Photograph courtesy of the Community Supported Garden at La Vista
You don’t have to drive far outside the city limits to see spacious skies and amber waves of grain—not to mention cows, barns, and other evidence of farming. So why do our apples come from New Zealand, our tilapia from China? That’s complicated. But buying food directly from local farmers is pretty easy, now that St. Louis supports several CSAs.
“CSA,” or community-supported agriculture, is a fancy term for a simple process: People buy “shares” in a farm for the upcoming growing season. That lump sum allows the farmer to buy seeds, fix equipment, and focus on growing food. In turn, the “shareholders” get a portion of the farm’s output.
Kris Larsen, head farmer at the 4-acre Community Supported Garden at La Vista in Godfrey, Ill., raises more than 50 kinds of fruits and vegetables for 180 families. Members visit the farm weekly to pick up produce—and sometimes to help weed and mulch. Not because they have to, but because they want to develop a relationship with the farmer, other CSA members, and the land that produces their food.
“Mostly, we’re about trying to foster community,” Larsen says. “It’s about good food and taking care of the soil, but it’s also about taking care of the people.”
For architect JoAnn Brookes, who took advantage of architect firm HOK’s employee CSA, initiated in 2008, the main attraction was convenience: She just didn’t have time to make it out to farmer’s markets every week. Now, every Thursday, she and her co-workers stop by a central area to pick up boxes of produce from Family Harvest, a cooperative CSA between Lee Farms in Truxton and Yellow Wood Farms in Hermann.
“We sort of horse-trade around the office for the different food,” she says. “One person may really like tomatoes, while another may not know how to cook with edamame.” Brookes’ advice for newbies: Split a share with someone, and see how you like it. Prepare to cook and eat seasonally—you’ll get chard in the spring and fall, but never midsummer. And though the produce might appear less appealing than supermarket fare, the taste tends to eclipse aesthetics. “It’s pretty hard,” she says, “to beat a vine-ripened tomato.”
The Community Supported Garden at La Vista (lavistacsa.org) accepts new members in September. Visit localharvest.org to find a master list of local CSAs, including contact info and instructions for joining up.
