community supported agriculture

Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2000 15:52:04 -0400 (AST)
From: Lyse Boyce <at427@chebucto.ns.ca>
To: sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca
Precedence: bulk
Return-Path: <sust-mar-mml-owner@chebucto.ns.ca>

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You are invited to help buy seeds this spring and eat organic food all
summer by getting involved with a CSA project.

Community Supported Agriculture is a way of growing and buying food that
allows both the farmer and CSA participants to be involved in the
production of food. This means that you know where your food comes from
and how it is grown. 

The participants pay in advance allowing the farmer to purchase seeds and
other necessary items at the beginning of the growing season.  Each
participant then gets a share of the farm's produce during that growing
season.

WHY JOIN A CSA?

1. To support local and sustainable farming.

2. To pay a fair price for your food and know that you money goes directly
to the farmer to cover the costs of growing food. 

3. Buying food from a farm close to where you live reduces the hidden
economic and ecological costs of food production such as long distance
transportation, storage, and marketing. 

4. You pay 10-20% less than the farmer's market price and as much as 50%
less than the grocery store price for food of the same quality . 

WHY BUY LOCAL ORGANIC FOOD?

Healthy food comes from healthy soil. Organic farm practices include soil
management through crop rotation, growing a diversity of crops, preventing
erosion, adding organic matter to the soil, and protecting fragile areas. 

Pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers are not used. This is
healthier for you, farm workers, and rural communities and ecosystems. 

Organic farming is labour intensive, which often means organically grown
food can be more expensive than supermarket fare. However, the price you
pay accurately reflects the real costs associated with growing healthy
food.

HOW THE CSA WORKS

You buy a membership in advance of the CSA growing season.

Every week you complete an order that you select from a list of available
produce. Orders must be received by 8 pm on Mondays.

Orders will be filled and delivered weekly to the Halifax farmer's market
on Saturday mornings. The dollar value of the items will be deducted from
your CSA account.

Members can choose not to place an order every week. However, it is up to
each member to use up the money in their CSA account during the growing
season.

The 2000 CSA season lasts for 20 weeks, from June 10 to October 21.

Individual memberships are $150. 

Sometimes during the season there is a surplus of vegetables that you may
want to use for canning or freezing. (There were lots of extra tomatoes
and beans available last season.)

WHAT IS BEING PLANTED FOR THE CSA

arugula		beans		beets & greens
carrots		kale		kohlrabi
lettuce		potatoes	pumpkins
salad mix	snap peas	spinach
summer squash	tomatoes	turnip
winter squash

basil		cilantro	dill
mint		parsley		summer savoury

WHERE THE FOOD GROWS

The farm is on seven acres of land, with approximately one acre in
cultivation. It is a short walk to two tidal rivers, the Avon and the
Cogmagun. The growing season is affected by the rivers.

This area has one of the longest and warmest growing seasons in Nova
Scotia. It is classified as zone 6 while Halifax is in zone 5. The
farmland is a fertile mix of loam, sand and clay.

The region has been in cultivation for centuries. The Acadian history is
evident in the dykes that exist throughout the landscape.

For more information about this project please contact Ruth Lapp of Herb &
Roots farm:
		138 Red Bank Road, Centre Burlington, N.S. B0N 1E0
		(902) 757-0326





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