaning food with a face) was initiated in Japan. In the 1950s and 60s in Japan, agricultural policy shifted from small-scale, self-reliant farms to increasing industrialization and reliance on chemical inputs. In the early 1970s, as a reaction to these trends, Japanese eaters, concerned about food safety and deterioration of communities, began to organize consumer co-operatives and sought out farmers to supply them directly with organic food.
With Root Radical, people become members by paying in advance for their vegetables, thereby sharing with the farmer the risk and rewards of the growing season. In exchange they get an assortment of high quality organic produce from the garden weekly throughout the growing season. They pick up this box of veggies at the farm or at a central location in the city. We sell 100% of our farm products through the CSA model. We aim to grow enough vegetables for our shares (plus a little extra as insurance) and on each harvest day we divide up the produce equally among the members. The accounting is done holistically rather than by the individual cost of each item. For example, we sell 150 shares so the cost of 1 share represents 1/150 of the cost to run the garden for the season.
Jill: What made you decide to start Root Radical?
Emily: I was interested in making my livelihood on my family farm. I love growing and eating fresh food myself and wanted to share that passion with others.
Jill: What types of crops can you expect from a CSA?
Emily: Every CSA is different. We grow about 40 different crops and within those crops we usually grow several varieties. You could expect to get lots of greens, lettuce, herbs, beans, carrots, beets, tomatoes and onions. But what we have varies with the seasons. The following share examples from a selection of weeks from the 2009 season are provided to help give you an idea of what to expect. However, each season will probably provide different growing conditions and the boxes could look quite different. (Photos are by 2009 intern, Sara Emery.)
June 9, 2009
1 head of lettuce
1 head of bok choy
150 g mixed baby greens
25 g arugula
100 g spinach
3 mint stems
3 chive flowers
July 21, 2009
1 head of lettuce
1 small cabbage
2 baby beets with greens
6 kale leaves
160 g shelling peas
110 g sugar snap peas
4 carrots
2 small zucchini or summer squash
2 small and 2 cherry tomatoes
10 green onions
1 basil plant
3 oregano stems
August 4, 2009
1 head of lettuce
19 green onions
580 g green and yellow beans
1 kohlrabi
1 fennel
4 beets with greens
1 bunch of New Zealand spinach
4 dill stems
2 sprigs of basil
1 cucumber
1 small zucchini
4 small summer squash
Sept 1, 2009
1 small cabbage
1 head of lettuce
9 tomatoes
590 g of cherry tomatoes
2 carrots
3 beets with tops
2 sprigs of basil
3 tomatillos
1/2 pint ground cherries
2 sweet peppers
100 g green and yellow beans
3 tomatillos
115 g Swiss chard
7 green onions
55 g cilantro
560 g mild sweet onions
3 bulbs of garlic
"free choice" hot peppers
October 6, 2009
(Sorry, no photo available)
1 head of lettuce
1 head of endive or escarole
2 small leeks
5 sweet peppers
2 sprigs of thyme
2 sprigs of basil
2 sprigs of sage
1 celeriac
225 g white sweet potatoes
4 green onions
715 g red onions
165 g mixed baby greens
4 carrots
1 small butternut squash
1 small tomato
50 g cherry tomatoes
3 tomatillos
"free choice" hot peppers
November 6, 2009
(Sorry, no photo available)
180 g of mixed baby greens
2 small leeks
1 green pepper
2 sprigs of thyme
2 sprigs of winter savoury
170 g of white sweet potatoes
115 g of kale and Swiss chard
14 green onions
770 g storage onions
2 small rutabagas
5 carrots
1 delicata squash
1 small bulb of garlic
Jill: What are the benefits of buying produce from a CSA?
Emily: If you are bored with grocery store food and want to experience real, authentic food, then CSA is for you. It is an adventure because you get to eat what the farmer, the weather and the land itself provide. You might find yourself eating things that you wouldn't have picked out yourself, which means you will be eating a more diverse diet. You will probably eat more vegetables than you normally would. The taste of CSA vegetables is better and because the food is fresher it is more nutritious. You will be supporting local people and environmentally beneficial farm practices.
Jill: What is the most diffuclt part, with regards to running your CSA?
Emily: Some days are just really hard. I work 8 hours a day with my crew and then usually another 2-4 on my own. It can be physically demanding and the weather can be challenging both very hot in the summer and wet and chilly in the fall.
But all that said the most difficult thing is the responsibility that comes with having sold the vegetables in advance. When there are disappointments (and there are always some when you are gardening) I feel the disappointment not only for myself but for the whole community of members. That is rough and I have to regularly remind myself that people signed up for this knowing that there is a risk involved. In fact for most of our members this is WHY they sign up. They want to share in the journey for better for worse.
Addendum: I wrote the above answer before our garden was hit by hail last Wednesday. I would have to add that that was the hardest day in my 4 seasons doing this. The garden was beautiful at 3:30 and at 3:50 it was very much destroyed. Leave shredded, fruits dented etc. We were very unlucky.
