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The producers
Community comes together to garden organic goods,
share with others
 story by Jill Moon
photos by Jim Bowling
The Telegraph
GODFREY - The pleasure of tasting fresh vegetables is sweeter for Community Supported Garden members who plant them.
Head farmer Kris Larson
at the Community Supported Garden at La Vista doesn't mind maintaining it for others and, in fact, relishes the fruits of his labor.
"I could work for one of the (agricultural) agencies, but during college I volunteered one summer on a small, organic, community-supported
agricultural farm and realized I loved the work and challenges," said Larson, who has a natural resources planning degree from Humboldt State University in northern California.
That 2.5-acre farm led Larson to do a full-time farming apprenticeship in Oregon in 2002, where he worked the entire growing season to see if he really liked farming.
"I realized farming used all of my education and I could use applications in the field," he said.
He then met his wife, Stacey, and they worked on a Massachusetts farm
together, eventually moving to Godfrey after the birth of their son, Jacob, 2. The Larsons live about a mile from the Community Supported Garden.
Larson will start his fourth growing season on the six-year-old farm at 4350 Levis Lane.
"I wanted to give farming a go and this was a way for us to get into farming
full-time, make a living through farming and be a part of the community," he said.
Community is the heart of the 4.25-acre organic farm. The Garden's
organizational responsibilities are overseen by a core group of volunteers who form a board of directors.
The Community Supported Garden is a local garden that began in 2002,
under the umbrella of the Oblate Ecological Initiative, a ministry of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Garden resources are supported
by shares of the Garden's harvest that are sold to area families and individuals who are interested in obtaining fresh produce and who support the principles of community-supported agriculture.
A half share for $300 allows the shareholder to get fresh produce every other week. A whole share for $525 allows the shareholder to go every
week. Shares can be held by more than one person or family. Also, low-income shares, based on availability, are $52. Only regularly priced shares are available for this season.
"We're full right now (for $52), but every year we encourage people that we open up shares again for 2009 in the fall," Larson said.
The Garden tries to make fresh, organic produce available to all, not just those who can afford to join the Garden. As part of its mission, the Garden
offers 10 percent of its shares to the community, which are 12 full shares to those who meet certain criteria, which includes not only low income, but also people with particular health needs.
"It's the poor in our society that are disproportionately affected by our negative environment," said the Rev. Bill Veith, with Trinity Lutheran Church,
ELCA in Alton, at a "green" workshop in February where Larson also spoke. "We have to take the initiative and take responsibility to reach out to
people on the other side. It's not their problem. It's our problem."
The Garden also offers all of its surplus produce to the Alton Crisis Food
Center, donating nearly 2 tons to them last year.
In April, the Garden had its first produce distribution with its spring greens
that included lettuce, spinach, mizuna, arugula, mustard, tat soi, beet greens, baby bok choy, baby kale, dandelion greens and Han Tsai Tai. Founding
member Rosalie Ohlson, who is the board chairperson of celebrations, loves trying different vegetable varieties.
Ohlson also enjoys planting them. Most Garden members participate in planting, maintaining and harvesting the Garden. The most popular events are
the potato planting, garlic harvest and the tomato festival, which take place in March, July and August respectively.
"Later during harvest, when I'm eating those potatoes, I feel good that I helped plant those potatoes," Ohlson said. "They taste sweeter because of
the way they are grown. As a member, I'm totally satisfied."
Other parts of the Garden's mission are to demonstrate a model for
diversified, sustainable, small-scale community supported agriculture and to respect the soil, water and air through organic methods of growing,
conserving water and through reducing fossil fuel emissions into the air.
Larson manages the Garden using sustainable practices that are in harmony
with the living process of the soil. Thus, it is organic farming in line with the organic philosophy that the soil is alive with microbial organisms. Larson
uses no synthetic or chemical pesticides or fertilizers.
"We use organic, plant-based sprays, mostly concentrated essential oils from flowers to irritate the bugs," he said.
The bugs are just one of many challenges that Larson faces.
"Any farmer will tell you, the challenge is growing anything at all," Larson said.
The basic challenges, before adding in the organic elements, are soil fertility, climate changes and conditions, insects, diseases and marketing, Larson said.
The organic farmer faces maintaining organic status for fields that are designed for this purpose, growing style and to avoid pesticides by
diversifying crops, rotating crops and planting flowers to attract insects so they stay off of vegetables and fruit.
Recently, volunteers put in a new irrigation system that saved the Garden a
lot of money.
The Garden also is offering an apprenticeship to give people an all-around educational experience of a working, small farm.
"Plus it helps us take advantage of our education resources that are plentiful on a small farm, while also meeting our labor needs despite our small
financial resources," Larson explained. "We're really excited about that."
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