Growing local farms and business: more people taking up growing their own food and supporting local operations as awareness of food sources increases.

• Author: McKinley, Karen
• Position: SMALL BUSINESS FOCUS

As more people seek out healthier, fresher food, they are both turning to their local producers and becoming producers themselves.

One initiative gaining popularity is Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA. A CSA works by allowing people to pay a farmer shares in advance to grow their crops, and the farmer is free to grow whatever they please. In return, the farmer provides the shareholders with fresh produce, usually on a weekly basis, often with vegetables and fruit a person wouldn't normally buy.

Three Forks Farms, owned by Eric and Peggy Blondin and located in Warren, has been running a CSA for a few years. According to Eric, it's been a lot of work, but it has helped ease the financial burden and he's had a lot of fun educating people on different kinds of produce.

"It allows people to invest in a farm in the winter, and in the summer they get a weekly box of food," he said. "The advance payment for a CSA share helps with the upfront costs, especially for new farms like mine, in terms of cash flow to get seeds, supplies and keep a greenhouse running.

"People make that investment into our farm, it gets our season going, and because we value those investments that people make, they get the first crack at the produce. We think of them as our VIPs," he added.

They sell their produce at the Sudbury farmers market on Thursday afternoons and Saturday mornings.

He explained that he and Peggy come up with a CSA schedule based on the growing season. They offer common items like onions, potatoes and leafy greens, but also grow what he called "oddball" vegetables to introduce them to a new market. He pointed out his kohlrabi, a bright green vegetable shaped like a large radish. He said it tastes a lot like a broccoli stem, but is less bitter and fibrous. He researched the vegetable so he could tell his shareholders how to prepare it, which he said the best way was to cut it into sticks and saute. He also grows a squash called patty pans, which is small, round and tastes like a zucchini.

"This is a great way to introduce people to things people normally wouldn't see or buy," he said.

It's also another outlet for those people seeking to buy local but who can't grow their own. Eric explained they talk to their customers to determine what they like or want to try and take that into account when planning for the next growing season. There was an occasion where a vegetable they grew was so popular it sold out fast, but there was enough time in the...