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Cromwell Valley CSA Newsletter |
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(Picture courtesy of Flickr user thebittenword.com.) |
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October 18, 2010 |
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Cromwell Valley Park offers a number of fun and educational workshops throughout the season. Check out the full calendar online. We’ve highlighted a few of the upcoming workshops below. Sign up now to reserve your spot for any of these fun activities down on the farm! For any programs not indicated as sponsored by CVCSA, you can contact the park office at 410.887.2503 or email info@cromwellvalleypark.org for more information or to reserve your spot. Unless otherwise noted, payment must be made to CVP within 5 business days of your reservation, or the reservation will be yielded to the waiting list. All payments are donations and non-refundable unless CVP cancels the program. Make checks payable to: Cromwell Valley Park Council (CVPC). Mailing Address: Cromwell Valley Park, 2002 Cromwell Bridge Road, Baltimore, MD 21234. For programs sponsored by CVCSA, email molly.amster@gmail.com to reserve your spot or get more information. Workshop details are below: —————————————— SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23 We’ll supply the straw. You bring a set of old clothes (kids’ overalls or a bunny suit work great!), pantyhose and maybe a hat to stuff without straw to make a decorative scarecrow. All ages. Reservations required. $3 members/$5 non-members per project. —————————————— SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30 Come explore the world of insects through all five senses. Yes, that’s right, even TASTE! Test your palate with some yummy recipes which make use of a few of the 1,417 species of EDIBLE INSECTS...if you dare! All ages. Reservations required. $3 members/$5non-members. —————————————— SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6 Enjoy the crisp fall weather with a naturalist led hike focusing on tree identification and why/how leaves change color. Families - ages 6+. Reservations required. $2 members/$4 non-members. —————————————— SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6 A story time designed for both parents & kids. Enjoy listening to a story and interacting with a live animal. Use teamwork in a challenge or game and work together on a craft. Ages 3+. Reservations required. $2 members/$4 non-members. —————————————— SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13 Learn how to make homemade chocolate dipped nuts, dried fruits, & other confections to give as holiday gifts. Ages 18+. Reservations required. $3 members/$5 non-members. —————————————— SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20 Enjoy a self-guided scavenger hunt in and around the Willow Grove Nature Education Center. Pick up your guide book at the nature center, and don’t forget to return to claim your prize when you are done! Families - all ages. NO Reservations required. FREE! —————————————— SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21 Come celebrate the wonders and diversity of our fellow warm-blooded friends. We’ll play games, meet live critters, and explore some mammal habitats at CVP! Families-all ages. Reservations required. $2 members/$4 non-members. —————————————— SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4 Find all of your holiday excitement on one farm. Come help decorate the Sherwood House for the holidays & stop by Talmar for your tree & poinsettia! Seasonal crafts, cookie decorating, refreshments, music, and visit with SANTA! Reservations required. All ages. $2 per person. —————————————— SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11 Learn about the natural history of owls, discover which owls live in the park, and listen to their calls. Then hike some trails as we look and listen for these nighttime predators. Reservations required. Ages 8+. $2 members/$4 non-members. |
Highlights in this issue:· A note from the Farmer · Order Poultry · An essay on organic farming · Upcoming workshops · Recipes |
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Upcoming Workshops |
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Sign up and mark your calendars for some of the great fall workshops at Cromwell Valley Park or CVCSA! |
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Recipes & Other stuff |
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More recipes for using that fall produce: Sweet Potato and Black Bean Salad Roasted Carrots with Cardamom Butter
Enjoy! |
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Reminder: Get Humanely Raised POULTRY For the holidays |
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If you’d like to get humanely raised poultry for your Thanksgiving or holiday dinners, you can get them from Sunnyside Farm, a local pasture-based farm in southern PA. Their animals are humanely raised on grass pasture and spend their whole lives frolicking in the sunlight outdoors.
