Bonnie Sorak can't wait to sample a romanesco this summer.
The Ellicott City resident and her family are vegans and eat only plant products, but she just recently heard of the pale-green vegetable that's a cross between broccoli and cauliflower.
As tantalizing as the prospect of tasting the unusual cruciferous vegetable is the satisfaction of knowing it will be just one of an array of farm products that will be delivered to her at peak freshness all season long.
Sorak's family and 84 other area households have contracted to try a symbiotic concept called "community supported agriculture," in what organizers believe is the first-ever arrangement between a county farm and a trio of school PTAs.
Fresh food is only half the appeal of the CSA program. The other half is revealed in its name, which calls for a community to band together to support a local farmer by pre-ordering produce, eggs, bread and other products.
A CSA feels like "buying a piece of the farm," said Beth Berkeley, another parent volunteer who helped coordinate the partnership of Centennial district schools and Breezy Willow Farm in West Friendship.
The 35-member PTA wellness committee of Centennial Lane Elementary School brokered the agreement and included Burleigh Manor Middle and Centennial High families, neighbors and friends in their effort.
On March 25, the first day to place orders, the line at Burleigh Manor was out the door, Berkeley said. The high demand prompted her to inquire about adding shares next year.
"Many of us don't really know what fresh produce really tastes like," Sorak said, because much supermarket produce is trucked in from other states, taking days to arrive.
"Our food supply is also safer when it comes from local growers," she said. "Theories that terrorists could get to us through our food supply really aren't far-fetched when you think about how centralized our food system is."
While CSAs are not new, none of the three county farms that offer them has ever contracted with a school, said Kathy Zimmerman, agriculture marketing specialist with the Howard County Economic Development Authority. The other two are Shaw Farm in Columbia and Jasmine Farm, also in West Friendship, she said.
CSAs are "bringing people back to their roots," said Zimmerman. "Most of us are four generations removed from farming."
There are 335 farms in the county, she said, though many are horse farms. According to the state Department of Agriculture's Web site, 57 farms across Maryland offer CSAs.
