'Henry Got Crops' offers fresh produce

Posted 6/17/15

by Siobhan Gleason

As summer approaches, flowers and crops are beginning to bloom. People are tending to their backyard gardens, hoping for a yield of produce for salads and delicious dishes.

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'Henry Got Crops' offers fresh produce

Posted

by Siobhan Gleason

As summer approaches, flowers and crops are beginning to bloom. People are tending to their backyard gardens, hoping for a yield of produce for salads and delicious dishes.

But there is another way to benefit from the abundance of summer produce for those who may not have the time or space to farm on their own: community-supported agriculture, or CSA.

Weaver’s Way has its own CSA, called Henry Got Crops. The organic produce is grown on Saul High School’s farm in Roxborough. I contacted Nina Berryman, Weaver’s Way Farms Manager, to learn more about Henry Got Crops.

What is the benefit of joining? She mentioned the locality of the farm, the support of local farmers and strengthening a community-based organization.

“You know where your food comes from, you know who grows it,” Berryman told me.

Berryman has farmed at Weaver’s Way for eight years and has been a farm manager for seven. She described the produce grown at the CSA as “a wide range of annual vegetables ranging from the more common (lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, potatoes) to the more rare (tatsoi, kohlrabi, celeriac, escarole).”

If customers of the CSA would like to trade a vegetable they receive for another vegetable they prefer, they can trade for vegetables in the “swap box” when they pick up their share. It can sometimes be hard to find ways to use all of the produce received in a CSA.

“It can be a challenge to eat seasonally,” Berryman said, “for instance in the spring, salad greens and cooking greens grow really well so there will be an abundance of those types of vegetables in the early shares. CSA shareholders might need to adjust their eating habits accordingly.”

If CSA members can’t think of a way to cook their produce, Henry Got Crops has them covered. A weekly newsletter contains recipes and ideas for cooking for every vegetable they receive.

Registration for the Henry Got Crops summer season has closed, but remember the name Henry Got Crops for next year if you want to participate in supporting the local food economy, one vegetable at a time.

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