Join us for dinner with one of the North Country's favorite sons, second generation journalist John Harrigan. Mr. Harrigan will regale us with "rambling remarks from above the notches."

A well known writer, raconteur and passionate lover of New Hampshire's wild places, Harrigan promises to cover a wide range of subjects "from geology to Indians to accents to strange takes from the world of woods and water---cougars, wolves, caribou, you name it."

Because we at GreenGuideNH.com never cease working to bring you more information, readers, this weekend we made a special trip to The Farmers Diner in Quechee, Vt., purely for research purposes. If you haven't been there, we very seriously recommend it.

You see, this really is a farmer's diner -- the restaurant's goal is to serve food from local farmers and small-scale producers. Its menu is a local who's who, including Cabot Creamery, Vermont Butter and Cheese, Harpoon Sodas and even New Hampshire's own Boggy Meadow Farm cheese company.

Karen Barker, 53, of Laconia is a retired occupational therapist who works at Laconia Village Bakery. Her REAL job, though, is running Sustainable Sustenance, “a community group of folks gathered around a common interest in eating local, organic and whole foods.”

Sustainable Sustenance isn’t a formal group, and there are no membership requirements or dues. Members meet once a month for a potluck. We interviewed Karen about the group recently.

Community supported agriculture lets people subscribe to a farm for a season, receiving a weekly basket of produce.

Most CSAs ask that members pay for the season upfront, but some accept weekly or monthly payments. Some require that members work a small number of hours on the farm during growing season, and some trade the fresh produce in exchange for help with harvesting or deliveries.

CSA seasons typically run from late spring through early fall. According to localharvest.org, the number of CSAs in the U.S. was estimated at 50 in 1990 and has since grown to more than 1,000.