Nillumbik Community Supported Agriculture Up And Running

A new business – Village Futures Food – linking food producers with consumers wanting to buy fresh, seasonal produce direct from farmers in their region, has been in operation for 5 weeks now – in a modest way.

What Is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)?

“CSAs generally focus on the production of high quality foods for a local community, often using organic or biodynamic farming methods, and a shared risk membership/marketing structure. This kind of farming operates with a much greater than usual degree of involvement of consumers and other stakeholders — resulting in a stronger than usual consumer-producer relationship. The core design includes developing a cohesive consumer group that is willing to fund a whole season’s budget in order to get quality foods. The system has many variations on how the farm budget is supported by the consumers and how the producers then deliver the foods. By CSA theory, the more a farm embraces whole-farm, whole-budget support, the more it can focus on quality and reduce the risk of food waste or financial loss.” Wikipedia

About Village Futures Food

Natalie Parcell and Daryl Brooke have been working for some months now on the idea of connecting local consumers with the veggie growers of their shire of Nillumbik on Melbourne’s NE fringe. They plan to distribute produce from farms within 30 kms of Eltham, the largest town in the shire of Nillumbik.

For 5 weeks now Village Futures Food has been distributing chemical free/GM free veggies their trial group of consumers is supporting local growers – a two-way good deal.

How Will It Work?

The system will operate around ‘local hubs’ – locations near where mem­bers will collect their weekly seasonal veg­gie boxes where they will also get to meet and hopefully trade sto­ries and recipes with each other and maybe even swap veggies they may not like.

The idea is to take whatever the farmer has to offer and work out the recipes you like to deal with this. The first hub is in Hurstbridge. Daryl tells me his family is spending around $100 less in the supermarket since they started buying the weekly veggie boxes.

The farmer, Jason Young, estimates the box is currently worth $80-90 BUT this value may go down and this is where we see the community supporting their farmers. There is heaps of food and this leads into preserving etc. Very interesting!

The cost for a family of four is $55 per box, plus $8 for distribution and marketing.

In November 2010 it is hoped that a second local farmer, The Veggie Em­pire, will be up and running to begin supplying more GM and chemical free veg­gies to a second hub, possibly Greensborough.

Natalie is also circulating a very newsy e-newsletter. See below.

The First Village Futures Food Newsletter

The beginning of March saw the first few members meet to collect their first batch of chemical and GM free veggie selection from Natures Grove in Pheasant Creek.

It was a rainy afternoon but nobody cared. It all helps to keep those veggies watered!

The farmer, Jason Young, only had a small selection of veg­gies in the ground toward the end of the abundant growing season, therefore, there was only room for a few lucky eat­ers to receive his produce.

At the moment Natures Grove has plans to sow more seed­lings in the garden to be able to supply more members for next season—commencing November 2010. Watch this space!

Upcoming Events Of Interest

Natalie also lists a wide range of events likely to interest readers:

March 21 Plantmark Family & Friends Day9-3pm Sale on selected trees, many varieties. At all 3 stores—Lynbrook, Thomastown, Werribee.

April 19 Growers & Eaters Forum, South Gippsland Presented by Slow Food Melbourne in Korumburra. Discussing what the connection between farming and eating means for the vitality of our communities.

April 24, 10—4 pm ACES Northern Greensborugh Community Based Permablitz ACES Northern is a day service for people with an intellectual disability. For 8 months a team of keen food gardeners have been learning to raise vegetables from seed, harvest and sell their produce. Come and help transform and area of land into a serious food production system and help plant out 50 new beds. For more info click here and to register contact rachelmbishop@hotmail.com.

May 21—30 Daylesford Macedon Produce in conjunction with the Lake House have Joel Salatin – charismatic US campaigner and author who speaks of ‘the sheer ecstasy of being a lunatic farmer’.

For More Info About Village Futures Food

Email Natalie nataliep@1treehill.com.au

Great to see CSA happening here in Victoria.