Farmer's markets are close by, relatively convenient (at least if you like to shop on Saturday mornings), and much of the fare is sown right here in Waterloo region. But not all of it. The presence of pineapples and bananas should be your first clue. To boot, organic offerings are few and far between.
Lots of farmers sell at the gate, but that's not always a practical option for city dwellers -- getting out into the country doesn't fit easily into everyone's weekly agenda. And not all farmers grow all things.
Thankfully, there are people out there who badly want to help us gain easy accessibility to locally, sustainably grown produce -- organic produce at that.
Local Organic Fair Trade (LOFT) is a cooperative of farmers and marketers working together to bring this beautiful stuff to the likes of you and me. They work like dogs to make sure that we can get our hands on it, not only because they want the population at large to eat better, but because they want to help small family farms become -- and remain -- viable.
Most community supported agriculture (CSA) programs ask customers like you and me to pony up a few hundred bucks at the beginning of the growing season. Essentially, this means buying a farm share. In exchange for your money, you get weekly fruits and vegetables roughly until the frost, often in the form of a weekly box. These programs aim to put us closer in touch with the source of our food.
LOFT runs things a little differently. First, your food comes from several farms, not just one. And while these farmers have produce at the ready every week, customers aren't obligated to commit to a four or five month season. "You can buy one week or 20 weeks and that gives the customer a whole lot of flexibility," says LOFT founder Martha Scroggins, herself a grower.
All a hungry person needs to do is log onto the website before 11:59 on Thursday night to order a bag or box of organics for pick-up the following Tuesday or Friday at one of a number of drop-off spots in and around the region (Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Elmira and Wellesley).
There's no picking and choosing. You get is what's seasonally available and the bags and boxes are packed for you. That might mean green garlic, maple syrup, kohlrabi, strawberries and lemon balm one week or soft wheat flour, tomatoes, leeks, zucchini and basil the next.
Customers can choose from The Bag ($25), suitable for singletons or couples who want just a few items, The Family Box ($37), for hungrier pairs or small families, and The Heavy Box ($50), for bigger families. You can order a weekly supply for the whole season in one go, order once a week in a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants manner or find some sort of happy medium.
LOFT's is a remarkably easygoing program compared to its CSA bretheren. Forget the take-it-or-leave-it approach, these farmers are bending over backward for us non-commital city folk. Payment options are equally flexible, though Scroggins would love to see as many people as possible forking it over up front -- and for good reason.
"Early in the season is when a farmer needs money," Scroggins explains, "whether it's for seeds or for greenhouse and machinery repairs. It's a long, cold winter for a farmer and these are small family farms. So hopefully customers will understand with time why we encourage people to pay up front."
Last summer was LOFT's first, and it was, by all means, a successful one. Scroggins says there was no question it would return this year, sagging economy or not.
"There was a desperate need for this," Scoggins says. "I've got a fairly strong following and the market research shows it's growing. We've been at this for a long time and it's been arduous. We're talking carrots here, we're not talking microchips. Carrots don't have much value in society today but we're slowly seeing increasing value in local, sustainable food."
For further information on LOFT, check out their new website at http://loftmarket.ca/.
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