SPADE & TROWEL GARDEN CLUB OFFERS INSIGHT INTO COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE

In recent years, the concept of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has gained widespread recognition and popularity, yet it is perhaps not universally known what exactly that involves. At its next meeting on Tuesday, February 24 at 7 p.m. at West Parish Church Fellowship Hall, 129 Reservation Rd., Andover, Spade & Trowel Garden Club will feature Mary Alice Reilly as its featured speaker. Mary Alice is the Food Access Coordinator for the World Pease CSA headquartered in Lowell, and she will discuss in detail what a CSA does and what it has to offer. Basically, CSAs are programs that ask individuals to pay for their share of the harvest in the winter, when farmers need capital for seeds, starts, compost, and other items. In return, “shareholders” receive a box (or share) of the farmers’ harvest each week, including 6-10 different crops each week featuring the freshest seasonal fruits and vegetables, over a period of about 4 months, i.e. the growing season. CSAs aggregate the bounty of the season, supplying food sustainably and frequently organically grown by farmers in eastern MA. Some farmers are immigrants, refuges or beginning farmers, while others have been farming for years. Mary Alice will also discuss her own CSA’s mission of teaching farming techniques including best business practices and all that this involves, to new, fledgling farmers.

It is one of the missions of Spade & Trowel to spread information about any enterprise that protects the environment and offers the public an opportunity to learn more about practices that aid this process. S&T was organized in 1954 and is a member of the National Garden Clubs, Inc. New England Region and the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts, Northern District. It is a non-profit organization dedicated to and active in providing encouragement and education for its members and the community in the areas of horticulture, landscape design, civic beautification, environmental protection and the art of floral design.

To learn more about this small, friendly club, contact membership chairperson Carol Schrader at 978-689-0712. We heartily invite members of the public to join us for the upcoming meeting, free of charge. More information about this meeting may be obtained by calling 978-681-1890 or 978-623-7031. Website: www.spadeandtrowelgardenclub.org