Over the next couple of months I will discuss different terms used in farming, and feature a specific fruit or vegetable that is coming in season. This month the term is ‘CSA,’ and the featured fruit is Kiwi.
February: February is kind of a boring month. What you saw in January (fruits and vegetables), you will see in February. March and April will be the transition months where a little more variety will show up on the shelves.
A term you may read a lot about in Sustainable Agriculture is CSA, an acronym that stands for ‘Community Supported Agriculture.’ It’s a way for the public to create a relationship with a farmer, or farms. Think of it as ‘subscription farming,’ just like buying a subscription to a magazine. A person subscribes with a farmer for a 16- to 20-week period for a specific price, and in return, when the crops are harvested, they receive a weekly amount of produce. The pre-payment to the farmer is a guarantee that the two to three months he or she spends buying the seeds, planting, and harvesting will be of use. It guarantees the customer gets a variety of farm-fresh produce. The cost is usually about $25 per week for a basket, and customers pick the basket up at a central location.
CSA’s began in Japan over 30 years ago. They called it ‘teikei,’ in Japanese, which translates to ‘putting the farmers’ face on the food.’ The concept made it way into the U.S. and Canada in 1985, and today there are over 2,000 CSA programs nationwide.
Here are a few local CSA programs: Del Rio Botanical (from west Sacramento) features weekly boxes picked up at Moody’s Bistro & Lounge in Truckee. Contact Moody’s: 530-587-8688. There’s also Natural Trading Co., from Loomis, and Mountain Bounty Farm, from San Juan Ridge (mountainbountyfarm.com). There is a local hydroponic farm in Reno called Nevada Naturals. They also give farm tours! (nevadanaturals1@hotmail.com). To explore additional local farms visit localharvest.org.
Farmers Markets/ CSA/Natural Food Stores: Downtown Auburn on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. Chico Farmer’s Market Sat. from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in downtown on 2nd st. Another great find is Great Basin Cooperative Store in Reno, located at 271 Wonder St. Get store hours by contacting info@greatbasinfood.coop or 775-324-6133.
What you will see coming to the Truckee/Tahoe Area
Vegetables: At both farmer’s markets (Auburn and Chico) that I attended, there were a lot of herbs, butternut, acorn, banana, spaghetti squashes, pumpkins, gourds, along with cool season leafy greens like arugula, lettuces, cabbage, chard, collards, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and plenty of onions, green onions, and leeks. Asian vegetables were also in abundance. Some regional vegetables to watch for: lettuces/greens and hydroponic tomatoes will appear from Arizona and Baja Mexico. Root crops (onions and potatoes) from Washington, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon.
Fruits & Nuts: Introducing this month’s featured produce: the Kiwifruit. Kiwifruit is one of our amazing winter fruits that goes largely unnoticed. Kiwifruit, or ‘kiwis,’ are considered a berry. Native to China, they were called ‘Chinese Gooseberry.’ Upon being introduced to New Zealand at the turn of the century, they were renamed ‘Kiwifruit’ after the national symbol of New Zealand the kiwi bird. During the 1960s kiwi plants arrived at the Chico Plant Station and soon after, the ‘kiwi boom’ took off in the upper Sacramento Valley. Today the Chico/Gridley Area is known as the Kiwi Capital of California. Kiwis, the Hayward variety, are the most common seen in the stores. The delicious tart fruit grows on a very aggressive vine that is similar to grapes, but are trained on an 8-foot trellis system. They are harvested in October and November and distributed until April or May. They can produce over 10,000 pounds of fruit per acre! The kiwi’s nutritional value is quite impressive. Why, one serving of kiwis has two and a half times the Vitamin C as an orange, and four times the amount as half a grapefruit! They are also a good source for Vitamin A and potassium.
Meats/Fish: For those of you looking for local meats (poultry, lamb, beef, pork) and fish. Grass-fed Beef: Thompson Valley Ranch Beef (tvrgrassfed.com), and Coffee Pot Ranch (coffeepotranch.com). Natural Pork: Coffee Pot Ranch. Grass-fed Lamb: Coffee Pot Ranch and Flying Mule Farm (flyingmulefarm.com). Check out their meat buying clubs! Free-Range Poultry/Eggs: Trails End Farm (Susanville), New Moon Natural Foods Wild Fish: Little Fish Company (Auburn Farmers Market).
Let me leave you with this thought for February: ‘You don’t stop laughing because you grow old…you grow old because you stop laughing’
~ Unknown
~ Gary Romano owns Sierra Valley Farms, which sits on some of his family’s original 3,600-acre ranch in Beckwourth. sierravalleyfarms.com
