Farmer's Markets to CSAs: How Haddonfield Can Eat More Healthy and Help Local Farmers (NOTE: Correction is in BOLD below.)

A couple of weeks ago Patch sat down with Chef Kathy Gold of In the Kitchen Cooking School in Haddonfield to talk about her volunteer work with area schools as a chef for the national Chefs Move to Schools program led by Michelle Obama, the first lady.

Gold served up a concept about where our food comes from that deserved a re-visit. Where does our food come from and should we be paying more attention to it? For people looking to make nutritional and lifestyle improvements, Gold said, “Yes.”

“First and foremost, buying and eating local and sustainable trumps everything,” she said. “Healthy, fresh foods are naturally lower in fat, sodium and preservatives,” she said. “And February is sign-up time for CSAs.”

CSA stands for “Community Supported Agriculture,” and it is a concept that does more than buzz these days.

Gold said that when people participate in CSAs they provide farmers with invaluable support.

“Participants pay up front. You can split a share with a friend for about $24 a week for a five month season of weekly organic produce.”

But what about the Haddonfield and Collingswood Farmer’s Markets? And Wegmans?

“Now you’ve added a middleman,” said Gold, who was not against either Wegmans or farmer’s markets as a whole. She said, “People should support farmer’s markets here and in Collingswood.”

Yet she emphasized the need for people to support local farmers and their families whose annual income in our area depends on a five-month growing season.

“Farmers then know what they need to plant and can live to plant another day.”

Jim Pecka, a financial planner, Haddonfield resident and parent, has been involved with the Haddonfield Farmer’s Market since its inception in 2006. He is currently the market co-chair with Susan Baltake.

“I like community service,” said Pecka, “and I’m not a soccer coach.” Pecka is involved with the Haddonfield Rotary and is a Cub Scout Master.

“I saw the market as an opportunity to help local farmers and sustain local farming while bringing value to the community. It makes Haddonfield a better place to live. ”

Pecka said that the steering committee of the Farmer’s Market wanted to be responsible.

“We see ourselves as ‘protectors of the market.’ We screen vendors. All of our farmers are certified organic OR local/regional with the exception of one because we wanted to bring in tropical fruit, like bananas, limes and avocados that you can’t get regionally along the Eastern Seaboard.”

Pecka explained that the Haddonfield Farmer’s Market worked out an arrangement whereas the nonregional vendor does not compete with regional farmers in the market for in-season crops, like strawberries, peaches and corn. When certain fruits and vegetables are available locally, the nonregional distributor does not sell them at the Haddonfield Farmer’s Market.

Pecka said the Haddonfield Farmer’s Market used to participate with a CSA that would sell a limited quantity of individual shares (or boxes/bushels) without a membership requirement.

“But the memberships became so popular that the farm didn’t need to come to the farmer’s market anymore.”

Collingswood hosts a drop-off site for Honeybrook Organic Farm (honeybrookorganicfarm.com) one day a week. Gold referred Honeybrook as a “large organic producer in the area.”

The Burlington County Community Agriculture Center, located at 500 Centerton Rd. in nearby Moorestown, hosts both a farmer’s market and a CSA called Growing Home Coop (growinghomecoop.com) run exclusively by Farmer Frank Leader. Honeybrook also makes deliveries there. Both CSAs cater to the needs of different consumers.

Ruth Cranmer, a Mt. Laurel resident and retired computer consultant, is a customer of Leader. She said, “Growing Home is extremely reasonably priced and Frank is generous. We never know what we are going to get, but we get 8 pounds a week, probably more than that.”

Cranmer cooks and freezes produce from Leader’s Atlantic County farm for her husband and herself. She said they enjoy it all year. She recognized Honeybrook as another provider that drops off in Moorestown.

“Honeybrook is more expensive for a huge amount of food, but is more than we wanted as two people.”

She said of Leader, “He will tell us how he’s cooked things, where his seeds come from. He’s as helpful as he can be.”

People interested in learning more about available CSAs, farmer’s markets and co-operatives in our area can see more information at localharvest.org. Haddonfield and Collingswood Farmer’s Markets are scheduled to open for the season again in May 2011. More information can be found at their websites haddonfieldfarmersmarket.org and collingswoodmarket.com.