Today is CSA Day - buy your CSA share early to help your local farmer

February 24 marks the third annual National CSA Sign-Up Day when you can join other like-minded people around the North Country who are committed to eating healthy foods, supporting their local farmer, and being adventurous in the kitchen.  February sounds like a crazy time to be thinking about buying food from a local farmer.  But the concept behind Community Supported Agriculture or CSA is to share both the risk and the rewards with the farmer.  By purchasing a CSA Share early in the year, you help the farmer plan for the growing season and offer the farm an important infusion of cash for the purchase of seeds and equipment.

CSA is like a subscription to a season’s worth of locally grown produce.  You pay for your share now, the farmer grows the food, and then each week you pick up your share of the harvest.  It is a form of investment that allows small farmers to continue growing on a scale that may not be sustainable without the CSA model. CSA members enjoy the quality of fresh fruits and vegetables for their family, while supporting their local farmer.

Getting food from a CSA is different from going to a farmers market or the grocery store. As a CSA member, you make a seasonal commitment to a small farmer in your area and receive a weekly box of assorted local food. CSA members take pleasure in knowing where and how their food is grown and experimenting with new foods or recipes they may not have tried before.  CSA farmers typically teach members what’s in season throughout the year and help them appreciate and cook food to which they may not otherwise be exposed.

One challenge of the CSA model is the need to spend a larger than usual sum of money in the next month or two, without the immediate return of food for those dollars spent.  While, over the course of the season, you’ll likely get more than your money’s worth, this can pose a challenge for lower-income and working families, as well as seniors.

In St. Lawrence County, GardenShare is working to address that problem by raising money to subsidize CSA shares for working families and low-income households.  GardenShare also helps the farmers accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called food stamps) as a form of payment.

To find a CSA here in St. Lawrence County or learn more about support for lower-income families to purchase CSA shares, go to gardenshare.org. 

Power up with summer meals in schools

USDA and Department of Education are pleased to invite you to the iForum: Power Up with Summer Meals in Schools!! – co-hosted by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday, May 11th, from 1:00 to 2:00 PM ET.

This online webinar will discuss proven strategies for community stakeholders to develop and expand USDA Summer Meals Programs in partnership with local schools.  Please sign up HERE, and forward the invitation to peers who might benefit from this information.

USDA Summer Meals Programs help close the nutrition gap children face over the summer months—a time when children no longer receive school meals they relied on throughout the school year. USDA reports that 22 million children and teens receive free and reduced-priced meals through the National School Lunch Program, yet only about 1 in 5 of those (around 3.8 million) participate in summer meal programs.

Participants of this iForum will gain clarity about how USDA Summer Meals Programs operate, and learn from school districts that have overcome obstacles to administer the programs effectively. We will be joined by the Port Huron Area School District in Michigan, and Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, who will share their inspiring success stories.

During this exciting session, we will:

• Introduce USDA Summer Meals Programs and provide an overview on how the program operates;
• Hear how the school districts have overcome challenges in their journey to operating successful summer meals programsAnswer your questions

Again, please RSVP HERE, and forward the invitation to others who might benefit from this information. We will send an iForum log-in and call-in number prior to Wednesday, May 11th. We hope you will join us for this extraordinary convening. Thank you for all you do on behalf of children, youth, and families. 

Earth Day is tomorrow - lots going on in Canton!

This year, people around the world will be celebrating the 46^th Earth Day on Friday, April 22.  There will be public rallies, protests against fossil fuels, and demonstrations about mass extinctions all over the globe.  But what’s happening in our neck of the woods?

Students at St. Lawrence University have taken it upon themselves to make sure that Earth Day does not go unnoticed.  Thursday night kicks off the “Earth Day Extravaganza” with an event called EARTHx – a spinoff of the international podcast series, TED Talks.  Professors and community members have been invited to answer the question, in a time of environmental crisis, how can we live right now?, from each of their unique perspectives.  Homesteaders, outdoor recreationalists, economists, farmers, and environmentalists are just some of the speakers who will have five minutes to share their personal stories.  EARTHx will take place on campus at Pub 56 at 7:OO PM, on Thursday, April 21.  The event is free and open to the public.  A map of St. Lawrence’s campus can be found here.

On Friday, the focus shifts to more community engagement and participation with the issues surrounding Earth Day, as students join together to stand up for the environment.

Plastic water bottles that were salvaged from trashcans will be strung together and hung up in Sullivan Student Center to showcase the ridiculous amount of waste produced by not using reusable water bottles.  White Spruce saplings will be planted in rusty oil barrels and placed on display in the Student Center to urge the St. Lawrence community to question our energy investments.  “On behalf of Mother Earth, let’s uproot society from the false security of fossil fuel dependency,” reads the sign that will accompany the trees.  Over one hundred people plan to “drop dead” during the lunch rush to represent the number of species that face extinction every day.  And the food miles of all of our exotic favorites will be calculated, as well as the carbon that their travel emits into the atmosphere, so that we might be less inclined to pick up that banana, and opt for the local apple instead.

Students have chosen to focus on the issues because they want to demonstrate that complacency is not an option.  The earth that we live on is experiencing huge amounts of environmental stress, and our actions have a direct impact on it.

From 12PM to 2PM, there will be a tie dying station outside the Student Center.  The dyes will be made from natural ingredients instead of chemicals, and will use locally grown products.  Beets, onion skins, and black beans – all grown by students at the Sustainability House on Rt. 68 in Canton – produce beautiful, earthy colors that aren’t toxic if they spill into the soil. Materials will be provided.  At 3PM, anyone is invited to the ice cream social behind Commons College at 78 Park Street in exchange for a few seeds sowed.  Seed to Table, a club on campus that grows food for the dining halls, needs help starting seeds for their upcoming season, and anyone can take a stab at making soil blocks or getting their hands dirty in the permaculture garden.  All of these events are free and open to the public.

But students aren’t the only ones celebrating Earth Day.  Nature Up North, another local non-profit, is hosting an #EncounterEarth campaign all day Friday which calls on participants to post a picture on their website of something they did outside.  Nature Up North hopes that the contest will urge people to get outdoors and appreciate their local environments – one lucky Encounter poster will win a prize!  You can find more information on how to participate here.

The festivities continue into the weekend, with Nature Up North’s Earth Day 7K at 9:30 on Saturday morning at the Wachtmeister Field Station.  After the race, runners can make their way to Folk Fest at St. Lawrence University, where bands from near and far will be playing music from noon to nearly midnight outside on the Java Quad.  Local vendors will be at the festival from 12PM until 6PM, so make sure to stop by and check them out – both GardenShare and Nature Up North will have tables there!

There are many ways to celebrate Earth Day, and many ways to make a difference.  Here at GardenShare, we hope that you will choose to think about where your food comes from and how it was grown – not just on Earth Day, but everyday.  Your choices have an impact on our environment and our community!  How will you be appreciating nature?

WPBS promotes buying local

The WPBS-TV Explore the Region:  Buy it Local Auction is a good chance to promote locally produced products and the buy local movement.

For more information on donating your items please contact

Peggy A. Brouty at 315-782-3142 ext. 301 or email her at pbrouty@wpbstv.org.