Hi Everybody,

I returned home this week after being away, and found my tulips and crocuses budding their little heads above the soil. When I see that, my heart jumps, because I know Spring is just around the corner. I know it is hard to believe while in the middle of a snow storm, but it is coming, and with that, it’s time to think about your garden and securing a source for delicious, beautiful, organic produce for the season. It will still be a few months before we can start shopping at our local, outdoor, Farmers Markets, but there is also another way to ensure that you will have fresh, local, organic produce all season long, and that is by joining a CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and that is exactly what it is. You purchase a share of the farms weekly harvest at the beginning of the season, and then all season long, you get a box of the weekly harvest. There are slight differences in how each farm structures their CSA. Some farms have you pick the produce up at the farm, and some have drop off points throughout the Island. Some CSA’s have a work component, and some don’t. The length of the season can also vary, so you need to compare that when you are looking at the different programs. Some farms offer additional items, such as eggs, flowers, bread, chicken, fruit, or cheese, so that is another consideration. Most of the farms have opportunities for their members to become a part of the community, so depending on what you are looking for, I’m sure you can find it. The time to join is now! Check out LocalHarvest.org for a comprehensive list of CSA’s across the country. A few of my local favorites are listed below;

Restoration Farm; Orkestai Farm; Elija Farm; Golden Earthworm; Sang Lee Farm; Hawthorne Valley Farm; Biophilia Farm; Pfeiffer Center; Homecoming Farm; The Farm; Green Thumb Farm;

My guest this week on the Progressive Radio Network is Mark Winne. Mark is a food activist and author of the new book, Stand Together or Starve Alone: Unity and Chaos in the U.S. Food Movement, which is a call for collaboration. Mark will also be the keynote speaker at the upcoming Long Island Food Coalition Conference, The State of Long Island Local Suburban Agriculture; Where Do We Go From Here? at Hofstra University on April 19th! As a food activist and co-founder of a number of food and agriculture policy groups including the City of Hartford Food Policy Commission, the Connecticut Food Policy Council, End Hunger Connecticut!, and the national Community Food Security Coalition, Mark recognizes the need for us to all work together if we really want to make progress. He was an organizer and chairman of the Working Lands Alliance, a statewide coalition working to preserve Connecticut’s farmland, and is a founder of the Connecticut Farmland Trust. Mark was a member of the United States delegation to the 2000 World Conference on Food Security in Rome and is a 2001 recipient of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary’s Plow Honor Award. From 2002 until 2004, Mark was a Food and Society Policy Fellow, a position supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Since 2013, Mark has served as a Senior Advisor at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, where he works on local and state food policy. His essays and opinion pieces have appeared in the Hartford Courant, the Boston Globe, The Nation, In These Times, Sierra Magazine, Orion Magazine, Successful Farming, Yes! Magazine, and numerous organizational and professional journals. Mark blogs regularly at www.markwinne.com. In addition to his newest book, Mark is the author of Closing the Food Gap: Resetting the Table in the Land of Plenty (Beacon Press 2008), and Food Rebels, Guerilla Gardeners, and Smart Cookin’ Mamas: Fighting Back in an Age of Industrial Agriculture (Beacon Press, 2010). Mark currently writes, speaks, and consults extensively on community food system topics including hunger and food insecurity, local and regional agriculture, community food assessment, and food policy.

I hope you can join us on Thursday as we discuss his new book, and the ways in which we can bring the food movement into unity. Remember, my show is recorded live, every Thursday, from 10-11 am, EST.  To tune in, navigate to PRN.fm and click the “Listen Live” button on the left.

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With love and gratitude,

Bhavani