Max and I have been discussing joining a CSA to get more healthy produce into our diets. It is a strong belief of mine that eating organically when possible is the best option. I don't like the idea of putting unnecessary chemicals in my body, not to mention eating strawberries from Mexico that were picked weeks ago when I could eat produce picked just days ago from a farm up the road. Supporting local agriculture has many benefits, and to me, it just feels good.
We got up early today, on a Saturday (yawn!). Around 9:15 Becky and Keith us up to head to Victory Acres, a certified naturally grown farm about an hour from here. We piled into their Mazda V and headed north. Staci and Veronica (10 months) sat and happily played Peek-a-boo with me and Becky while the husbands sat up front and chatted.
Upon arrival I have to admit I was a bit skeptical. The first thing we saw were two double-wides and some rather disorganized looking greenhouse structures. I don't know. I guess I had envisioned a cute little farmhouse complete with garden gnomes and window box blooming flowers. (yes, I know it's March. and nothing is really blooming yet...) We were greeted by Terry, the head dude at the farm and Charley, an extremely lovable golden retriever mix. Charley sold me on this farm in about 3 seconds. He was such a sweet pup! I think you can tell a lot about a person by their animals. :)
Terry took us through the farm, methodically explaining which plants were going where in each of the rows of field. I have to say I expected it to be bigger. I am amazed they grow enough food for even the small business they do, but since I am a city girl what the heck do I know? It was hard to envision since nothing is really growing yet. When he took us through the greenhouses it was really neat to see the teeny tiny buds beginning to peek out of the dirt. It's amazing that in just a few weeks those buds will be vegetables ready to eat!
Charley ate some weeds and then chased the cat. <3
Terry pointed out the henhouses, explaining that cage free is not the same as free range chicken--apparently cage free means the chickens could still be packed in very tightly and unable to rome free. With the free range chickens at Victory Acres, they had ample space to rome about, creating a much healthier atmosphere and in turn, healthier eggs.
After seeing the plants, we piled back into the car to visit the animals. Charley raced the car up the road. As soon as we walked into the barn, the animals all came up to greet us. The cows even came in from pasture to wink and flick their ears and swish their tails for our benefit. We met merino goats, sheep, and a brand new 2 week old ram. Staci was none-too-sure about the sheep. She got pretty upset when I tried to get her closer to the sheep and then the baby ram. I am not sure why she is scared of sheep of all things, but she calmed down after a few minutes. Poor kid! For now the farm is not milking the cows or goats for sale, but maybe sometime in the future.
All in all I am glad I did not make any judgements at first, because the farm turned out to be very cool and probably just what we are looking for. Terry sent us home with 2 dozen eggs (one dozen for each family) and a big bag of spinach to split just for coming out to visit--how nice is that? I see a fabulous spinach salad in my near future :) I am open to checking out some other farms in the area, but this one is deifnitely in the running. I felt very comfortable there and Terry was so easy to talk to.
Once we have a plethora of fresh veggies and fruits I will need to make a real effort to eat what we have so I will be hitting up all my friends out in bloggyland for yummy recipes!
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