Behind them, perfect rows of onions are nestled in the dirt. The green stems peaking out are evidence of the pairs’ day of labour. Carey, a psychologist from neighbouring  Gibbons, and Wetsch, a junior high school science teacher from Edmonton, are two of over 40 families that make up the Community Supported Agriculture share program at Sparrow’s Nest Organics farm in Opal, 65 km north of Edmonton. 
 

Carey discovered the program—which offers weekly boxes of fresh, organic vegetables throughout the summer in exchange for two days of labour and a fee for shares—from a local radio station. 
 

“I thought it was a great idea,” she says. “It’s one step more than going to the farmer’s market … We’re so distant from our food.”
 

Save for a bit of gardening, neither has spent much time on a farm. But today they rode behind a tractor on an archaic-looking transplanter machine, plucked onions from a greenhouse and planted them in the earth and had a hand in perpetuating the local food movement. 
 

In the eight years that Graham Sparrow has owned the farm interest in the CSA, and his produce, has steadily grown. The first year, he had 15 people involved. This year, he says, if he had the capacity, he could’ve easily had 75 families take part. He still gets emails every day inquiring about whether there are spaces left. 
 

“I think most people won’t treat [eating locally produced food] as a trend,” he says, still dusted with a layer of dirt from a day in the field. “Every year we’ve grown more.”