• A Full Share costs $550 and provides a weekly share for 27 weeks (mid May to mid November). 
• An Alternate Share costs $300 and provides a share every other week. 

Share pick-up is at the Farm in Godfrey, IL.  For an additional $25 delivery fee, shareholders may pick-up their share at Garden Heights in Richmond Heights, MO on Saturday morning between 7am - 9am.

Download a shareholder membership application for the 2012 season:

Application with Farm pick-up

Application with Garden Heights pick up

Spring Greens is an early season share that provides one pound of Gourmet Salad Mix for each of five weeks.  The Mix is made up of several red and green varieties of baby lettuces including Red Salad Bowl, Parris Island, Rouge D’ Hiver, Dark Lollo Rossa and baby spinach. 

With a regular season membership, this Spring Greens share costs $35.  Please indicate on the regular application that you want Spring Greens.

Without a regular season membership, the cost for a Spring Greens share is $50.  If you later decide to purchase a regular season share, you will receive a $15 rebate. 

Application for Spring Greens Only

Chef shares are designed for restaurants that wish to work with the finest local ingredients to compliment the culinary artisan skills of their chefs. At La Vista, we possess the same ambition and desire to please our shareholders as chef's possess to wow their patrons. We are on a parallel mission to provide incredibly fresh produce with outstanding flavors.

Chef Shares include 4 boxes of fresh produce each week for 27 weeks.  The boxes include a wide variety of seasonal produce which is meant to be incorporated into your Specials Menu each weekend.  The rich, earthy flavors of farm fresh produced harvested within days, sometimes even hours of its arrival to you enhances the flavors of any culinary creation. Our produce can be highlighted in any dish. Imagine a continuous supply of flavors that will sharpen your spontaneous creativity by using produce at the height of their essence in the peak of their season. Our produce is grown without pesticides and our seeds are GMO free.  

Please your clientele as they enjoy crisp, butter head lettuce, nutty baby squash, beautiful squash blossoms, sun ripened heirloom tomatoes, tangy spicy greens, dainty edible flowers, aromatic herbs, and German hard neck garlic with the highest oil content this side of the Mississippi.

•  Cost of a Chef Share is $2200.00  This includes 4 boxes of fresh produce each week for 27 weeks.  6 monthly payments of $365.00 per month may also be arranged.
  

There are 3 options for receiving your produce

• Option 1 (Free of Charge)

You pick up at the La Vista Farm each week on one of our designated pick up days (either Tuesday or Friday between 2pm and 7pm))

• Option 2 (Free of charge)

You come each Saturday Morning to our drop off location at Garden Heights Nursery in Richmond Heights between 7am and 9am to pick up your produce, using your own boxes or bags for transport.

• Option 3 ($200.00 delivery fee)

We will deliver your boxes each Saturday morning between 10am and 12 noon. You will leave our empty boxes from the previous week in a dry place for us to collect each week.

Please send email inquiries to crystal@lavistacsa.org

4350 Levis Lane, Godfrey, IL 62035

Click here for directions to the farm.

February

• Saturday, February 18th 6pm-8pm Wine Tasting Fundraiser at the Godfrey Meat Market    ($30 per person or $50 per couple)
  

March

• Saturday, March 10th 4pm-6pm Shareholder Appreciation Party at the Mississippi Sanctuary

April

• Friday, April 6th  Spring Greens begin at last until May 4th

• Sunday, April 22nd   Booth at St. Louis Earth Day

• Saturday, April 28th Spring Farm Dinner ($50 per person or $90 per couple)

May

• Sunday, May 6th 12pm-2pm Open House at La Vista
• Sunday, May 6th 2pm-4pm  Welcome/Orientation at La Vista
• Saturday, May 12th 1pm-5pm Natural Household Cleaners Workshop*
• Week of May 14th Share Season Begins!
  
• Saturday, May 19th 7am-9am St. Louis Delivery begins
• Sunday, May 27th 1pm-5pm Herbal Remedies Workshop

June

• Saturday, June 2nd Rummage Sale to benefit La Vista at St. Ambrose
• Sunday, June 3rd  1pm-5pm Growing Herbs for Health Workshop*
  
• Saturday, June 23rd 4pm-6pm "A Taste of the Farm" Fundraiser ($30 per ticket)

July

• Sunday, July 22nd 1pm-5pm Outdoor Cooking Workshop*

August

• Sunday, August 12th 4pm-6pm Annual Tomato Fest

September

• Sunday, September 16th 1pm-5pm Cob Building Workshop*

October

• Sunday, October 7th 1pm-5pm Dyeing Naturally with Plants*
• Saturday, October 13th 4pm-7pm La Vista Fall Farm Dinner ($50 per person, $90 per couple) 

