Hopefully your CSA deliveries have started (or will start soon), or you’ve committed to heading to one of the local Farmer’s Markets this growing season (now that there’s one in Simsbury, Granby and East Granby). You’ll walk around and look over whose produce looks the best, decide which cut of meat you’d like to cook and make your decisions about what to buy based on looks, mostly. But what do you know about the farm you’re buying from? What are their farming practices? Being right there at the Farmer’s Market or CSA pickup gives you access to the farmer that you can never get in the grocery store. Take advantage of that! Get to know your farmer for your benefit and for theirs. Farmers love to talk “shop” and are usually happy to answer your questions. When I see someone at our farm store, I’m happy to take a couple of minutes to show them around so they can see how our animals live and what they eat. You may want to know, how do they grow their vegetables? What kind of herbicides or pesticides do they use, if any? How many of their fields do they rest in a year? How do they care for their animals? What do they get fed? Find out from the farmer, are there items that don’t sell as well as others? How can I cook something I’m not sure about? Click here for more questions to ask. Get a dialog going! And then spread the information you learned to help other people decide to shop for locally grown, nutritious, well-produced food that’s grown right here, by your neighbors.
2 Comments
8/10/2024 06:20:14 am
Your informational presentation style is both interesting and educational. Your writing is clear and well-researched, which I enjoy.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorA blog about farming and food. Kate Bogli owns and operates Maple View Farm, raising livestock and growing veggies, with her husband Jason. The farm has been in his family for 65 years. Archives
October 2021
Categories
All
|