Green Living Ottawa

Written by Denise Deby.

If you grow up in the city, don’t have a garden and buy most of your food from a grocery store, how do you gain an appreciation of what it takes to produce food?

Arlee and Diane Sheets are busy fourth-generation farmers at Rock-N-Horse Farm near Almonte, but they also take time to share their knowledge of growing food with people who are interested in knowing more.

I met Diane and Arlee in April while on a field trip to their farm with a group of elementary school kids. Arlee, Diane and their staff made the students feel right at home as they guided them in exploring how vegetables are grown, how animals are raised and how maple syrup is made. The kids got to identify, choose and plant cucumber, tomato, carrot and other seeds, ride a horse-drawn wagon, feed the horses and hold chicks and ducklings. They loved it, as did I and the other parent volunteers.

Rock-N-Horse Farm uses organic principles to produce the vegetables, eggs and meat that it sells to the public and at the Carleton Place Farmers’ Market. The farm also offers Community-Shared Agriculture (CSA) to customers who can order produce from the farm and pick up their shares at locations in Stittsville, Kanata and Ottawa. More information on their CSA program is at http://www.rocknhorsefarm.ca/csa.

Thanks to Rock-N-Horse Farm for helping us connect with the land and for getting us excited about healthy food.

Rock-N-Horse Farm (photos by D. Deby)

Written by Denise Deby.

Spring in Ottawa brings many wonderful things—including more fresh, local food choices. Farmers’ markets start opening in May, community gardening is underway, and if you have your own garden you’ll know that it’s planting time. If you need help finding food that’s produced in and around Ottawa, check out Just Food’s “How To Eat Local” guide and its Buy Local map.

One way to eat local is through Community-Shared or Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA). With CSA, you sign up with a local farm to purchase a share of their produce over the season. In many cases, you’ll receive seasonal produce every week. Farmers benefit by having confirmed clients for a period of time, and purchasers benefit by having an ongoing source of fresh food. CSAs are also a way for farmers and consumers to connect with each other. A variation of CSAs, food boxes, can be an affordable or flexible option, too.

I’m getting my first CSA order in a couple of weeks, and can hardly wait. (We’re sharing a Roots and Shoots Farm CSA with another family to make it more manageable over the summer.) I’ll be telling you more about CSA options as Green Living Ottawa has received a few guest posts on CSA and local farms which we’ll be posting over the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, for more information about how CSA works, check out Just Food’s website or watch this video courtesy of Dawghaus Studios and Apt613:

CSA: Community Supported Agriculture in the National Capital Region from Dawghaus Studios on Vimeo.