What: CSA

When the Green Market first opened in downtown Fargo, there were a group of people who worked together with a local farmer receiving CSA products.    ”CSA” stands for Community (or Consumer) Supported Agriculture. Because of the Green Market and my friend Deb Pullen, I wanted to learn more. So I visited with Anne Morgan, and here is her story about CSA.

HPR:  Anne can you give us a brief background on what you do with the CSA?

AM:  The Lakes and Valley CSA is community supported agriculture. Members buy a full share or a half share in the garden. Share prices are set by dividing the cost of raising the vegetables by the number of shares.

Once a week, from mid-June until mid-October, members receive share box of just-picked, in-season, biodynamically grown produce—over 100 varieties. Members get raspberries in July and farm eggs as a gift from the farm. Everything we raise goes to our share members. I also write a great garden newsletter, which is emailed on Sundays to members and friends of the CSA.

HPR:  When did you decide this was important to you?

AM:  We have been working toward CSA ever since we bought our farm in 1972. Healing the land, cultivating our skills, and developing the network that
formed the foundation for CSA took time.

HPR:  How much does doing this take of your time?

AM:  The CSA employs three full-time and three part-time gardeners during the growing season. I put in the most time: ten hours per week in the winter, sixty hours per week in the summer. My husband works year round on the farm, again, fewer hours in the winter, long hours in the summer.

HPR:  What, if you could have one sentence, would you tell us about being a CSA farmer?

AM:  I can only speak for myself: I strive to be a source of love, care and truth—in a world that is against those things—by sharing my life, my farm, and my passion for feeding people healthy food.

HPR:  Please tell us about any upcoming events that one could go to on this subject.

AM:  We are midway through our 2009 CSA member drive. I taught at a gardening class put on by the Park Rapids Garden Club last week and have
offered to teach more veggie growing classes next winter. It is time to grow local food systems. I am always willing to share what I know with others to further that goal.

HPR:  Where, during the off seasons, can we find these products?

AM:  Many members freeze, can or dehydrate CSA produce during the season for winter meals. We deliver potatoes, onions, cabbage, carrots and winter
squash in October share boxes for members to store and eat during the off-season. One can purchase organic lettuce in the grocery store, but lettuce that has traveled 1500 miles will not contain the vitamin and mineral levels that truly ripe, fresh, local produce has.

The good news is that our bodies can store up nutrients from a season (or two) of CSA eating and “live” on them during the winter. The reason I say “or two” is that people are often deficient when they come into CSA, and it takes more than one season to replenish their internal reserves.

HPR:  My understanding about CSA is that you get whatever is produced. How do you determine what to plant in the hope that there will be a good
variety of product?

AM:  I know how many running feet of each variety we need to fill our share boxes. Then we plant 15 percent more as insurance. We start extra pots of melons, cucumbers and peppers in case we have transplant loss due to June frosts. I select varieties that perform well in our climate and latitude and field test new varieties each year. We concentrate on maintaining healthy soils through green manure plowdowns in rotational garden plots. We apply light topdressings of biodynamic compost, made from our farm’s cow-calf herd. Healthy soils grow healthy plants. We don’t need insecticides, pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. We do not use herbicides; we cultivate and mulch to suppress weeds.

The one element we cannot control is the weather. Nature says “go” in the spring and “stop” in the fall, and dictates the parameters in between. We fulfill our commitment to our members by using natural techniques to maximize our harvests. We work in harmony with cosmic rhythms, including scientific sowing by moon phases. We use season extenders to amplify harvest seasons, homeopathic herbal sprays to warm plants during extended periods of cold temperatures, and [we] keep honeybees for pollination. We remember to be thankful for what we get.

HPR:  Do you participate in any farmers markets?

AM:  No. Everything we raise is divided equally between our share members. If we have more of a veggie crop than we can fit into the share boxes, we
invite members to pick-their-own for free. What is left after then is fed to the CSA chickens and delivered as eggs.

HPR:  After I get my product home, what do you recommend for the best way to keep things fresh?

AM:  Different vegetables need different storage conditions. Onions and tomatoes are happy in a bowl on a counter. Most vegetables keep best in the refrigerator. Rinse off, if needed, pat dry, then store in the veggie crisper drawer or in a plastic bag. I give tips during the season in my CSA newsletters.

HPR:  How supportive is the community in which you do this?

AM:  Many members have been with us since our first season in 2001. Some move away or drop out for one reason or another, so there is always room
for new members. By the end of May, our roster fills, and we start a waiting list.

HPR:  Do you have any recipes that you can share? I am looking for the best way to cook these products so we get all the nutrition out of it that we can.

AM:  Raw and juiced are ways to take in high levels of nutrition, but I also like to cook. I stir-fry crisp, sweet snow pea pods with bright green onions and nutty yellow summer squash. I steam florets of broccoli, orange, purple and white cauliflowers, and tender green beans. My husband loves potato salad and coleslaw with carrots. I could live on sea-salted sliced tomatoes for supper, but this time of year, I dream of fresh mesclun (baby lettuce) and spinach salads, dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. I also have a dynamite recipe for chocolate zucchini cake.

The most nourishing food is food that is grown and prepared with love. The coworkers in the CSA garden show up every day, rain or shine, because they love what we do. Our goal is to produce foods that are brimming with regenerative energy and immune system boosters.

HPR:  I know you write a newsletter. Is this every week, and how can we connect with it?

AM:  I write a free weekly newsletter with garden reports, recipes, tips on unusual varieties, and essays about life on a small, sustainable farm year ‘round. It is emailed to CSA members and everyone on my friends of the CSA email list. To join, email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). My newsletters are also published in a weekly column called “The Abundant Gardener” in several local newspapers.

HPR:  I know that Deb Pullen would like to bring you here to speak about biodynamic farming. She referred to this as homeopathy for the earth. Can you talk about this a little?

AM:  Biodynamic farmers and gardeners replenish the soils under their care, physically and energetically, through sound organic practices and by applying homeopathic doses of special biodynamic preparations made from herbs, mineral substances and composted animal manures. These preparations revitalize weakened life forces, and stimulate root growth, soil microorganism production, and humus formation.

We strive to act as mediators between the elemental energies in and on the Earth and cosmic forces streaming down from above. We actively replace and augment life forces that are consumed every time we plow the ground and harvest a crop. And we are part of the consciousness that recognizes that the Earth is changing, and agriculture needs to evolve with it.

HPR:  Anne, one of the things I find the hardest about eating and buying this is the cost. Am I wrong about that, or can you tell are readers how this is—in these times—cost effective for us?

AM:  People are recognizing more and more that their (and their children’s) health is impacted by the foods they eat. If they can’t raise a garden of their own, a CSA is an efficient and cost-effective way to bring home vibrant, nutritious produce. We estimate that the veggies in a share would cost three times as much if purchased separately in a supermarket.

HPR:  Is there anything that I have not asked or that you would like to share with our readers?

AM:  My husband and I came to biodynamics though the conviction that we are emporary stewards who will someday have to answer for how we cared for the Earth. When we take a worn out piece of ground and restore it to productivity, diversity, health and beauty, we am redeeming something of God’s that has been spoiled. I believe industrial agriculture focuses more on squeezing cash profits out of the soil without regard for His creations, be they old-growth forests or soil microbes. I believe the way I serve the least of things is also how I serve Him.

Eat well and stay safe. Until next week ...