Hilltown Families 
GIVEAWAY: CSA Farm Share from Crimson & Clover Farm
Enter to Win a Farm Share from
Crimson & Clover Farm this Summer!
Enter for a chance to win a Small Farm Share from Crimson & Clover Farm in Florence, MA for the 2015 season by sharing ways your family engages in our local food culture and the learning you glean from your experiences in the comment field. Deadline: April 28th, 2015.
Locally grown food is a great community connector! This past winter families could enjoy Winter Farmers’ Market in the Pioneer Valley while connecting with friends and neighbors during these festive weekly markets. And during the growing and harvest season Farmers’ Markets happen nearly every day of the week and have quickly become places the community not only shops for fresh produce and local products, but a place they can participate in collaborative consumption by taking free workshops and learning from farmers who freely share their knowledge on growing a better garden or preserving food.
But Farmers’ Markets aren’t the only way the community can participate in farm-based learning while connecting with their neighbors and supporting local farmers… Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is another fabulous way families can support, participate and learn through the lens of our local food culture. By purchasing a CSA share, shareholders pledge their support of a local farm and receive weekly shares of fruits, vegetables, herbs, cut flowers, honey, eggs, dairy and meat products. For a list of CSA’s in the Pioneer Valley, check out CISA’s list of local farms.
FOOD-BASED EDUCATION
How does your family participate in our local food culture? Maybe you have a garden in your yard, a plot at the community garden or container pots on the front stoop or windowsill? Do you engage in with farmers, buying your food at farmers’ markets or roadside farm stands? Is volunteering to support food security in our region a priority to your family?
We invite our readers to share ways your family engages in our local food culture and how you use this lens of community engagement as a way of supporting the interests and education of your children. Hilltown Families sponsor, Crimson & Clover Farm, a community based farm on the Northampton Community Farm land, is partnering with us by offering an incentive to our readers to share their stories. Share ways your family engages in our local food culture and the learning you glean from your experiences, and be entered to win a Small CSA Farm Share from Crimson & Clover Farm, a $420 value! Deadline to enter to win: April 28th, 2015, by 11:59pm (EST). Details on how to enter to win are below.
CRIMSON & CLOVER FARM
Crimson & Clover Farm is a community based farm located on the beautiful Northampton Community Farm in Florence, Massachusetts. They grow vegetables, fruits and flowers for a Community Supported Agriculture Program and for farmers’ markets. Welcoming and encouraging community involvement with the farm, they offer volunteer opportunities, farm celebrations and educational opportunities.
They are offering our readers a Small Farm Share ($420 value) which will feed up to two people. Their vegetable options change through the season, starting with more leafy greens in the early season and more roots and summer type vegetables as the season moves along. The Small Farm Share is a great option for smaller families, couples, individuals, or folks trying out a CSA share for the first time. In addition to a Small Farm Share the winning shareholders will have access to their Pick-Your-Own garden where families can pick many other crops like strawberries, cherry tomatoes, flowers and much more. Find out more about their farm shares at www.crimsonandcloverfarm.com.
HOW TO WIN
Winning a Small Farm Share from Crimson & Clover Farm in Florence, MA for the 2015 season will be super fun for all foodies and families who love to cook, eat and learn together! To enter to win simply:
- POST YOUR STORY AS OUTLINED ABOVE in the comment field below (one entry per household) and be sure to tell us your
- FULL NAME (first/last) and where you
- LIVE (TOWN/STATE) must include your town to be eligible.
- ACCURATE EMAIL (we never share your email address).
- CONSIDER SHARING THIS GIVEAWAY WITH YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK TOO by selecting the Facebook icon below (maybe if they win they’ll invite you over for a locally prepared dinner one summer’s eve!).
- FROM OUR FAVORITE ENTRIES (so make them thoughtful!) we’ll randomly draw a winners and will share the results below.
IT’S THAT SIMPLE! — Deadline is Tuesday, April 28th, 2015 by 11:59pm (EST).
Congratulations to Nancy Rapoport, Florence, MA! Nancy has won a Small Farm Share from Crimson & Clover Farm in Florence, MA for the 2015 season.
Thank you to everyone who participate and all the fabulous feedback you have shared about your adventures with farm-based education here in Western MA!
We enjoy eating local foods, not just from farmer’s markets but in many local restaurants and markets. One of the most fun is finding all the local and heirloom apples available in the fall. The colors of the insides and outsides are beautiful.
