It's in the Bag
Bringing local goods straight to your table
By Cortney J. Porter |
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Hectic schedules and high costs can make healthy eating seem like an insurmountable obstacle, but some local farmers have found a way to enable anyone to take advantage of organic farming and minimally traveled food. You might not know about another way to procure garden-fresh produce that's even easier than the farmer's markets. Community-supported agriculture, or CSA, is a program that provides such a service.
CSA consists of a group of locals who have pledged to support local farm operations financially by paying a designated fee during the growing and harvest season. In turn, they receive goods from those local farms. These fresh, seasonal products range from fruit, vegetables, herbs, flour, honey, maple syrup, dairy, eggs, and meat. CSA began in Europe in the 1960s with consumers who had an interest in safe food and farmers who were seeking a stable market for their crops. Introduced to the United States in the 1980s, CSA has been gaining momentum across the nation and in our own backyard.
2Silos, a farm located south of Mt. Gilead in Morrow County, has been a part of the Ohio CSA culture since 2004, offering certified organic eggs from pasture-raised hens. The organic family farm also features a pastured meat CSA for the third season and a vegetable CSA has been running since 2007. When I asked Denise Anderson, 2Silos farm owner and operator, how she persuades consumers to purchase locally as opposed to shopping at a local box store she replied, "I don't use persuasive methods to entice people to buy my products. I take the time to educate potential customers. I feel that education is a large part of what sustainable, small farmers do. The customer is then free to make a more educated decision on how best to meet the needs of their family." Anderson makes it a priority to be present in the community at local farmers markets in Clintonville, Upper Arlington, and downtown's Pearl Market. She also participates in 'chef-to-table' projects and relies on cold sales calls with fresh products and pictures of her farm to make the 2Silos brand available in local stores like Weiland's in Clintonville and the Greener Grocer, located in the North Market.
The Greener Grocer offers its own CSA program, the "Weekly Fresh Market Bag." For about $20 - $30 per week, the bag is available in medium and large sizes, and comes filled with pre-selected fruit, produce, and other products now offered year-round from local farmers.
www.2silos.com
www.thegreenergrocer.com
Originally Published: November 1, 2009
