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A growing garden plan
Posted: Monday, March 30, 2009 4:37 pm
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A growing garden plan

New Richland farmer Amy Holmgren sold vegetables at last year's Farmer's Market in New Richland. This year, Holmgren has started a community-supported farm outside of Ellendale.
By RUTH ANN HAGER
Staff Writer

ELLENDALE — Amy Holmgren practiced market gardening and started the New Richland farmers’ market last year as a step towards her dream of organic farming.

Now she and her farming partner, Jeff Dobberstein, are looking for 10 to 20 shareholders to join them in Community Supported Agriculture at Prairie Harvest Farm south of Ellendale. They will grow 75 varieties of vegetables and fruit on one and one-half acres of farm land.

“It’s what I love,” Holmgren said about planting, growing and harvesting her crop, which is “essentially organic.”

But a CSA is about more than purchasing fresh produce. It’s also about maintaining the land, promoting sustainable agriculture and supporting the local economy.

“It’s community,” she said. “CSAs reconnect people to the land that sustains them.”

A CSA is a partnership as well as a shared risk between the farmer and member families.

The shareholder purchases either a half-share for $250 or a full share for $450. For that, Holmgren said, shareholders will receive fresh produce directly from the farm each week for 18 weeks during early, mid-season and late harvests.

A full share would result in half a bushel of produce each week, while a half share would yield about a peck.

“By purchasing an annual share of the farm’s produce, you make it possible for the farmer to plant and grow your food,” Holmgren says in a brochure about Prairie Harvest Farm. And because this is the first year of the CSA, a three-part payment plan is offered.

Annie and Charlie Gerber moved from St. Paul to Waseca just a year ago. They are excited about the CSA and have signed on to be a shareholder.

“To know who’s growing your food and have her so close is fantastic,” Annie Gerber said about Holmgren. “We know exactly what she’s doing.”

Gerber has figured that a full share in the farm will provide fresh produce for about $25 a week.

This summer their home will be the drop off point for Waseca shareholders in the Prairie Harvest Farm CSA.

Shareholders may also choose to come to the farm each week to pick up their produce. Either at the farm or at the Gerber house, pick-up will be Mondays from 4-6 p.m.

Holmgren is already blogging about the CSA plans and progress and she will send shareholders a weekly newsletter with tips about the produce and recipes for each week’s harvest.

There are new chickens at Prairie Harvest Farm and, by spring, Holmgren plans to have farm fresh eggs to offer customers, and she has placed an order for honey bees, too.

She wants people to be aware of the options for fresh produce, from farmers’ market, to farm stands, to opportunities like CSAs.

“If community supported agriculture doesn’t fit your situation, local farmers’ markets always have a nice assortment as well,” she said.

Holmgren plans to take her produce to farmers’ markets in New Richland, Tuesdays from 4-6 p.m., in Blooming Prairie, Fridays from 4-6 p.m., and in Owatonna, Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon. They tentatively plan to have a farm stand at Prairie Harvest Farm, Sundays from 10 a.m. to noon.

Prairie Harvest Farm joins CSAs in Clinton Falls Township, West Concord, Nerstrand, Mantorville, Lake Crystal Mankato, Nicollet and others. For more information on CSAs, go to www.localharvest.org, www.mda.state.mn.us or www.nal.usda.gov.

To learn more about Prairie Harvest Farm’s CSA, read Holmgren’s blog at www.prairieharvestfarm.blogspot.com



Ruth Ann Hager is at 507- 837-5446 or rhager@wasecacountynews.com.
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Member Opinions:
By: tbogue on 4/1/09
this is the best news i've heard all day. i visit the farmers market in New Richland and enjoy the fresh produce. this is a wonderful idea and i hope it prospers. good luck to all!

By: wise_musician_says on 3/31/09
He must have been a gardener that cared a lot,
Who weeded out the tears and grew a good crop.
And we are so amazed! We're crippled and we're dazed....
A gardener like that one, no one can replace.

And I've been knocking, but no one answers.
And I've been knocking, most all the day.
Oh and I've been calling ,oh hey, hey, Johnny!
Can't you come out to play?


 
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