CSA

CSA-Community Supported Agriculture is a growing trend in small farming in America. It's an idea that started several decades ago in Japan, and the idea is to bring the consumer closer to the source of their food and connect them with the farm and farmer that produce it. We operate a very small CSA here at Petersburgh Manor and this is one of our baskets being put together for delivery tomorrow...

It is the goal of our garden to keep our family and our customers (obviously) in supply with what the garden offers in its own seasonal order. And the learning curve is around not only how to grow this stuff organically with the most pleasing result, but also to learn what amount of each herb and vegetable is right for what we need...

Each Monday we harvest the week's order and put it together for delivery on Tuesday morning. Here we're picking green beans from the first of the plants to fruit. We've got successive plantings of beans (hopefully!) to keep us going for a few weeks. And what we can't eat, we freeze for the winter. Seeing just how much we can produce, what lasts, and what can be preserved is all a part of figuring out just what would it take to support oneself by your own labor. Could it be done for a year? What would that look like? (And taste like?)

Madison is also about to get ready for her vegetable enterprise - delivery to the local produce market (her tomatoes are turning, and the pickling cukes are ready)

Here she is amongst her cherry tomato plants, searching for the first red ones of the season...

And who's that weeding? Seems he's confused...he seems to be weeding OUTSIDE the vegetable garden! Hmmm.....