The annual CSA pizza party will occur on Saturday, September 25th. In addition to delicious pizza cooked in a wood fired clay oven and farm fresh toppings and sides, the celebration is a time to get to know other people just as passionate about wholesome food produced in a wholesome manner. Some CSA members are planning activities which will include a brief farm walk and tour, an information table on the Biodynamic aspects of farming, as well as light entertainment to add to the merry-making and the making of new friends.
It is this last element—the making of new friends—that is of primary importance, of course. If there is one thing we can learn from our times of social distancing, it’s that the development of community is as conducive to true holistic health as the food we eat. The web of community helps us become somebody—a true self. For about the last 40 years, small farms have been on the forefront of tying communities together through CSA, and ATG is no exception to this small but growing movement.
How can a farm grow community while it is so busy growing vegetables? Well, it can’t! It’s up to the community to grow itself around the farm. Since the first so-called CSA in the Americas began in a tiny town in New Hampshire with a group of individuals realizing the importance of having a farm in their midst, and then taking the initiative to grant full support for the farmers in the hopes of sharing in the good and even the not-so-good times of growing food, the phrase "Community Supported Agriculture" has come to mean many different things.
Because the gesture of a community forming around a farm is such a large one, most farms and communities don’t achieve this particular type of food and farm security. Mostly, CSA has come to mean a system where we pay in advance for food we definitely expect to receive, like a pre-payment. But there are many more ways to become involved with one’s farm! One can organize or join a group of volunteers to hand out the food boxes or to help weed, or plant garlic, or simply pitch in with a necessary task. Further, one can explore deeper associations with the farm by becoming a member of ATG Farm Friends, a group of people acting together on the long-term viability of the farm. One dedicated CSA member has even gone so far as to initiate a pollinator hedgerow project, the results of which are beginning to really make a difference on the farm. The type of community that forms around a farm depends on the all the beautiful variables that make people and places unique. And ATG—and all its people—is nothing if not unique!