"We need to be focusing on changing the way we live" says Brown student Margiana Petersen-Rockney. And Margiana is doing just that through the creation of her Community Supported Agriculture project, which promotes the distribution of local produce.
Margiana applied for an UTRA last year and used it to begin her own Community Supported Agriculture project last summer. Community Supported Agriculture has become a popular way for people to buy fresh, local produce. Farmers sell shares of their farm and during the farming season the consumers receive a box or bag of produce (and sometimes other products, like eggs or chickens) every week.
Margiana's first experience with CSAs was in high school.
"I knew this old many whose land was likely going to be sold for development," she says. "My high school environmental team decided to take on that land and set up a CSA on that land."
Since then, that CSA has become a certified non-profit, organic 65-person CSA.
Her newest project is taking place on her family farm, Rosasharn farm. Margiana grew up on a dairy-goat farm in Rehoboth, MA and is now using about 1.5 acres of the farm for vegetable cultivation. "One thing about farming is that it is hard to make money doing," Margiana says.
Her CSA last summer, however, did not need to because it was funded by Brown. Margiana tried to make the CSA a food-justice, low-income CSA because, "the local food movement really is sort of an elitist thing."
Margiana worked with another Brown student and an intern from Colby College, David, to bring their CSA into an urban low-income setting. Fifty families from the Head Start Food Stamp Program signed up with their CSA. The plan was that the families could pick up their boxes at the Broad St. farmers market. Unfortunately, the Head Start that the CSA was working with stopped existing.
"We were left scrambling," Margiana says. "We couldn't contact people. So, we ended up donating half our produce to Camp St. Ministry and selling the other half."
Although the food-justice aspect of the CSA was unsuccessful last year, the farming itself was very successful. Margiana is continuing her CSA another year and trying a few new things.
"Ideas I've been working on include bringing pasture poultry in and possibly mushroom growing," she said. "You go into the woods and harvest logs and stumps and plug them with whatever gourmet mushrooms you want, use your forest resources. You can do this in early spring before the real farming work starts."
This coming summer it will be just Margiana and Colby intern David working on the CSA. She anticipates that they will be able to make about $3000 each for the summer with 25 families holding shares.
"But you can't live on that," she adds. "You have to figure out way smarter ways to farm."
CSAs are built around the concept of reciprocation. Most CSA shares, Margiana says, involve a volunteer requirement of about five hours working on the farm throughout the season. For people in the city, however, the five hours of donation time can be spent by taking responsibility for the distribution of the produce once it is delivered to the city.
Another example of the reciprocity involved with CSAs is in the land use itself. Marigana is allowed to use her family farm as the site for her CSA, and in return provides her family with vegetables. This, she says, is common for CSAs. Young farmers often can't afford their own land and so they set up CSAs on other land that is not being used by its owner in exchange for giving them food. The land-owners further benefit by receiving tax deductions on their land for using it for agricultural purposes.
The reciprocity also extends between CSAs. Some CSAs in Southern MA and RI are starting to work together more, so Margiana is in contact with some other CSAs. This, she says, is "a really important thing that needs to happen more."
Right now, they are still harvesting and delivering produce to people every week, including vegetables like carrots, beets, kale, swiss chard, green onions, spinach and arugula. (Margiana's off-campus house is a member of the CSA and gets a weekly delivery). Margiana's CSA is also in the process of putting up a greenhouse. They plan to buy seeds over winter break and start harvesting again as soon as the ground thaws. Margiana spends almost every weekend at the farm, but since mid-September, she says, it's been mostly David on a day-to-day basis. 
(These photos are of their vegetables from their website rosasharnfarm.com)They are also putting together a flyer for the coming season in which people can check off the session that they want to subscribe to. According to Margiana, the summer session will be from May through September 1 and the fall session will be from September 1 to December 1, with a discount if you sign up for both.
In the future, Margiana says, "I definitely see myself farming and don't know why I'm here at Brown. It's definitely a struggle for me personally."
For Margiana, farming is great because "you are actually doing productive things, not just sitting around thinking about things. You see results." Farming provides her a connection to basic needs and understandings. Part of its appeal is the good work and spiritual connection.
"It's healthy work for the mind," she says. "I love cooking, eating and growing."
Margiana admits that she has also done some work with international agriculture, but finds it frustrating that people tend to focus on problems elsewhere when there are many problems closer to home.
"I think the change in the world that needs to happen at this point needs to come from individual lifestyle choices," she says. "Maybe it has to start on a little scale. Beyond that, yeah, I think change has to be a lot bigger, but it has to start small."
For further information on Margiana's CSA check out the farm website: www.rosasharnfarm.com
and the blog: www.rosasharnfarmcsa.blogspot.com
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