You Want Local? I’ll Give You Local!
August 2nd, 2007 by Brian Ries in Cooking, Food Sources, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, TampaYeah, the locavore eating trend is hitting its stride, as evidenced by the massive interest in books like Plenty and Animal, Vegetable, Mineral (as well as this piece in the Times).
But, as we all know, eating local takes work. The easiest way to take advantage of our local growing season is by joining an area CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Farm. If you’re new to CSA’s, here’s how they work: Once a year you purchase a share in the farm. That share entitles you to a selection of free produce every week throughout the growing season. You never know what you’ll get until it shows up in your box.
I wrote about Geraldson Farm a little over a year ago, when the Manatee County-owned CSA project was just getting started. Now, the crops are going into the ground and it’s time to pony up for local produce. This week, Geraldson Farm began taking $50 deposits to reserve one of the 180 shares they have available for the next growing season, with the actual share cost predicted to run between $450-500. From November to May, you can pick up your organically-grown fruits and veggies at the farm in northwest Bradenton, or have them delivered to community pick-up sites in Palmetto, St. Petersburg and Sarasota.
In Tampa, there’s always Sweetwater Organic — a Florida CSA pioneer — where memberships run $615 whole/$315 half, but they fill up quick and you need to pick up at the farm (which, admittedly, is a lot of fun). Down in Punta Gorda is Worden Farm ($600/$350); they deliver to the Downtown Sarasota Farmers’ Market.
The great thing about a CSA is that veggies are forced into your life — fresh, local and organic — and you just have to figure out what to do with them. You’ll have to get creative, but you can always email me for a passel of recipes involving kale.
August 2nd, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Thank you - I have just begun to research this in Tampa and planned to sign up for Sweetwater. Are you really inundated with produce???
August 5th, 2007 at 9:23 pm
thanks, brian! eating as locally as possible is so important for so many reasons.
i have been a member of green door organic co-op for over two years but stop my membership during the florida growing season. i typically go to jessica’s stand/desoto lakes organic produce but last year joined the worden farm CSA for the second half of the season. as a single person, i watched most of my weekly box go to live with friends or waste away in the fridge. there is only so much summer squash a girl can take! i think this season i’ll skip the CSA and buy at worden’s (downtown) and jessica’s stand. but it is always inspiring to open up that CSA box or bag of deliciously dirty fruits and veggies and plan meals for the week.
perhaps you could do a story on local restaurants taking advantage of the local farm offerings? maybe quiz some chefs on sarasota slow food!
August 23rd, 2007 at 8:20 pm
Are there any organic farms close to Winter Haven???