I put so much of myself (physically and emotionally) in to the garden (probably too much of myself!) and it was devastating to see it in that state. Imagine working 60 hours a week for 4 months to create something beautiful and productive only to have it totally wrecked in 10 minutes. It's rough. It will be interesting to see whether it comes back. There are lots of little lessons in this one about appreciating what we have accomplished in every moment, about the impermanence of things, about the amazing power of nature to give and take, destroy and heal and about loving myself despite what has happened to my work.
Jill: Do you have a favorite summer recipe/meal?
Emily: No, nothing in particular. I'm into simple meals made with good quality ingredients. My life is so full of delicious food that I find it hard to pick one meal or recipe. I just love eating fresh authentic food in the summer. Vegetables are a big part of my diet in the summer because they are so flavourful when in season.
One dish that I make a lot in August and September is a big pan of roasted veggies. I combine things like eggplant, peppers, fennel, carrots, summer squash, garlic and fresh herbs (especially basil) together in a baking dish and drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake at 350 until the veggies are tender. Then right before eating, I garnish the veggies with Parmesan cheese. This recipe might not be for everyone given that it requires turning on the oven!
Jill: How can people get involved?
Emily: Visit our website rootradicalrows.com and find out more about what we do. Then if you decide you are interested in giving it a try, you can fill out a contact form and I will be in touch when we are accepting new members.
I wrote a bit about Community Shared Agriculture (CSAs) in my blog on May 12Th: Eat Local? Eat Organic? I am now happy to follow-up on my promise to "write more" about how a CSA works and why it might be right for you and your family.
Putting this blog together was an absolute pleasure. I loved learning more about how the CSA is run and how Emily Dowling, head farmer, decided to to get involved in Community Shared Agriculture. It was difficult to read about the damage to this year's crops from the hail a few weeks ago. Though I know we'll be missing the extra veggies in weeks to come, it was clear that the disappointment runs much deeper for Emily and her team. Hours upon hours of work destroyed on whim by Ms. Mother Nature.
Though we may end up unlucky with the crop this year, I believe that this is one of the many lessons my family learns from purchasing a share with a CSA. Food does not come easy. A multitude of vegetables and fruit do not end up on the shelves of supermarkets on their own. A constant supply of bright shiny vegetables comes at the cost of nutrition, taste and the environment. Fresh, local food, on the other hand, is affected by the soil, the seasons, the weather and the result a numerous hours of hard work. Being a part of the CSA is teaching us to appreciate where our food comes from and to be grateful for what we have.
More about Root Radical
"Root Radical CSA was initiated in fall 2006 with our first growing season in 2007. We grow an assortment of organic vegetables in our acre and a half garden. From June until October, we supply produce to approximately 100 households in Kingston and a handful on Howe Island."
[from www.rootradicalrows.com]
The Team
"Emily Dowling, the main CSA farmer, grew up on the family farm and has many years of organic vegetable growing experience. In addition to running Root Radical CSA since 2007, her experience includes a season-long apprenticeship in 2002 on a CSA farm near Guelph and the running of a small CSA with two other farms in 2006 here in the Kingston area.
Emily works with her partner, Aric McBay, and her parents, organic dairy farmers Peter and Dianne Dowling, staff, four workshare members and many other volunteers". [from www.rootradicalrows.com]
An Interview with Emily
Jill: Can you tell us what a CSA is and how a CSA works?
Emily: The term ‘community supported agriculture’ was coined in the late 1980s when the first CSA farm was created in Massachusetts. Farmers Robyn Van En and Jan VanderTuin were inspired by similar arrangements employed by farms in Europe. They envisioned this model as a way for eaters to participate directly in the growing of their food by making a pre-season commitment to a particular farm. In exchange for investing in the CSA, each eater would receive a weekly share of the harvest. Since then, the CSA idea has been extremely successful and has taken many forms in North America and around the world.
Prior to the creation of the first North American CSAs, a similar model called 'teikei' (meaning food with a face) was initiated in Japan. In the 1950s and 60s in Japan, agricultural policy shifted from small-scale, self-reliant farms to increasing industrialization and reliance on chemical inputs. In the early 1970s, as a reaction to these trends, Japanese eaters, concerned about food safety and deterioration of communities, began to organize consumer co-operatives and sought out farmers to supply them directly with organic food.
With Root Radical, people become members by paying in advance for their vegetables, thereby sharing with the farmer the risk and rewards of the growing season. In exchange they get an assortment of high quality organic produce from the garden weekly throughout the growing season. They pick up this box of veggies at the farm or at a central location in the city. We sell 100% of our farm products through the CSA model. We aim to grow enough vegetables for our shares (plus a little extra as insurance) and on each harvest day we divide up the produce equally among the members. The accounting is done holistically rather than by the individual cost of each item. For example, we sell 150 shares so the cost of 1 share represents 1/150 of the cost to run the garden for the season.
Jill: What made you decide to start Root Radical?
Emily: I was interested in making my livelihood on my family farm. I love growing and eating fresh food myself and wanted to share that passion with others.
Jill: What types of crops can you expect from a CSA?
