Printer Friendly Version - Dreaming of Spring and CSA

Cecarelli Farms in Northford is offering CSA shares for the first time this year.

Some of our local farms are helping with that by offering signs-up for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares. Participants are invited to sign up and pay a set fee at the start of the season, and then they pick up a box of produce, usually on a weekly basis, of whatever is best and is in season throughout the summer. For some of the smaller farms, with shares limited to 25 or 30 families, it’s important to sign up early. The larger farms offer a larger number of shares, but even for them, it’s useful to have sign-ups early so they know how to plan. Purchasing a CSA share early helps get some of these local farmers through the months when income can be otherwise sparse.

Cecarelli Farms in Northford is trying out CSA shares for the first time this year. Bitta-Blue in Killingworth, Barberry Farms in Madison, and Bishop’s in Guilford are all offering CSA shares again, and are busy planning for beloved favorites and some new surprises this season. Maple Breeze Farm in Westbrook is so committed to the idea of “farm to fork,” that it crafted a fall and winter CSA running through early spring, when it will then offer their traditional summer CSA shares.

Bonnie Hall, who runs and owns Maple Breeze Farm in Westbrook with her husband John Hall, remembers standing at a farmer’s market last fall and lamenting the end of the season. And then she wondered why it had to be that way. After discussing it with her husband and other farmers, they decided to come up with what they call a New Concept CSA. This winter, the Halls have been offering products from their farm, which has been worked by the Hall family since the 1700s, along with products from other farmers. Shareholders get to pick what they want weekly from a varied menu of items that might include eggs, bacon, sausage, pork chops, potatoes, cow or goat milk, chicken, fresh bread, pastas, cookies, fruit pies, winter squashes, and more.

“We started this as a farm to fork concept for our customers,” Hall says. “We’re working with vendors who might not otherwise have a chance to sell these items during the winter,” she says it’s worked very well this first season, with about 60 customers on and off.

Hall says she’s particularly proud of the fact that her husband is the 10th generation of his family to be working the farm. They are using a relatively rare breed of cattle, American Working Devons, the same breed used by John Hall’s ancestors for generations, for milk, Devonshire cream, and to provide raw milk to the pigs “so that their pork doesn’t taste like any other pork.” The cattle is also used for meat.

The Devons are red cattle with blue eyes and horns, and a delight to see for the customers who come visit the farm in the winter on Saturdays when the farm’s Corn Crib is heated and open. Hall said anyone is welcome to come and sit and have a cup of hot chocolate, and visit the animals and the rare old-growth sugar maple trees, some of them 250 to 300 years old, as they produce maple syrup. When the sugar shack is open, Sugar on Snow tastings are offered, free of charge. “It’s a wonderful life to live and awesome to see so many people wanting to know where their food comes from,” Hall says. “John’s lived that life his whole life and it’s great to see other people become connected to the land in the same way. They start as customers and now they are friends.”

As for the summer share, Hall says “we are definitely thinking outside the box.”

“Vegetable CSAs are very well received, but sometimes people also want something a little different. People get tired of 18 weeks of kale. Even if you’re a vegan, it can be overwhelming.” Hall said they’ll offer their meats as in the past, along with maple syrup and eggs and other products, including cheeses and other cow and goat’s milk products from the Sweet Pea Farm at the House of Hayes, an eight generation operation run by her husband’s cousins in North Granby.

They also will be offering ice cream from Tulmeadow Farm in West Simsbury. “It is 16 percent butterfat and outstanding,” Hall says. “And it’s not prevalent down here in the lower counties of Connecticut.”

Maple Breeze Farm is located at 563 East Pond Meadow Road in Westbrook. The farm can be reached by calling 860-399-4611 or emailing johnandbonniehall@comcast.net. More information is available at www.maplebreezefarm.com.

A couple of weeks ago, Brad Isnard from Bishop’s Orchards in Guilford, decided what the farm was going to plant this season and ordered seeds. He can hardly wait to get the seeds started in the greenhouse once they arrive.

“Oh yeah, I love doing this,” said Isnard, who’s worked at Bishop’s for 26 years, and is working on his sixth season running the CSA program. “The people who participate are great. We started registration for past members this week and we’ve been doing a lot of back and forth with them. The people who participate in this program, they are interested in what the farm does, and what we’re growing and they’re paying ahead, helping us to pay for seed and fertilizer. It’s so great to see their general interest and how eager they are to participate.”

Isnard said the shares this year will definitely include favorites like peaches and blueberries. “Nobody ever got too many peaches or blueberries,” he said. They’ll also be trying some “oddball items” like kohlrabi, ground cherries, okra, and squash blossoms. He also might try some celeriac, and maybe horseradish, if Mother Nature cooperates, “just to see how it goes.” He also is going to try to get some fresh ginger this year from a farmer in Lyme. “Local ginger, that would be really cool,” he said. “I’ll try it if I can.”

