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Garden of eatin'
Project offers organic produce to shareholders
By STEVE WHITWORTH
The Telegraph
GODFREY - The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate want to invite a few more families to their garden party.
The Community Supported Garden at La Vista is a local organic garden that began in 2002 under the umbrella of the Oblate Ecological Initiative, a ministry of the Missionary Oblates.
A full-time farmer manages the garden, while the organizational responsibilities are overseen by a core group of volunteers. Shares of the garden's produce are sold to area families and individuals who are interested
in obtaining fresh produce and who support the principles of community supported agriculture.
The Rev. Maurice Lange is the director of the Oblate Ecological Initiative, which he called a relatively new ministry for his order. The OEI includes the garden and an ecological learning center. Lange helped get the
garden program off the ground. He said it is the only such initiative overseen by the
order in the United States.
Lange said the idea for the garden had its roots in his days as a seminarian at the Oblate Novitiate, where young men study for the priesthood, during the mid-1980s.
"I remembered how beautiful this place was," he recalled. "We had some old horse pasture, an old barn and an old tractor.
I learned about (community supported gardens) in New Jersey, where some Dominican nuns have a community supported farm, Lange said, "I did a two-year internship in New Jersey, and I thought we could replicate
their community supported farm here, because I know of the infrastructure that was more or less in place, or could easily be put in place here."
Lange refers to the Community Supported Garden at La Vista as "my baby.
"I have been giving birth to it for about six years now," he joked. "Each year we've added more families: and we're up to about 120 families. We give away a significant amount of our organic produce to
families of low income, including the Crisis Food Center in Alton."
Lange and other garden organizers say they are looking for new members who want to help them with growing organic vegetables and to share in the tasty results.
"We definitely have room for a few more families this year, anybody who would like to join us," he said.
On average, a weekly share in the garden provides two adults with a vegetable-loving diet or a vegetable-supplemented diet for a family of four. The season begins in midMay and runs through mid-November, depending
on growing conditions. Shareholders pick up their produce on either Tuesday or Friday. The first distribution of this season was held Tuesday.
A full share with weekly distribution is $500. An alternate share with distribution every other week is $300. Ten percent of the season's shares are offered to low-income families or individuals, and a limited number
of work shares are available.
Shareholders also are asked to volunteer three hours a month to support the "community" aspect of the garden. Volunteer activities include planting, weeding, harvesting, farm maintenance and much
"behind the scenes" work, such as Web site maintenance, budget planning, grant writing, newsletter support, membership and publicity.
Anyone interested in becoming a shareholder must complete a shareholder agreement, available at www.lavistacsa.org or by calling (618) 467-2104.
Kris Larson took over this year as the garden's head farmer. Garden organizers conducted a nationwide search for the position last fall. Larson, who had been working at the Food Bank Farm in western Massachusetts,
was hired last November.
Larson, who got his degree in natural resources planning from Humboldt State University in California, said he is attracted to the community supported aspect of the garden in Godfrey.
"That adds a really nice dynamic to the farming itself, so I have a direct connection with my customers," he said. "Basically, they provide me a yearly income, so I can farm full time and better. It's
mutually supportive. I can provide a full-time service to them, and they provide me with a living. It's an opportunity to support my family through farming, which is something I've grown to love doing."
Although April was hot and dry, May has brought more rain, which has helped the garden, Larson said.
"Right now, we are producing lots of green, leafy vegetables," he said. "The summer crops are looking good right now."
Larson said he and his fellow gardeners would plant up to 60 varieties of vegetables, herbs and flowers this year. He said the garden's members seem to enjoy their work there almost as much as they do the vegetables
they receive in return.
"When I surveyed the members when I first got here, they raved about the vegetables first, and then they raved about being at the farm," Larson said. "That drew them back. It's really relaxing after a day
of work at the office to come out to the farm.
"We also offer you-pick crops, which are some of our most popular, including strawberries, peas and cherry tomatoes."
Many of the members appreciate the organic nature of the garden, Larson said.
"Our pest management is based primarily on physical barriers, crop rotations and good timing of planting, so that we plant when the bugs are not in their prime, if we can," he said. "It's easier said
than done.
"For fertility, we rely on organic matter, cover crops and manure. For weed management, we really rely on just pulling the weeds. That's where a lot of the volunteer work in the summer comes from."
swhit6@hotmail.com
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