Emily: Every CSA is different. We grow about 40 different crops and within those crops we usually grow several varieties. You could expect to get lots of greens, lettuce, herbs, beans, carrots, beets, tomatoes and onions. But what we have varies with the seasons. The following share examples from a selection of weeks from the 2009 season are provided to help give you an idea of what to expect. However, each season will probably provide different growing conditions and the boxes could look quite different. (Photos are by 2009 intern, Sara Emery.)
June 9, 2009
1 head of lettuce
1 head of bok choy
150 g mixed baby greens
25 g arugula
100 g spinach
3 mint stems
3 chive flowers
July 21, 2009
1 head of lettuce
1 small cabbage
2 baby beets with greens
6 kale leaves
160 g shelling peas
110 g sugar snap peas
4 carrots
2 small zucchini or summer squash
2 small and 2 cherry tomatoes
10 green onions
1 basil plant
3 oregano stems
August 4, 2009
1 head of lettuce
19 green onions
580 g green and yellow beans
1 kohlrabi
1 fennel
4 beets with greens
1 bunch of New Zealand spinach
4 dill stems
2 sprigs of basil
1 cucumber
1 small zucchini
4 small summer squash
Sept 1, 2009
1 small cabbage
1 head of lettuce
9 tomatoes
590 g of cherry tomatoes
2 carrots
3 beets with tops
2 sprigs of basil
3 tomatillos
1/2 pint ground cherries
2 sweet peppers
100 g green and yellow beans
3 tomatillos
115 g Swiss chard
7 green onions
55 g cilantro
560 g mild sweet onions
3 bulbs of garlic
"free choice" hot peppers
October 6, 2009
(Sorry, no photo available)
1 head of lettuce
1 head of endive or escarole
2 small leeks
5 sweet peppers
2 sprigs of thyme
2 sprigs of basil
2 sprigs of sage
1 celeriac
225 g white sweet potatoes
4 green onions
715 g red onions
165 g mixed baby greens
4 carrots
1 small butternut squash
1 small tomato
50 g cherry tomatoes
3 tomatillos
"free choice" hot peppers
November 6, 2009
(Sorry, no photo available)
180 g of mixed baby greens
2 small leeks
1 green pepper
2 sprigs of thyme
2 sprigs of winter savoury
170 g of white sweet potatoes
115 g of kale and Swiss chard
14 green onions
770 g storage onions
2 small rutabagas
5 carrots
1 delicata squash
1 small bulb of garlic
Jill: What are the benefits of buying produce from a CSA?
Emily: If you are bored with grocery store food and want to experience real, authentic food, then CSA is for you. It is an adventure because you get to eat what the farmer, the weather and the land itself provide. You might find yourself eating things that you wouldn't have picked out yourself, which means you will be eating a more diverse diet. You will probably eat more vegetables than you normally would. The taste of CSA vegetables is better and because the food is fresher it is more nutritious. You will be supporting local people and environmentally beneficial farm practices.
Jill: What is the most diffuclt part, with regards to running your CSA?
Emily: Some days are just really hard. I work 8 hours a day with my crew and then usually another 2-4 on my own. It can be physically demanding and the weather can be challenging both very hot in the summer and wet and chilly in the fall.
But all that said the most difficult thing is the responsibility that comes with having sold the vegetables in advance. When there are disappointments (and there are always some when you are gardening) I feel the disappointment not only for myself but for the whole community of members. That is rough and I have to regularly remind myself that people signed up for this knowing that there is a risk involved. In fact for most of our members this is WHY they sign up. They want to share in the journey for better for worse.
Addendum: I wrote the above answer before our garden was hit by hail last Wednesday. I would have to add that that was the hardest day in my 4 seasons doing this. The garden was beautiful at 3:30 and at 3:50 it was very much destroyed. Leave shredded, fruits dented etc. We were very unlucky.
I put so much of myself (physically and emotionally) in to the garden (probably too much of myself!) and it was devastating to see it in that state. Imagine working 60 hours a week for 4 months to create something beautiful and productive only to have it totally wrecked in 10 minutes. It's rough. It will be interesting to see whether it comes back. There are lots of little lessons in this one about appreciating what we have accomplished in every moment, about the impermanence of things, about the amazing power of nature to give and take, destroy and heal and about loving myself despite what has happened to my work.
Jill: Do you have a favorite summer recipe/meal?
Emily: No, nothing in particular. I'm into simple meals made with good quality ingredients. My life is so full of delicious food that I find it hard to pick one meal or recipe. I just love eating fresh authentic food in the summer. Vegetables are a big part of my diet in the summer because they are so flavourful when in season.
One dish that I make a lot in August and September is a big pan of roasted veggies. I combine things like eggplant, peppers, fennel, carrots, summer squash, garlic and fresh herbs (especially basil) together in a baking dish and drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake at 350 until the veggies are tender. Then right before eating, I garnish the veggies with Parmesan cheese. This recipe might not be for everyone given that it requires turning on the oven!
Jill: How can people get involved?
Emily: Visit our website rootradicalrows.com and find out more about what we do. Then if you decide you are interested in giving it a try, you can fill out a contact form and I will be in touch when we are accepting new members.
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