By Maura Niemisto, Education Intern
Onboard the sloop Clearwater, I have learned quickly how important meal times are to crew culture. After a hard day’s work we are all about eating, and it has been a pleasant surprise to find a plethora of fresh, seasonal veggies on the table three times a day.
Clearwater is part of a CSA farm share with a local farm in Poughkeepsie, and once a week we get a brand new box of nutritious and delicious food. Of course, in order to keep this diversity of veggies within our budget, we need to put in our time on the farm every year.
Lucky for me, I had the opportunity of participating in the annual farm-work day last week, when eight of us put in a combined total of 24 hours of potato harvesting at the Poughkeepsie Farm Project. For three hours we got our hands dirty, collected thousands of pounds of potatoes, and even got some potato-catch time in. We also got to keep the damaged vegetables, and since have enjoyed many a potato inspired dish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And man, has our hard work tasted good. Overall, it was a wonderful crew bonding experience, and I thought it was really great to see and participate in knowing where our food comes from and harvesting it.
Supporting healthy and local foods has always been an interest of mine, and I’m glad it meshes with the Clearwater lifestyle. After all, the river interacts with our food production systems as well, and it’s important to recognize how the choices we make in what we put in our mouth affects our mission on the river.