Jessica Morris, Northampton
My family bought a share of a local CSA last year. Not only did we learn about many types of veggies that we had never seen before, we got to pick our own veggies too! We have picked strawberries, blueberries, peaches, and apples at the local farms. The Valley offers many opportunities to eat local fresh food. Love it!
we enjoy picking seasonal fruits like strawberries and peaches. we shop avidly at farmer’s markets and try to buy or eat local at supermarkets and restaurants. w go to seasonal festivals like the Garlic Festival.
I have participated in local farm shares for about 15 years now. The ability to raise my son on fresh, local produce has been such an amazing experience! We have experimented with so many vegetables that we may never have encountered in the average grocery store. So far we have not found one vegetable we do not like 😊. The times spent, with my now 16 year old son, on these farms, picking our own fruits and vegetables has made indelible memories for him. I hope we make many more. Thank you, local farms, for everything you do – it has not gone unnoticed 😊😊😊
My three year old and I have enjoyed local farm stands, strawberry picking, and Tuesday market. She is learning all about plants and gardens in preschool and has been asking to plant a garden. Unfortunately, we live in apartment without any land use or porch for a box garden. It would be wonderful to bring her weekly to the farm that we pass each day on the way to preschool and then prepare meals fresh from the garden! Liz Burnworth, Leeds, MA
I first became interested in farming when I was living abroad and working at a Camphill Community in Sweden. In this community we worked together with adults with special needs on our biodynamic, organic farm.
I have fond memories planting seeds in the greenhouse with a young woman with special needs. We sang songs together as we planted in the early spring as she did not speak very much, and my Swedish was very limited.
When I returned back to that states, I was very sad that I had no green space outside of my apartment building to garden. I couldn’t grow very much inside either due to the limited windows and lighting of our half basement level apartment.
So I was thrilled when I got my own community garden plot at Florence Organic Community Garden near Crimson and Clover Farm and could garden again! Now I have my own little piece of land back in the Valley to grow my own flowers and produce :)
I also recently discovered Prospect Meadow Farm and love supporting them as they are similar to the Camphill community I lived in in Sweden and provide meaningful employment to individuals who are differently abled.
Although I sometimes miss my adventures in Scandinavia, I am so happy to be back home in the valley and love supporting all the diverse, local small farms in the area!
Jen Silver, Florence MA
Crimson & Clover farm is our most significant engagement to date.
We are lucky to have a subsidized share, thanks to Grow Food Northampton! We are so grateful and so lucky. Picking our own food has been a very enriching experience, feeding our souls, substantially!
Beautiful and delicious!
Most people may not think of Holyoke as a farm town. But, there are many opportunities to get that experience. La Finca-Nuestras Raíces Farm on Jones Ferry Road offers Hispanic specialty crops, as well as educational tours and program, event space rental, a summer and winter CSA, plant sales, and on-site farm store. They also have great Hispanic food in the summer time you can eat right on site or at their café year round. The Holyoke Public Library is hosting an Organic Gardening event on April 19th where families can learn safe and natural techniques for cultivation. We’re also looking into making our own raised garden beds from pallets. There are free plans online. Even though our yard isn’t huge, it’s still doable! We have grown indoor herbs in window boxes too. We’re very excited for this growing season. It’s awesome for our children to see where their food comes from and learn to cook and bake those fresh things.
Christa Figueroa, Holyoke, MA
My family and I participate in local food culture in a variety of ways, but the three main things that come to mind are creating tradition, education, and celebration.
Years ago, before my husband an I were married, we invited our niece to pick fruit with us in the summer. It’s tradition that I have held dear all my life, stoked first by my tattered copy of Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McCloskey, and my love for the outdoors. For her, it was a completely new idea. Now we have an annual tradition of picking strawberries, blueberries and apples, and working together to put them up for winter. I hope the our niece can look back on our adventures fondly, and pass that feeling, and tradition, onto the children in her life.
We educate ourselves and others – seeking always to learn more, and ask lots of questions. Learning also comes from participating – being an active member of our food culture in the Pioneer Valley, and globally, too. We teach gardening to kids, we volunteer at the community garden, we ask farmers how things are going for them, we read, share, and invite strangers to the table. Learning is amazing and it never stops. We want to be informed eaters!
