Tuesday Tidings-Local CSA

At a recent visit to the Lakeland Farmer's Market,

I met Carol and Rodger, who own the

Bilbrey Family Farm.

They have created a successful CSA

about 30 minutes from our location.

After talking to Carol for a bit,

 arrangements for a farm tour were made.

The farm qualifies as a Certified Naturally Grown resource,

which is an alternative to certified organic.

You can find out information on the difference

between these two designations here.

Beautiful lettuce as far as the eye can see!

Romaine has to be my favorite salad foundation.

Some crops are grown on white plastic,

some on black plastic,

and some come right out of the soil.

Through trial and error,

Rodger has found what works best for each crop.

Everything here is grown sans pesticides.

Look at this tasty morsel.

One unusual variety found here

is this ebony-hued tomato.

Bilbrey Family Farm grows everything from

arugula to turnips.

Rodger told me that Swiss chard is becoming more popular.

Seems that those of us with low iron

should be eating it regularly.

Everything looks so healthy and vibrant.

You can see the passion in every plant.

There's always another crop going in.

We are blessed in Central Florida to be able to garden

nearly year-round.

Black-eyed peas on the vine

The Bilbreys have a greenhouse

to give seedlings a great start.

Scallions anyone?

It was a beautiful way to spend a couple of hours.

I'm so excited to see that even here,

where fast food seems to be King,

the message of slow food is trickling in.

There's hope for this place yet.

What wonderful food sources have you found?