Farm Fresh Food Direct to Your Table by Eddie Applefeld

How much more convenient can it be than to order your food online and then pick it up from the back of a truck.  And if you live in an area like Timonium, the truck comes directly to your neighborhood.

The company is Friends & Farms, based in Columbia and dedicated to providing customers with fresh food.  It was founded in 2012 by Philip Gottwalls and Tim Hosking.  The weekly baskets are delivered to several pick up locations.  In Timonium it's on the lot of Grace Fellowship Church at 9505 Deereco Road.  The pick-up day is Thursday from 11 to 1.

Each week there is a different basket of food offered.  When I picked mine up it contained roast shanks, apples, honey, turnips, bread, acorn squash, eggs, beans, milk and bacon.  How all I have to do is learn how to cook and I'm ready to enjoy it all.  The idea is to include in each weekly basket produce, meat, dairy and seafood items.  The food comes from regional growers.

The company was in the planning stages for a few years.  Both Phil and Tim wanted a way to get high quality regional food to consumers with grocery store prices.  They determined consumers are more savvy about the food they eat and what they serve their families.

Phillip said, 'we are excited about sharing the myriad of wonderful foods produced by farmers and smaller companies that craft foods in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.'   The entire process is really quite simple.  As I mentioned just go online (friendsandfarms.com), order, then pick it up (not necessarily the same day).

Prices:  $40.00/week for an individual basket; a two person basket is $51.00/week; a large basket is $76.00/week.  There is a 13 week minimum on each.

Actually the food is so fresh when I picked up the eggs I thought I heard the chickens clucking.