Urban agriculture sending subscribers home with veggies

 

Heart Beet Gardening's pilot program for an urban CSA is well underway. With two gardens at homes near Larchmont Village, the community supported agriculture project is providing a weekly basket of produce to 10 subscribers who are each paying $25 a week.

Sara Carnochan, one of the three women who run the gardening business, says the subscribers "are really excited when they pick up their baskets." And she and her two partners are still assessing whether the pilot program is a success.

They'd like to expand to more gardens, but they haven't decided whether it can work logistically and financially for them.

CSAs usually have members who pay a share in the operation of a farm in return for a share of the harvest. Heart Beet is trying an urban twist, using city yards to grow the food.

The subscribers have received chard, cucumbers, eggplant, squash and other items. The first planting of lettuce was eaten, perhaps by birds, but this week the baskets should include lettuce from a second planting, Carnochan says.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo of CSA basket, courtesy Sara Carnochan

Comments

[Denise Thornton]

In Madison WI, the CSA movement is thriving, as are its members. We can even get INSURANCE REBATES to cover part of the cost of CSA membership. To learn more about this kind of program, and spread it to Los Angeles,
check out my post today on insuring good nutrition at http://digginginthedriftless.wordpress.com/2009/07/10/csas-madison-style-or-insuring-good-nutrition/
Here's to a healthier future,
Denise Thornton
http://digginginthedriftless.wordpress.com