Do you remember your grandmother's vegetable garden? That mouth watering, intense flavour of home grown vegetables? Remember going to the garden with a basket and harvesting only what you needed for the evening meal? You can have that again!
Last year The Greenhouse and Garden Store began a new project on a trial basis. We had been supporting the West Coast Farmers Market for the past couple of years but it we were losing our shirt. The manpower required to get ready for it and then attend was costing us more than we were making. On to plan 'b'. We decided to start a weekly vegetable basket, commonly known as a CSA. This is a trend sweeping North America that gives consumers an opportunity to purchase local produce without having to search for it. It develops a relationship between the consumer and the people growing your food. Studies show that fresh produce is much higher in vitamins than vegetables that have been shipped long distances in less than ideal conditions.
Consumers sign on at the beginning of the season and receive a basket once a week that contains locally grown, pesticide free produce. The vegetables are harvested the previous day and the basket contains whatever is in season. A sampling of what you may get; beans, beets, bok choi, carrots, cucumbers, eggplant, ground cherries, herbs, kale, kohlrabi, leek sugar snap peas, mixed baby greens and lettuces, onions, shallots, bunching onions, radish, spinach, swiss chard, tomatoes, tomatillos and zucchinni. There will also be surprises from time to time.
Weekly recipes and produce care tips will be posted to our blog to help you out with some of the vegies you may not be familiar with. These baskets are $25 per week and will comfortably feed two people. A larger family may want to consider a double basket at a cost of $50.
If you are interested in signing up or if you would like more information, contact us at kim@thegreenhouse.ca or call 634-5757. Baskets are available for pickup at a central location in Corner Brook or at our greenhouse in Little Rapids.
To be sure of your place in the queue submit your application by April 15th, 2012 as we have to start planting and aim to grow only enough for the orders that we have.
