Feel, eat and look better buying farm fresh

By Janet Eastman

IF YOU haven’t already read “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver, then make it the first of your summer reads.

In well-researched, poetic style, Kingsolver tells the story of her family moving from air-conditioned Arizona to an Appalachian farmhouse with temperamental plumbing. The four of them – including teen and tween girls – agree to eat only food they grow or buy locally from farmers. After the first sketchy weeks, these city slickers were amazed at how much abundance surrounds them.

Abundance surrounds us in the Rogue Valley, too. It has been estimated, however, that only 3 percent of what we eat here came from this lush valley. If you look at the vast luxury of undeveloped land here, that teeny figure is astonishingly small. And sad.

Kingsolver makes a strong case for keeping our gardening heritage alive by actively supporting local growers who work the soil in the sun, rain and occasionally, snow. Less than 1 percent of the vegetable varieties that grew almost effortlessly in the U.S. a century ago are available to us today.

As Kingsolver writes in her book, “You can’t save the whales by eating whales, but paradoxically, you can help save rare, domesticated foods by eating them. They’re kept alive by gardeners who have a taste for them, and farmers who know they’ll be able to sell them.”

In addition to supporting the Rogue Valley Growers and Crafters Market, seek out roadside stands, U-pick operations, artisanal products, local markets that buy from local farmers, buyers’ clubs and Community Supported Agriculture collectives (CSA). With a CSA, subscribers pay a producer in early spring (when it’s time to pay for seeds and things). In return, supporters are rewarded with weekly baskets of fresh food through the growing season.

Ashland-Talent Grower's Community Supported Agriculture has announced its offerings for the 2010 growing season:

• Weekly boxes of fresh vegetables for 20 weeks, from June 4 to October 15. Full share: $560 (2-4 people at $28 per week), Half share: $360 (1-2 people at $18 per week)

• Farm Bucks (in $50 increments) that can be used May to November at the Rogue Valley Growers Markets in Ashland (Tuesday and Saturday) and farm stands for these vegetable producers: HappyDirt Veggie Patch, Meadowlark Family Farms and Village Farm as well as fruit and nut producer Neighborhood Harvest

  • Local fruit, bread, eggs, micro greens, pickled foods, olive oil, mushrooms and wine for 20 weeks, from June 4 to October 15. Vendors and products include Andy’s Organics' pickled Items, Mycoverse's mushrooms, Neighborhood Harvest's fruit, OneLeaf Microgreens' micro greens, Our Local Bounty, Pickled Planet's fermented and pickled products, Rogue Valley Brambles' Wild Wines' Wildcrafted wines eggs, poultry and olive oil, Sunstone Artisan Bakery's handcrafted bread and

• Prepared foods and baked goods

For more info: If you want to learn more about CSA in general, go to www.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets, www.localharvest.org and www.csacenter.org.

For information on the Ashland-Talent CSA, call (541) 531.7467 or email farmerscircle@gmail.com or farms:

• Village Farm, Chris Hardy and Michael DiGiorgio, 2695 Siskiyou Blvd, Ashland, thevillagefarm.org

• Happy Dirt Veggie Patch, Matt Suhr, 100 Eagle Mill Rd, Ashland, happydirtveggiepatch.wordpress.com

• Meadowlark Family Farm, Quinn and Melina Barker, 176 Jessica Lane, Ashland, meadowlarkfamilyfarm.blogspot.com