Potomac Vegetable Farms - CSA Tour

We got such a special treat this weekend. Potomac Vegetable Farms opened up their farm for CSA members to get a tour led by the farmers and walk around the crops. I've been completely obsessed about the whole locavore and sustainable agriculture thing. I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle last year and just now finished The Omnivore's Dilemma. They are fascinating reads that have really made me think about our approach to food and what we eat.

The girls have also been more and more receptive to the new veggies that find their way into our fridge each week. Alexa's favorites are: garlic scapes (a lot of times when I cook new foods now, she will ask me, "Are there those green things I like Mommy?"), Beets (but NOT the beet greens), carrots, and the squash. Emma, who is usually the more adventurous eater of the two, has actually not been so excited about the vegetables -- though she loved the fingerling potatoes we got last week.

So anyway, when we got the opportunity to see exactly where our veggies were coming from each week, and (bonus!) get a tractor ride, we signed up. This morning, we got up bright and early, drove out to Purcellville and met Farmer Ellen and Farmer Becky. The tour was SO COOL! I ate up every minute of it. The girls also got to do a lot of "hands on" farm stuff.

The following picture is hard to see unless you click on it and blow it up. Emma is holding a peanut flower (Alexa was NOT allowed to touch this, on account of her allergies). It was so interesting to learn that these bright yellow flowers, after getting pollinated, bend down and bury themselves into the ground to produce...peanuts.

Here, Emma picked a green bean directly off the vine and then munched on it. They were surprisingly crisp and sweet, even though they were raw.

Both girls also got to pick beets out of the ground. Alexa was especially excited about this, since I think this has been her second favorite vegetable (after the scapes).

Midway through the tour, this girl and Emma found a caterpillar on the ground and were fascinated by it:

This was cool, the farmer showed us how they dig up potatoes and then all the kids got to help dig and pick them out of the dirt. Emma is dropping the ones she picked into a pile in the following picture

This next picture was one of my favorite spots. We got to visit the chicken pasture where all the eggs we have been eating over the last few weeks come from. These chickens are NOT like the factory farmed ones I have been reading about - they are squawky and happy and have plenty of space to roam about. Farmer Becky explained to us that the eggs even supposedly taste different some weeks, because besides the grain and feed, they also dine on the vegetables that come from the farm.

Unfortunately, this stop was also Emma's LEAST favorite part of the trip. We stepped into the fenced-in pasture and the kids were allowed to go in and pick eggs from the laying hens' nests. But Emma was so terrified of the chickens that she was anxious and stressed the entire time. And when she saw an egg in a nest, she was too scared to reach in and grab it because there was a chicken sitting next to it.

Alexa was definitely not stressed, but she was a little confused by the chaos -- think tons of very excited children and tons of anxious chickens flapping about. However, as we left the coop and walked away, she did turn around and yell, "Bye Chickies! Thanks for the eggs!"

Here is Farmer Becky with Emma and Alexa picking summer squash. Alexa held onto this squash tightly for the rest of the trip. At one point, when it looked like it would rain any minute, she even hid the squash under her dress so it wouldn't get wet. We grilled the squash for dinner tonight -- "Alexa's squash" as we named it, given that she had so lovingly taken care of it -- and it was very yummy!

After the tour, we had watermelon and root beer by the farm stand. Yum!