Subscribing to a CSA

CSA stands for Community Shared Agriculture. We all know that the best produce is grown locally in small farms that grow a diversity of produce. One of the greatest challenges facing farmers of such idyllic places is selling their food. Managing a farm is hard work and if a tomato doesn’t make it to someone’s table in five days, that tomato is gone. One of the creative ways around this problem is for farmers to sell their produce before harvest to guarantee their sales. The way it works is that customers buy a share of the farm’s production at the beginning of the season and from then on, the farmer delivers a basket of fresh produce every week. There are several options around Toronto but I finally found one that caught my eye. The Kawartha Ecological Growers is not one farm but rather a cooperative of over twenty small farms in the Kawarthas, a fertile area north of Toronto. Having so many farmers to draw from means also that the risk of crop failure is reduced. But what I really like about KEG is not only the variety of produce but also the extras they bring out each week – flours, jams, beans, meats, and the nicest  eggs you’ll fine anywhere. So I stopped by to drop off my cheque last week to get the last three of the winter share and today I picked up my bounty. This is what I came home with:

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The eggs were the highlight for me. They are from Araucana chickens, a heritage breed I first read about last summer in Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.Unlike your regular brown or white eggs, the Araucana eggs are a striking light blue/green shade. Very photogenic:

Since I had a bit of tomato sauce leftover in the fridge, I made a simple dinner with the fresh eggs noodles and a salad with the greens, radish, sprouts, grated beets, and sunflower seeds. So comforting.

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