Farmer Dave to Speak On Community-Supported Agriculture

The following is a press release:

Farmer Dave will be speaking at at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 5, about the Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and about his foreign aid work in the Republic of Georgia. 

Over the past year, Farmer Dave has been providing technical assistance to new greenhouse owners in Georgia. They were using natural hot springs to heat greenhouses in the winter months to grow vegetables. This would reduce the importation of these vegetables, thereby providing jobs, bringing wealth to the country, and providing a better, healthier food supply. Dave was surprised at how much he was able to help show them that by operating the greenhouses properly, you can maximize yields and reduce the occurrence of insects and diseases, making pesticides virtually unneeded. 

For the third year running, Burlington Presbyterian Church and Farmer Dave’s, a sustainable farm in Dracut, MA, have teamed up to bring locally-grown, fresh fruits and vegetables to the town of  Burlington through a Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. In the CSA program, consumers become shareholders of the farm for the season by paying for their share of the harvest upfront, and in return receive a share of freshly-harvested produce for 20 weeks from mid-June through late October.

Shares will be conveniently boxed and ready for pick-up on Monday afternoons at Burlington Presbyterian Church. Every share includes generous portions of the season’s bounty, each in its due time, including summer favorites such as tomatoes and corn, cooking staples like onions, carrots and potatoes, as well as chefs’ picks like chard, beets, and other novelties to experiment with throughout the season.  The CSA also offers a fruit share featuring raspberries, blueberries, melons, peaches, nectarines, and apples. Farmer Dave employs sustainable farming methods to ensure products that are healthy, nutritious, tasty and responsibly grown. 
 
Farmer Dave’s (http://www.farmerdaves.net) is based in Dracut, MA. Farmer Dave Dumaresq grew up working on farms in Dracut. Through the Peace Corps and other agencies he has helped farmers in Ecuador, and other Latin American countries become more sustainable. In 1997 he returned to Dracut to farm. In 2006 Farmer Dave purchased and helped to preserve a 30 acre farm in Dracut that will remain as productive farmland for future generations. Farmer Dave is committed to growing high quality, healthy food that is good for the people who eat it, the workers who tend it, and land that provides it, year after year. In addition to serving the Burlington community, Farmer Dave’s offers CSA shares in Dracut, Tewksbury, Lawrence, Somerville, Gloucester, Beverly, Jamaica Plain, Malden, and Boston. 

Burlington Presbyterian Church is located at 335 Cambridge Street in Burlington. In addition to partnering with Farmer Dave’s to offer CSA Shares, Burlington Presbyterian Church demonstrates a commitment to social justice by preparing and serving monthly dinners at the Dwelling Place in Woburn, regularly participating with the Burlington Community Food Pantry and People Helping People, and a yearly housing mission trip. Burlington Presbyterian Church uses fair-trade coffee for its weekly coffee hours through the Presbyterian Coffee Project, and uses environmentally-friendly alternatives to Styrofoam. Burlington Presbyterian also makes its parking lot available to weekly commuters as a park-and-ride location.