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JCCC schedules sign-up for Locally Grown JCCC CSA
Johnson County Community College
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OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Thoughts of freshly picked peaches, sweet corn, blueberries, a variety of tomatoes, assorted baby vegetables, spring lamb, free-range chickens and mushrooms are a few of the items that will entice Johnson County Community College students, faculty, staff and friends to subscribe to a new program — Locally Grown JCCC Community Supported Agriculture.
A meeting to sign up for the CSA program is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, in rooms C and D of the Capitol Federal Conference Center of the Regnier Center. Subscribers will receive a cookbook, reusable grocery bags, clothing coupons and other items.
CSA is a subscription service where participants pay $25 a week to receive a mixed bag of food from local growers and producers from May 18-Sept 30. Participants will pick up a mixed bag of seasonal items from 2-4 p.m. Friday at the community market in the North Dining Room. Various farmers will be at the market each week, as well as JCCC executive chef Tim Johnson, who will be there to answer questions or give tips on the produce of the week.
Items will be seasonal and change from week to week. There will be a trading table where participants can swap items with other members.
A second sign-up for Locally Grown JCCC CSA will be held by the Student Environmental Alliance during its Earth Day Celebration April 16, or you can join at any point during the program.
Rolling Prairie Farmers Alliance, a CSA serving Northeast Kansas, also has a pick-up site from 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, starting approximately May 6, at the JCCC Horticulture Science Center, but that site is almost full. People can sign up for a waiting list or other pick-up site by contacting Stu Shafer, JCCC professor, sociology, at 785-691-5006, or email at sandheron@rollingprairie.net.
According to Johnson, the CSA program came about after JCCC president Terry A. Calaway signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment in March 2008. Johnson committed to providing locally grown food in Dining Services and developing a relationship with local farmers and producers, who he plans to feature each year in a Sustainability Expo and Dinner.
Johnson says the CSA program helps erase the college’s carbon footprint by buying locally grown food rather than depending on food brought in by trucks from Texas or California, supports the local economy, provides the flavor and taste of freshly picked produce, and educates the college community about healthy food choices.
“The CSA program is one small directional change that impacts the community, the state, the county and the planet,” Johnson said.
For more information about the CSA program, contact Johnson at 913-469-8500, ext. 4262, or tjohns81@jccc.edu.
See also: JCCC Students Celebrate Earth Day
