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Dark green, crinkled leaves bulged from the top of the first box of produce from our Community Supported Agriculture farm — a pile of tender-for-its-size spinach that even divided among the three couples sharing the box still supplied a bounty for this spinach lover.
Gretchen fixed a big bowl of it, slightly wilted with a hot bacon and vinegar dressing for a dinner on the porch the next night.
But that wasn’t all we got from Ridgeland Harvest, the organic certified farm near Viroqua. Also in the box were baby turnips — tiny, sweet white nubs that we found in our salad at the every-other-week meal we share with our CSA partners. Our objective is to use the produce in the box along with other foods we raise ourselves or can purchase from within 150 miles (think Wollersheim wine, for example, or locally raised chickens from the Holmen locker).
Purchasing a share in a CSA is a way to encourage the growth of local farms. And it’s a great way to try new foods such as the Chinese cabbage and green garlic that also were included in the first of 20 weekly boxes that we will enjoy during the growing season.
Ridgeland, one of dozens of such operations in our region, has been in business since 2000. This year, owners Mat and Cate Eddy planted 14 acres of vegetables, six more than last year and compared with 1 acre nine years ago. In addition to supplying their CSA members, they sell their produce at the weekly farmers market on Capitol Square in Madison.
Their online newsletter keeps us up to date on their progress, and a weekly e-mail advises us in advance what to expect in the box of produce we pick up in
La Crosse.
They wrote recently: “We’ve maintained our original dream — to be farmers who take pride in growing crops, raising animals and tending to our 70 acres with care. It’s been through our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) members, that we are able to farm just about full-time …” Cate says she still has another job.
Gretchen and I paid $140 toward the CSA share, a bargain when you consider the quality of the produce we receive and the enjoyment of knowing where it comes from and something about the people who produce it. Because we pay up front, we assume some of the risk with the Eddys should there be a drought, flood or pest problem.
Now I’m looking forward to using the Chinese cabbage in the “meal of the week” in their newsletter — Chinese peanut sauce with sautéed cabbage. And we’ll surely use the bunch of cilantro and radishes. Too much of something? They offer tips on how to preserve it in addition to the suggestions for ways to prepare veggies that may be unfamiliar.
We know that CSAs, organic farming, urban agriculture, poly culture and other alternatives to the industrialization of food will not be a dominant part of our food supply anytime soon. But that doesn’t mean we can’t play a small part in the movement to provide local alternatives, both for producers and eaters.
Rising energy costs, worries about water supplies, climate change, concerns about chemical residues and persistent problems of food contamination remind us that we can’t be complacent about how we feed ourselves. I think the work Cate and Mat are doing is a step in the right direction.
Dave Skoloda can be reached at dskoloda@earthlink.net.
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