REGISTER FOR SUMMER-FALL SHARES while Shares are still available!

Cooking well-rounded and nutritious meals can be hard, especially if your kids don’t think they like vegetables.  It’s a real problem…you spend precious time and energy preparing fresh food for your family and then…they won’t eat it!😞

In my experience, joining a CSA can actually help with this problem by making your kids active participants in their food chain!  Kids can accompany their parents to CSA pickups, meet the people who grow their food, meet other families who participate, and go home energized and excited to try some new things!  Our CSA pickups are actually designed to be kid friendly…all the produce is arranged at “kid height,” allowing kids to help their parents select which carrots to take home, or whether they want to eat lettuce or kale this week.

When kids are connected to the farm, they are more likely to be involved in the food preparation and healthy eating at home.  A CSA can really be a valuable and enriching experience for your whole family.

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Nutritionist Julie Negrin has the following tips for involving your youngsters in food prep:

1. Create a kids’ cooking station.  Seat them at the dinner table or counter away from the heat so that you can whip up dinner with minimal interference.

2. Start small.  Give toddlers little tasks that won’t slow down your meal preparation, such as stirring or rinsing off vegetables.  You can increase their responsibilities as they age.

3. Give yourself plenty of time and multitask.  Take advantage of those long days off from school and find a few recipes for them to cook that just happens to result in a family dinner.

4. Create the menu together.  Encourage kids to explore cookbooks and websites for recipes.  The more invested they are in the meal, the less likely they’ll whine about it.

5. Keep cleaning equipment close by.  Enlisting kids in the cleanup will make the experience more pleasant for everyone — and teach them another essential life skill!

6. Invite a confident cook to help.  If you’re a kitchen novice, this is an ideal time to learn alongside your kids.  If you’re a confident cook, you’ll have some extra help.

7. Sign up for parent-and-kid cooking classes.  You’ll pick up teaching tips, kid-friendly recipes and possibly new family friends.

8. Praise them.  Providing for our kin is such a primal urge that kids feel an immediate sense of pride and self-worth when they feed their families, so make sure to gush over their hard work.

9. Accept that not all kids like to cook.  Your non-cooking kids can still contribute to the meal by washing produce, setting the table, folding napkins, deciding which platters to use, garnishing the dishes, clearing the table and tasting each dish to determine if it needs additional seasoning.

Happy cooking!

We’re here to make it simple and easy for you to eat great local organic produce at home.  We want to help you be healthy and happy!  Join us this Summer…you deserve it!

Thank you Bridges to Independence for including us in a wonderful independence celebration this weekend!

Bridges to Independence is an organization that shelters and supports homeless women and families.  We are grateful to be able to contribute fresh Produce to their shelters.  This is one of the places where we send unclaimed CSA Shares.

The independence celebration honors women who have come through their doors and are now living independently.  Several of the women graduating shared their stories, hoping to inspire others in the community who are still working towards independence.  We were moved by what these strong, resilient women had to say.

Bridges to Independence also honored a few individuals and businesses that have supported them in different ways and we were honored to receive a Bridge Builder Award.  We accepted this award on behalf of our CSA members and generous volunteers who make these donations possible – this is your award!  Congratulations, and thank you!  Here’s to many more years to come!

You can find out more information about Bridges to Independence here: bridges2.org, including how you can donate and volunteer.

It will probably surprise you learn that a Winter-Spring Produce Share from Groundworks Farm is just as diverse and varied as the Summer-Fall Shares. You can see the official Seasonal Produce Guide here. Everyone works very hard to bring you a local, varied, and diverse Share at every pickup, year-round.

Most people assume they’ll only get a bunch of root vegetables. But roots are only a small part of the story. For example, this is a Share you might get in January:

-Apples, Green Boston Lettuce, Spinach, Broccoli, Red Potatoes, Carrots, Pea Shoots, Baby Kale, Beets, Mushrooms, Thyme, Brussels Sprouts

And, here’s a Share you might get in March (typically the hardest part of the year to eat local in our area):

-Onions, Garlic, Apples, Lettuce Mix, Beets, Gold Potatoes, Rainbow Carrots, Parsley, Spinach, Rutabaga, Alfalfa Sprouts, Frozen Roasted Tomatoes, Japanese Sweet Potatoes

And, remember, these Winter-Spring Shares go all the way through May as well! Here’s a Share you might get in May:

-Strawberries, Rhubarb, Red Potatoes, Asparagus, Swiss Chard, Spring Mix Lettuce, Collard Greens, Easter Egg Radishes, Sweet and Spicy Greens Mix, Mushrooms

Join our community and keep your meals fresh, local, and fun this Winter and Spring! Click here for more information.

Supporting local organic farms and food producers is one of the most effective ways YOU
can reduce your own carbon footprint and live a little lighter on the planet.

       Sustainable farming techniques + less food miles
                                                   = less carbon per meal = healthier planet.

In the warm Mid-Atlantic Summer months it’s easy to source local. There’s lots of farmers
markets, Summer CSAs, and local produce on the grocery shelves and the restaurant menus.

But what about eating local the other half of the year, in the Winter and Spring?

The Winter and Spring seasons are actually my favorite time to eat local – hearty soups,
flavorful salads, crisp apples, and succulent roasted root vegetables keep me warm all Winter.
Then with the first blush of spring comes strawberries, asparagus, and the first crisp field
greens as the outside world awakens yet again.

The Groundworks Farm CSA makes it easy to reduce your food miles year-round.  Our
knowledgeable, friendly, and supportive pickup staff is always available to help you keep your
family dinners interesting.  Pick up new recipes,storage tips, and talk cooking every-other
week with our supportive localvore staff and community so your kitchen can thrive all the way
through those cold Winter Months.

Eat local. Save the planet.  Be healthy.  Build community.

Want to see our large Winter-Spring produce diversity for yourself?  Check out our
seasonal produce guide below. I think you’ll find the Winter-Spring seasons to be
just as exciting and diverse as the Summer-Fall.