We celebrate food by cooking it well, by giving it to the people we love, and by laughing and making food beautiful. We grow a garden to remind ourselves how amazing every little seed is, every green sprout is, and how every meal is a total gift. Reason to celebrate!
Layla Hazen
Easthampton,MA
My name is Tammy and I am from Sunderland. I am trying or have tried to be a vegan due to my great sadness over the way many animals are treated on various non loving farms. I grew up on ice cream, potatoe chips, hamburgers and onion rings. I often munch on candy it satisfies my soul but nothing else. I am in need of supplying my body with nutrients , whole foods, clean eating and look forward to the difference it could make.
My partner has been a chef for the past decade, and we recently moved to the pioneer valley so he could go back to school and study sustainable food and agriculture. Meanwhile, we are growing roots in Northampton and excitedly planning our garden, growing shiitake mushroom logs, and volunteering on a farm that grows food for a local homeless shelter in addition to connecting farming with ecological Judaism. It is important to us that our child(ren) grow up in a community / synagogue that supports local farms, helps eliminate hunger in the region, and celebrates the joys of cooking and volunteering as a family. A share would bring us new foods to explore, cook together, and connect us to a farm in our neighborhood.
We are a foster family, with a varieties of ages (and numbers) of children in our home. Often, the kids in we share our home with have had little opportunity to eat fresh and local foods- as their families rely on inexpensive processed foods. They tend to have little understanding of where food actually comes from! For us, a trip to U-pick at a local farm or to the local farmer’s market can be therapeutic (for me too!!!). It’s a low-key and safe space for us to connect with one another AND to help them feel connected to the larger community. We now have kids who are much more health conscious, notice how processed foods affect their body/mind, and will choose to fuel with REAL food. When they choose “treats”, their first picks are brownies from Cafe Evolution and Ice Cream at Mt Tom’s (not Dunkin or McD’s)!
My son and I have a vegetable garden in our yard, with herbs mixed in with the perennial flowers and bushes. We love to visit the farmer’s market for delicious organic produce, pastured eggs, and gluten free bread. We also visit a farm about 45 minutes away for organic, raw milk and cheeses, pastured organic eggs, and grass fed meats.
Every summer we grow our own vegetables and my children are learning the importance of gardening, harvesting, and family engagement outside to see what the planet has to offer us. We also enjoy what local farms have to offer as much as possible. We would love to win this give away with the abundance of vegetables a farm share would offer we could make so many wonderful recipes. We love being in the pioneer valley especially during the maple harvesting season. We love all of the local events that Hilltown Families informs us about.
Chrisanne Cirillo, Hatfield, MA
In previous years, I thoroughly enjoyed my organic garden plot at the Florence Organic Community Gardens, as well as a CSA share at Crimson & Clover. It felt so good to grow my own healthy vegetables and know that I was doing good for the planet as well. Now, with a 1 year-old at home and baby #2 due in the fall, we try to do the best we can for organic fruits & vegetables at the market. Outlook Farms is one of our favorite sources for fresh produce. Having a CSA share again at Crimson & Clover would be perfect to continue nourishing our growing family with the best organic, locally- grown produce around. And just think of how much fun our little toddler, Brody, would enjoy the pick-your-own gardens this summer.
Sarah Horan, Easthampton, MA
We are privileged to live in a community that supports local food/farming and it has improved my awareness of how I would like to feed myself and my family. If finances weren’t an issue we would eat this way year round.
I grew up in a family where the idea of growing or picking your own food was completely foreign. Why would anyone want to do that when we have 3 large grocery stores nearby? Decades later, however, with children of my own, I decided to brave the sun and the bugs, and I took my then 4-year-old daughter peach picking in Whately. I remember her looking at a peach that she had just picked with confusion: “But where’s the sticker?” she asked. Her only experience was with produce from the grocery store — each piece marked with a sticker. I could barely contain my laughter as I explained, “They don’t grow with stickers on them. The grocery store adds those.” It was a turning point for our family, and now one of our favorite family activities is to pick fruit — blueberries, strawberries, peaches, apples — and freeze whatever we can so that we have “fresh” fruit and applesauce all winter long.
Nancy Rapoport, Florence, MA
EVery year we plant basil and tomatoes in pots in our yard. A fresh tomato and basil sandwich…a little taste of heaven!
