COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE

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"We asked the Sullivans, `What's it going to cost you to grow our food for us?' When they told us $24,000, it was up to the group of people we had gathered to come up with the money." They did. Forty families anted up an average of $600 a share. The Sullivans then fronted $10,000 of personal savings to buy the necessary greenhouse and farming equipment and, in March 1987, the Kimberton CSA was off—or rather, in—the ground. (That land, by the way, is leased from the nearby Waldorf School.) The year was a definite success for the growers, but also quite a learning experience. A late start proved the biggest handicap: Barb and Kerry had to work extra hard to build fertility and fight weeds. The couple tried to carefully estimate shareholder needs for each of the 33 crops they grew, but some crops came in far off the mark.

For instance, a low sweet corn total disappointed a lot of corn-on-the-cobbers. ("We learned quickly that people really love that crop," Kerry laments.) Cauliflower, leeks and rutabagas failed completely. ("That wasn't as big a problem," Kerry chuckles.) On the other hand, CSA members found themselves facing a pair of classic gardener's gluts—too many squash and tomatoes.

"We asked the Sullivans,

'What's it going to cost you to grow our food for us?' "

Chalk the errors up to first-time guessti

mates and that ever-uncontrollable factor, the weather. The Sullivans' accurate estimates and overall totals were still quite impressive:

(And that doesn't include the seven herbs the couple raised and distributed.)

Of course, no one wants to receive 80 heads of lettuce or 95 pounds of carrots all at one time. So one of Barb and Kerry's responsibilities was to spread their harvest over time—as far early and late into the growing year as possible. The weather beating and succession-planting skills demanded for this are tricky, but as Should ice noted, "The Sullivans are masters at season-extending." Indeed, excluding a hot, dry spell in August, Kerry and Barbara gave CSA members let tuce from early May until mid-December!

Thus, twice a week for seven months, members brought home fresh bounty.

After the fresh harvest gave out, members garnered potatoes, beets, parsnips, carrots and winter squash from a common root cellar until mid-March.

Did the shareholders get their total investment's worth? Yes—Barbara did careful week-by-week cost comparisons and concluded that the crops priced out about the same as wholesale organic vegetables. Members were pleased with their produce, too. "It wasn't buggy or dirty like some or ganic vegetables are," Rod says. "Instead, it was beautiful, flawless and terrific-tasting." Busy two-career couples discovered the pleasure of "coming home to their vegetables" and quit dining out so often.

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