Joe Keller’s Garden of Ideas, fit with its expansive shrubbery, winding dirt paths and wooden bridges crossing over the marshy outer reaches of Mamanasco Lake, has been an earthly and spiritual staple in Ridgefield for more than four decades. The family-owned 8-acre plot of vegetable farmland, marshland and woodlands on North Salem Road has long been a destination for area residents to visit and take in its aesthetics.
Within the past decade, more and more visitors began asking if they could have a head of its lettuce, a vine of tomatoes or some herbs to season their dinners with. They wanted a fresher, healthier alternative to what they could find in a grocery store.
The demand became so great that seven years ago, Keller and his wife and Garden of Ideas co-owner Ilsa Svendsen began their own Community Supported Agriculture program, or CSA, on the property. A rapidly growing and sustainable alternative to conventional produce shopping, CSAs offer members a chance to have their share of a farm’s harvest with a down payment before the harvesting season and then through weekly pickups.
Garden of Ideas co-owner Joe Keller said he anticipates about 100 members to sign up for his farm’s Community Supported Agriculture program this summer. Photo by Evan Fallor
“The beauty of a CSA is that people pay you up front,” Keller said. “You get that infusion of capital. Then you can focus on the farming.”
Garden of Ideas’ spring CSA began April 23 and lasts until May 21; the summer program runs from June 5 through Sept. 3; and the fall CSA runs from Sept. 10 through Oct. 22. The six-week CSAs cost $175, and the 18-week CSA costs $525.
A typical weekly share could range anywhere from one to three shopping bags worth of fruit and vegetables — about six to seven items — depending on the season. Members do not make selections; they simply get what is harvested that week.
Keller grows most of his produce — from green beans to strawberries to komatsuna — on an adjacent stretch of farm just down the road, but some is grown on the main site of Garden of Ideas. In late April, he started to see the first chives of the season begin to sprout.
Keller said most members come from Ridgefield, Darien, Danbury and Redding, and are predominantly young couples with one or two children. He said the CSA has grown in size each year since it began in 2008, and he anticipates 45, 100 and 85 members for this year’s spring, summer and fall programs, respectively.
Members pick up produce each Thursday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. at the farm. The most popular item Keller harvests: the tomato.
“People are so anxious to get real food,” Keller said.
Young couples without children usually have the shortest stays in the CSA, he said, because they often have excess produce that ends up being donated or given away.
That’s the demographic he hopes will take advantage most of his farm stand at the entrance of the site, which is open from March through the end of November. He keeps both the farm stand, which he began 10 years ago, and the CSA running concurrently because neither by itself could keep the farm afloat.
Garden of Ideas is one of nine CSAs in Fairfield County. Across town, Jennifer Trillo helps manage Simpaug Farms CSA, a 250-acre West Suffield farm with its offices in Ridgefield. Trillo, the sales and marketing director, said employees deliver produce once per week in shuttles and vans to drop-off locations in Ridgefield and Norwalk.
Trillo said between Simpaug’s 16-week summer CSA and 8-week fall CSA, last year’s total membership was about 150 people. This year, she’s expecting it to climb to 200 members.
“Typically, it’s people looking to make a lifestyle change,” Trillo said. “They’ve read about it or heard about it through a neighbor a lot of the time.”
Simpaug Farms, which began its program in 2011, also offers home delivery service for an additional fee, which Ridgefield resident Julie Paltauf has taken advantage of.
Garden of Ideas is on North Salem Road in Ridgefield. Photo by Evan Fallor
Paltauf, the finance director of the Ridgefield Playhouse, has been both a half- and full-share member of the Simapug Farms CSA for five years. For some CSAs, the only option is a full share, which feeds roughly three to four people. Others, like Simpaug, offer a half-share, good for an individual or a couple. This summer, because her children are in college, Paltauf said she and her husband opted for the half-share.
“The best part isn’t just getting fresh veggies every week, but also experimenting with different recipes,” said Paltauf, who added that her favorite item is eggplant. “The great thing about Simpaug is that they send us a different recipe each week.”
CSA programs have been cropping up not only across across Fairfield County and the Northeast, but also across the country.
According to the most recent U.S. Department of Agriculture data, 12,617 farms participated in CSA programs in 2012, a 0.5 percent increase from five years earlier. The nine Fairfield County CSAs are in largely residential areas like Ridgefield, Greenwich and Wilton as well as more rural areas like Easton and Redding.
They have grown in popularity, but for the farm and the patron, it’s a chance taken together. If bad weather such as a hurricane or drought hits the farm, the customer is out of luck. If the farm cannot deliver, even because of inclement weather, customers may be deterred from returning in the future.
“Mother Nature is our boss, and we have to go with the flow,” Trillo said. “Unfortunately, it’s a matter of risk and reward.”
For Victoria Yolen, a Ridgefield resident who is a member of both Simpaug Farms and The Hickories, another CSA in town — since their inceptions, called CSAs a “win-win-win” because of the benefit they bring to the environment, the customer and the farmer.
Yolen, a gardener herself, said the high-quality soil and organic qualities are what appeal to her most. Plus, she gets some tasty produce.
“It’s so fun. Every week you get a huge amount of groceries that are grown fresh with a high mineral content,” Yolen said. “You can get shoots, dried beans, kale, herbs or even apple pies if they’ve got a lot of apples that week. If you’re a cook, you can really create some amazing dishes.”
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