So I’m so frugal. I’d rather pick vegetables in the hot sun (for a good cause at Claggett Farm… the veg goes to DC area food banks) and get a big ole batch of veg in kind, rather than go to the grocery store.
Really? You’re probably wondering. To that I say Yep, for sure. Farming for free veg is how I roll. My mother said why can’t you just go to Wegmans. Alas, mom I could but isn’t this sustainable farming and volunteering much more fun? Now, I’ve got to tell you when the car first drove on to the farm my fantasies of people joining hands and singing Kumbaya were quickly dashed. We met the group leader, or head farmer who was all about picking. No talking, no laughing, just picking.
In my first hour I picked five green beans. Not because I didn’t try, I combed a quarter of a green bean field. I thought, this can’t be that hard, is it going to be that way all day long… this can’t be, can it? Five beans in one hour. But just when my enthusiasm for all things farm began to wane… we switched to the eggplant field. Hello! Where have you been all my life. There were three different varieties and all were plump and beautiful hues of purple.
I felt such a huge sense of accomplishment when I filled up my blue recycling bin with eggplant. I thought now this is the life. Then I got hungry. I wanted to eat the eggplant. Which I’m sure probably wouldn’t have tasted very good raw, however if you’d like to know more about the Broke Foodists adventures on Claggett Farm, I invite you to read Volunteering at Claggett Farm: It’s a Good, Sustainable, Thing
http://www.washingtoninformer.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6675:volunteering-at-claggett-farm-its-a-good-sustainable-thing&catid=50:local&Itemid=113
Full disclosure: I spent three hours volunteering, but I didn’t quite make it the entire four hours which would have yielded 8lb of free vegetables. However, my hours are banked so that the next time I volunteer and I will soon, I will indeed secure my coveted share of “veg.”
If you’d like to volunteer more information about Claggett Farm can be found on-line: www.claggetfarm.org
CLAGETT FARM
11904 Old Marlboro Pike
Upper Marlboro, MD 20772
301/627-4662
email : clagettfarm@cbf.org