Over the last two years I find I have put on half of the weight I worked hard to take off. Eating fresh, local produce has not only helped me focus on providing good nutrition for myself and my family, but also encourages me to know what I am consuming. Last year I created some raised beds in my back yard, growing a few tomatoes and beans. However, it was not enough to keep me in fresh produce for daily consumption. Thank goodness for local Farmer’s Markets and farm stands! With continued focus on eating healthier, I am sure I will find my way back to a healthier me.
Getting seasonal produce that helps you to eat with the season helps my family connect to the earth in a very real way. Not only what the earth can do for us, but how we can in turn respect the earth and its bounty. Eating what is locally grown, when its grown feels good. It’s so fresh, but also its good for the soul to know that you’re receiving the Earths giving in the most reciprocal way. I love involving my children in our CSA experiences. It gives them a connection to their food they otherwise could not have in our apartment living environment. We get to have the farm to table experience, as we pick up our weekly goods, sometimes even getting to pick things ourselves, and then we cook together. We experiment, search for recipes to try new things, and go raw and cooked. My kids are foodies, and I think this experience is partially why.
I grew up with my parents and grandparents having a garden. I remember fondly snapping” into a bite of a green bean straight from the garden. I have passed this onto my son who loves his grandparents garden. Living in an apartment we would love this. I cook mostly fresh foods for my son and this would benefit us in many ways. We would love to share this experience.
Been out of work for some time… so this would be awesome. I love getting produce in season from the grocery store in town because I know it’s from local farms. Nothing beats that feeling you get picking fruits and veggies from an old fashion farm stand. Still… I think I’m going to reclaim some of the backyard from my neighbor’s Labrador Retriever for my own garden . We’ll see they give me a hard time…
Our family enjoys all of wonderful ways to connect to our local food movement and to local food buying opportunities. The regular CSA’s, farmers markets, farm stands and the co-op ensures access to diverse and exciting food products and produce. There are lots of opportunities to connect to our farmers and farms, especially festivals, like the fabulous Tomato Festival at Red Fire Farm. And community wide events like 12 Mile Meal and West Brookfield Asparagus and Flower Heritage Festival are loads of fun! If my name is drawn, I would love the CSA share to go to a family who can’t afford a share.
-Christine Dutton, Northampton, MA
We try to get as much of our food directly from growers and makers in our area. From farm shares, to farm stands, to farmers markets… we want our daughter to know where here food comes from and to think of food as nourishment but also a way to participate in our community.
Dawn Graichen-Moore, Easthampton
Our family had grown exponentially in the past year. We have begun focusing on healthier options and ways of stretching our fresh foods that we buy from local farmers. A share would be an amazing opportunity to continue our healthy eating, cooking, and educating our girls on good, healthy, and longterm lifestyle choices. Stephanie Whitley Agawam.MA
We have a big garden with lots of veggies, rhubarb, herbs, and hops (plus flowers, edible and not). Throughout the summer, I make pickles, salsas, and jam with a friend who has an even bigger garden. My kids love to pick stuff to make salad.
We pick berries at local farms for freezing, canning, and eating, and apples at Bear Swamp (love their hopped hard cider too). I buy boxes of peaches from Outlook each year for canning.
Our visits to sugar shacks get me through March, when I’m itching to get gardening but know it will be a while yet. When we had a Farmers Market in Burgy, we were there every week. I’m working on getting into the habit again in Florence. We’ve been pretty regular about the winter farmer’s market—my favorites to pick up are eggs, greens, and mushrooms. Cheese and beef jerky have been good treats—and most recently picked up some local popcorn.
Sara Barry, Haydenville, MA
We always had a huge garden growing up, and when our own kids were growing up we taught them to appreciate eating what you could grow. We have a new grandson now and will teach him about planting and harvesting here in the hilltowns. A share would be most appreciated.
We regularly go berry picking, apple picking, visit local sugar shacks, and visit the farmers market. We has a CSA for several years before we had our second kid and would love to start back up again.
Shannon Dillard, Holyoke
With very limited sunlight in our yard, we’ve been looking for ways to grow things we can eat that are suited to almost complete shade. Last year, we tapped our sugar maples (the cause of most of the shade!) and made our own syrup. This year I found a tiny sunny plot and we planted garlic, which is popping up already! Our long term plan is to try to make our driveway smaller and put in a raised bed in the front of the house (the only other full sun spot.)
Amy Meltzer, Northampton, MA