Seacoast Eat Local

Coming this Saturday, February 26th, to Rollinsford is CSA Day at the Winter Farmers’ Market at Wentworth Greenhouses. The Winter Farmers’ Market will feature the opportunity to learn more about CSAs in the Seacoast area and speak directly with CSA farmers, in addition to 40+ producers and vendors offering an array of local food. Community Supported Agriculture offers a terrific way for people to get a steady supply of local food directly from the producers.

• Meet 15+ farmers and fishermen, and learn about CSA share options for the 2011 season

• Talk with farmers about quantity and pre-ordering options for meat and poultry

• Buy a share in a farm’s harvest for the coming season

• Buy a share in a fishing boat’s catch

14 farms + 1 fishery have signed up to participate in CSA Day on February 26th. Collectively, these farms represent over 825 acres in production and in 2011, they are offering a total of 2,135 CSA shares + 790 winter shares. Half of the farms also offer year-round shares or winter share options. The farms range from 2 acres to 340 acres, and cover a wide geographic range. There are a lot of diverse options for pick-up locations, share structures, available foods, and farm involvement. Come to CSA Day to find the right option for you!

Considering a CSA for the first time? Check out “Choosing a CSA“ for questions to think about and to ask farmers at CSA Day at the Market. Learn more about the participating farms at our website: www.seacoasteatlocal.org.

A friend mentioned that she’d just tasted cheese curds for the first time, so I decided to try making them. I intended to use one of our local milks but bought the wrong one by mistake; it may have been organic but as a national brand it was also ultra-pasturized. I was disappointed and, as most home cheesemakers can predict, the cheese was destined to fail. I went ahead with it but the milk never set and refused to form into curds. It reminded me of how fortunate we are to have a range of local milk to choose from, milk that doesn’t need to travel far and doesn’t need to be ultra-pasteurized.

Several articles about local milk have appeared recently — from MOOMilk:

New York Times Business Section Features report on MOOMilk: Story and video tell the story of how some of our farmers are doing

 

A couple of weeks ago a reporter and photographer from the New York Times visited some of our MOOMilk farms to learn about how our farms and the company are doing during these tight financial times. The reporter, Katie Zezima, also talked to some of the other people who are involved with MOOMilk’s efforts to help these small farms survive and succeed. The story was published on Feb. 18, 2011. You can read her story on line at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/business/19milk.html?src=busln.

 

There was also a video on the New Times web page, with footage shot by Pull Start Pictures. Pull Start Pictures is the Maine company that produced the “Know Your Farmer” DVD that Maine Farmland Trust has shown around the state. Here’s the link to the New York Times video. (Be advised that a small part of the dialogue is a bit salty, as one farmer expresses his frustration over his financial situation. There’s also a short advertisement at the start of the video.)

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/02/18/us/1248069613774/moomilk.html?ref=business

 

You can help our farmers by circulating the story to your contacts. And, of course, you can help even more by asking for and buying MOOMilk at your local store.

And for cheesemakers who use raw milk, the possibility of tightened food safety rules: “Raw Milk Cheesemakers Fret Over Possible New Rules“