One of the great joys of cooking a big Thanksgiving dinner is taking advantage of the fresh vegetables available this time of year.
But shoppers like Stacey Dunne are going beyond the produce aisle of their grocery store to get even fresher food.
Dunne skips the stores and goes right to the Holland Marsh.
“Over the years we had heard of different programs like this but we had never been close enough to one, or knew of one in our area so when we saw this one we thought really, what do we have to lose?” she says.
Her family is one of over four hundred that have signed up for the harvest share food box program at Carron Farms. The farm brings in produce from around the province and then sells it along with local items directly to people in the area.
“If you come direct to the farmer there is no middle man, it's not sitting in storage, it's out of the ground and into your table,” says Lesley Martin with the Harvest Share Food Box program.
The program started four years ago. Each week people get a hamper of different foods that are in season. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, this is one of their busiest weeks.
“It's like Christmas for them,” says driver Cally Flood. “They honestly don't know what they are going to get for the week, and the kids are the most excited when they show up they run out the door and they usually dig through to see what they're going to have for the week.”
Some say the food tastes better, and others like it because it supports the local economy. Any boxes that are left over or aren't picked up are donated to local charities. For places like Loft Community Services in Bradford, which helps at-risk seniors, those donations make a big difference.
“It helps my food budget and the bottom line, it allows us to focus that money on our community here at the house,” says Angela Young with the Loft.
There aren’t many programs like this in our region. You can visit the farm, and they deliver food boxes from Kleinburg to Barrie.