Sunnyside Farm currently has a number of broiler chickens and pasture raised turkeys available for purchase. The turkeys are available on pre-order for delivery shortly before Thanksgiving and the chickens are available immediately. More information about Sunnyside’s farming practices can be found on their website: http://www.sunny-side-farm.com/.
If there are enough members would like to purchase chicken from Sunnyside they will arrange a drop off at the farm and members can pick-up their Sunnyside order at CSA pick-up. To order from Sunnyside, email drupeters@yahoo.com and make sure to mention that you’re from CVCSA. |
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A Note From the Farmer |
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There have been a number of questions about when we’ll be done harvesting this season. Please note that we WILL be harvesting through October and into November. Our fall greens are just about ready and you can see them in the field to your left as you drive into the park.
We will keep you informed as the season comes to a close and we have a better idea of the final pickup date, but expect to see harvests for the next several weeks.
See you on the farm,
Andrea |
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Mmmmm . . . Learn to make some chocolate confections just in time for the holidays! |
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The Organic Farmer by Caroline Knuth |
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Amongst the definitions for "organic" in the dictionary are the following: 3. a. denoting a relation between elements of something such that they fit together harmoniously as necessary parts of a whole; fundamental b. characterized by continuous or natural development 4. resembling a living organism in organization or development
There is also what we traditionally think of when we advertising for "organic" products, that is, goods produced without the use of "chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or other artificial agents." Numerous farms' production fit this description and so are certified organic by the government. Wendell Berry, though he does not disagree with this definition, does believe that to be truly "organic," a farm must also operate in accordance with the other definitions listed above. In his own words:
An organic farm, properly speaking, is not one that uses certain methods and substances and avoids others; it is a farm whose structure is formed in imitation of the structure of a natural system; it has the integrity, the independence, and the benign dependence of an organism.
This statement fits best with definition 4, but throughout the essay it is clear that he means to include definition 3 as well. The farmer and his farm must fit together harmoniously and grow together. Berry is very concerned about the functionality of the farm as well as the harmony, so much of his essay is taken up with pragmatic advice such as, "Agricultural problems should receive solutions that are agricultural, not technological or economic" (36). But at the core of all his advice is the idea that there must be unity between the farmer and his land and/or livestock. The good farmer knows the limits of his soil's ability to support crops and he knows when to let the cows out to pasture and when to feed them grain. He knows how to make the best use of his land and he knows the patterns of the growing seasons. He can see the whole pictures without losing any of the details. "The good health of a farm," says Berry, "depends of the farmer's mind; the good health of his mind has its dependence, and its proof, in physical work" (38). It is a symbiotic relationship.
Berry stresses that the farmer must come to understand the patterns of nature in his farm and that any changes made to the workings of the farm must "improve the balances, symmetries, or harmonies within a pattern" (36). He is advocating working with the land rather than using it. In order to see the patterns and effectively work with the land, a farmer must have what John Burroughs calls Love. It is Love, Burroughs says, that "sharpens the eye, the ear, the touch," and in this way brings the farmer to understand his farm (146). Perhaps this would be putting words in Berry's mouth, but it seems that he would even go so far as to say that a farmer without Love should not be a farmer at all. Burroughs is speaking of Love in terms of simply walking and enjoying the natural world, but it is clear that the same principle applies to farming. "What we love to do," Burroughs says, "that we do well. To know is not all; it only half. To love is the other half" (146). If a farmer knows the land and livestock and he knows what he is supposed to do, this is not enough. He must love them in order to find the patterns that work best. Burroughs speaks of the sharpness of the senses of a lover of nature and their ability to sense the smallest changes and to spot the smallest details. It is these senses, heightened by love, that turn the farmer from one who is just government-certified organic to one who is organic in the deepest way possible.
Articles cited: Berry, Wendell. "Solving for Pattern." Ecological Literacy. Burroughs, John. "The Art of Seeing." American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau. Ed. Bill McKibben. The Library of America: New York, 2008. 146-159. |
