Sunday, May 24, 2009

Checking Out "Our" Farm








My friend Piglet and I share a share in Roxbury Farm, an organic community-supported farm in Kinderhook, New York. A share entitles the holder to 26 food drops per year, from early June through November, of whatever the farm produces. Like other farms, Roxbury has several dropoff points in New York City. It is a fun challenge to try to find things to do with the surprise package (often including things you've never seen before) before the following week's drop.
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A share also entitles the holder to visit the farm and make a pest of oneself, since the folks on the farm are generally working hard. But part of the local food movement is to know who is growing your food, so we drove the 120 or so miles to the farm on a lovely spring day last week, where we walked around and talked to Jody Bolluyt, who, together with Jean-Paul Courtens, runs the place.

It is still early in the season, but we enjoyed looking around and looking at the next six months' bounty in its earliest state. It's pretty amazing that the trays of 1/2-inch seedlings we looked at will turn into an array of beautiful lettuces and greens! Even if you can't join a community supported farm, you can have fantastic produce and support the local food movement (and, not incidentally, save the earth) by buying as much as possible at your nearest greenmarket. Not only for organic vegetables, but also for fantastic artisanal cheeses and pastured, ethically raised meats and poultry.

Bobby Jay

1 comment:

piglet said...

I've been getting the produce for the last four weeks and the poor farmer is beginning to suffer (as shall we) from this very wet season--but that is part of what community supported agriculture is all about.

The cherries this week are truly lovely!! And the freshness of all the other produce is unquestionable