The News Tribune logo

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Localvores Rejoice--Here's a Taste of Spring!




Like many South Sounders, January is not my favorite month of the year. The wintry, soggy, and gray weather seems to wear out it's welcome and I begin to long for the bounty of spring and summer: fresh, local produce. While it seems like the local Farmer's Markets are really off the radar at the moment, what fun it is to hear about plans for the coming seasons. Buying seeds, prepping the land, planning the bounty--these are the things that local Tahoma Farms is doing right now. I was delighted last year to eat truly local organic produce by joining in on Tahoma Farms CSA during the summer months through Tacoma's Terra Organics produce delivery. It was top notch food, with a small footprint (grown right here in Orting).

Tahoma Farms wishes to continue it's service to consumers and is offering and taking deposits for a community supported agriculture program (CSA) option for those interested in participating. While it seems like it's a lot of money, when you break it down, month by month (or week by week), it's a pretty good deal for the best, healthiest, and environmentally focused produce around. Plus, you support your local farmer. Here's the e-mail letter I received. Check it out:

Welcome to 2010! Here at Tahoma Farms, we greet the New Year with joy, enthusiasm and gratitude: 2009 was a successful first year of growing certified organic vegetables in the Orting Valley; we learned a lot about growing food on our new land; we felt the support of our community; and we have some quiet time in the winter months to reflect, rejuvenate and plan for the upcoming season. And are we planning! Seed catalogs arrive in the mail daily, we are constantly revising our "to do" and "wish" lists and filling our computer screens with excel file upon excel file. As Amy says, "If you don't have all of your planning done before the first seed is planted, you will be behind for the rest of the season."

Which brings us to the purpose of this e-mail: we are hoping that you can help us out with our plans by signing up now for our 2010 CSA season. Tahoma Farms' Community Supported Agriculture program (CSA) is a way to support a local farm directly, especially during the low income months of winter and early spring. If you pay for your membership now, it will help Tahoma Farms buy seeds, supplies and equipment. In exchange for your membership, you will receive a box of produce, grown just for you, every week (or every other week) during the growing season (approximately June through October). This community effort helps makes small scale agriculture viable.

If you want to see a list of this season's projected share offerings, visit Tahoma Farms website: www.tahomafarms.com


Thank you for your continued support of local farms. We hope to see you soon!

2 comments:

Stephanie Frieze said...

We are looking forward to our Terra Organic's delivery tomorrow! (although I emailed and said no to brussel sprouts.

Kim Thompson said...

We got ours today-it looked great. We declined the brussel sprouts, too. I love many things veggie, but that is simply not one of them.