“Meet the Farmer” Community-Supported Agriculture Meeting at the Episcopal Church of the Messiah on Monday, February 11th

In Northeast Baltimore, thanks to unique partnerships between a local farmer, a church, and a coffee roaster, thoughts of summertime and Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) go hand in hand…along with fresh organic strawberries, lettuce, kale, corn, and, or course, big juicy heirloom tomatoes. And even though it’s the middle of winter, planning is already under way for One Straw Farm’s two CSA Pick Up Sites in Northeast Baltimore at the Episcopal Church of the Messiah at 5801 Harford Road in Hamilton, and Zeke’s Coffee at 3003 Montebello Terrace in Lauraville. This year’s 25-week season starts on Monday, June 2^nd at Messiah and Tuesday, June 3^rd at Zeke’s, and runs through Monday, November 17^th.

So what is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)? A quick description is that it creates a direct partnership between farmers and local consumers, eliminating supermarket middlemen and restoring the connection between a community and the source of its food. It also protects our “foodshed” by ensuring farmers an income throughout the growing season, keeping your food fresh and local.

How CSA works: people buy “shares” of a farmer’s harvest ahead of time and pick them up every week. A share is 8 units of produce and is designed to feed a family of four the vegetables they would need in a week. Many families split a share and still have enough produce to serve their weekly needs, so the price of a share, divided over 25 weeks, is very reasonable, especially in light of sharply rising supermarket food costs. Since the price of a share hasn’t gone up this year and the season is an extra week long, the savings are especially good. There’s plenty of information on Church of the Messiah’s website, http://www.messiahbaltimore.org/CSA_Pick_Up, and on One Straw Farm’s website, http://www.onestrawfarm.com/.

Want to know more? There will be “Meet the Farmer” Meeting at the Church of the Messiah on Monday, February 11^th at 7:00 p.m., when Joan Norman of One Straw Farm will give a presentation about her farm and how the CSA program works. She’ll be available to answer any questions you may have, and refreshments will be served. Come see how eating local helps you stay healthy, saves money, and strengthens your community, all the same time!