In addition to full shares, Bishop’s also offers medium shares, flower shares, specialty shares, a specialty cheese share, and an egg share.

Isnard said his goal is to keep his customers happy by offering a variety of items, most from Bishop’s but also from other suppliers of specialty produce and products, locally made in Connecticut. “I find the biggest reason people drop out of the CSA is not that they don’t like the program, but they just don’t have the ability to utilize everything you give them and they don’t like to waste, so you have to give them a manageable amount of a variety of items,” he says. He also, working with his customers, sends out weekly emails with stories and recipes and other information.

“It’s a great program and a connection to the local community and it’s fun,” Isnard said.

For more information about the Bishop’s Orchards share, visit bishopsorchards.com/the-farm/csa-program.

The planning at Barberry Hill Farm in Madison started at the end of last summer, says Kelly Goddard, who runs the farm at 353 Boston Post Road with her husband Kingsley Goddard. CSA sign ups are already being offered on the farm’s website and most of the seeds have been ordered. Customers will get a wide variety of produce including heirloom tomatoes and a special variety of haricots verts, along with the farm’s cut flowers, They are also going to try melon again this year, but a different variety than last year.

“They really like the hot, hot weather and they really like the soil to be warm and dry. This year we are really excited about a new variety, Casaba,” she said. “We are also looking at some new varieties of flowers. And maybe Alpine strawberries, some different kind of raspberries, maybe a pink blueberry, just to see if they work.”

And you never know when it’s going to work, she said. Sometimes it does and sometimes “you get 100 percent crop failure.”

“But, really, honestly the best thing about the CSA is the people who join. It’s true that having the money up front helps, but we feel such a huge responsibility to the people who join,” she said. “It’s our 9th or 10th year and every year I am so, so nervous. But we usually get really wonderful people, like-minded people who are so supportive. At the beginning of the summer, it’ll be 18 hour days and people are just so wonderful. They always take time to sit and talk and visit us while we are working.”

To sign up, for more information, and to see pictures of the farm, visit www.barberryhillfarm.com.

Susan Willis at Bitta-Blue Farm in Killingworth says planning for the summer crop is always an exercise in examining what worked in the past, trying new things, and being able to question and eliminate things that don’t work.

“Every year presents a different set of challenges and problems and opportunities,” she said. Last year, the entire melon crop was a failure. “That doesn’t mean I eliminate melons. But maybe I plant less, or I plant them in a different way, or I mulch more deeply. Each year we set aside a certain number of rows for experiments.”

This year, in addition to the traditional crops, she says she will be experimenting with some Asian greens, including Mibuna mustard greens that “have a hot, mustardy flavor. It’s like eating wasabi on a salad. If you like the bite of arugula, you will like this.” She also is going to experiment with Senposai, a hybrid of cabbage and a Japanese mustard spinach. “It has a broad, flavorful leaf, more like a leafy flavor than cabbage, but you might use it in the same way as cabbage,” she said. There also will be the traditional favorites including arugula, kale, and a variety of lettuces. “We like our greens at Bitta-Blue Farms,” said Willis, who runs the small farm with her daughter, who makes goat milk soaps and lotions, along with raising flowers and herbs.

Willis said membership is limited to about 35 families and that sign ups will start in February at the farm’s website at www.bittabluefarm.com. The farm is located in Killingworth at 228 River Road, and can be reached at 860-663-2428 or bittabluefarm@gmail.com.

Nelson Cecarelli says he is excited to offer CSA shares for the first time ever at Cecarelli farms in Northford.

“You know, this is a fairly large farm for Connecticut, relatively speaking, probably about 140 acres or so. Traditionally we sell through stores like Bishop’s and Roberts in Madison and we sell wholesale through FreshPoint Connecticut, but we are looking for ways to maximize our potential,” he said. “We do farmer’s markets, and have a little stand, but by June, we’re out a whole lot of money and nothing’s coming back in. That’s all well and good, but it’s always August before real money starts coming in.”

“We’ll start with lettuce and spinach, beets and Swiss chard, sugar snap peas, English peas, and so on,” he said, adding that he is looking forward to seeing how the CSA offering is received by the community.

The farm, at 186 Old Post Road in Northford, can be reached at 203-484-0101. More information about the CSA, and sign ups, are offered at cecarellifarms.com.

Maple Breeze Farm in Westbrook is so committed to the idea of “farm to fork,” that they crafted a fall and winter CSA that they are running through early spring, when they will then offer their traditional summer CSA shares.