La Vista Winter Newsletter 2/10/12 Volume 10 Issue 1 ]]>Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:41:41 -0600Kale and White Bean Soup

Serves 4 to 6

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

½ teaspoon ground fennel seeds

1 ½ cups chopped onion

1 medium potato, diced into ½ pieces

1 small carrot, chopped

1 small parsnip, chopped

1 ½ canned tomatoes

6 cups vegetable or chicken stock

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried oregano

6-7 large leaves kale, chopped (3 to 4 cups)

¾ cup cooked or canned (rinsed, drained) white beans

Pinch of saffron, pinch of salt, pinch of black pepper

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add the garlic and fennel seeds; cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes.  Add the potato, carrot, and parsnip and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes.

1. Add the canned tomatoes.  Pour in the stock.  Stir in the bay leaves and oregano.  Bring the mixture to a boil, then immediately reduce the heat so that it continues at a simmer.

1. Add the kale and beans.  Simmer until the vegetables are just tender, 15 to 20 minutes.  Remove the pot from the heat; add the saffron.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Gnocchi

1 1/2 Cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 Cups pureed pumpkin (can use sweet potato instead)

1/2 Teaspoon salt

1/2 Teaspoon pepper

1/2 Teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

Sauce:

6 Tablespoons margarine

1/3 Cup thinly sliced fresh sage

1 1/2 Teaspoons (Packed) finely grated lemon peel

1/2 Cup vegetable broth

Directions:

Gnocchi:

Combine flour, pumkin, nutmeg, cinnamon, oil until a smooth dough forms. Do not over mix as it makes it tough

Flour your board/table and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness 

If you have a dough docker roller (sort of like a dough roller with spikes on it) Run that over to add some bumps to the dough so it "catches" the sauce. If not don't worry, not needed just an optioin!

Cut long strips and then cut again into 1 inch squares.

Place in salted boiling water until they float. Go ahead and stick them all in the pot at once!

Sauce:

Cook the margarine in a medicum skillet over medicum-high heat until margarine begins to brown, about 4 minutes

Add sage, lemon peel and broth

Simmer until desired thickness and season with salt and pepper.

Place drained gnocchi in sauce and cook for 2 more minutes

Serve!

*Cut top of squash and scoop out seeds (these can be washed and baked for a snack)**

*Drizzle olive oil salt & pepper into squash

*Bake at 375 degrees until soft 30-45minutes

*In the meantime make the filling:

1 cup Cajun Grain or Popcorn Rice

½# Local mushrooms (Shiitake, Crimini, White Button)

1 bell Pepper diced

1 onion diced

Cook rice with 2 cups water. Bring to a boil then lower heat to simmer. Keep covered until all water is absorbed.

Heat skillet with Smith’s Creamery butter (or olive oil) cook mushrooms alone on medium heat until browned on both sides and set aside. Add peppers and onions and saute until tender. Mix all vegetables with rice.

Remove squash from oven and stuff with mixture and top with Ryals Dairy Chedder (cow or goat) or asiago cheese. Put back into oven and bake at 375 until cheese is melted.

**Toss cleaned pumpkin seeds with gluten free Tamari and nutritional yeast and place on parchment paper on cooking sheet in oven. Bake at 300 degrees or until golden brown stirring occasionally.

YIELD: 38 cookies

BAKING TEMPERATURE: 350˚ F

BAKING TIME: 12 to 14 minutes; dough is refrigerated overnight.

FROM: King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking

These traditional cinnamon cookies get an interesting facelift with oats for texture, barley for flavor and whole wheat for body.  A bit softer than the classic crunchy Snickerdoodle (which derives much of its crunchiness from nutritionally suspect vegetable shortening), flavor-wise they’re a close match – albeit with greater depth, due to the whole grains.  These are Melanie’s all-time favorite!

Ingredients:

The cookies:

1. Cream the butter, sugar, baking powder, salt and vanilla in a large bowl.  Beat in the orange juice and eggs, scraping the bowl, then add the oats, barley & wheat flour, beating until well combined.  Refrigerate the dough, covered, overnight.
2. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line with parchment paper.
3. To prepare the coating, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a large plastic bag.
4. Drop the dough by the tablespoonful, 6 pieces or so at a time, into the bag.  Gather the bag closed at the top, trapping some air inside.  Shake gently to coat the balls with the sugar.   Place them on the prepared baking sheets and flatten to about ½ inch thick, using the flat bottom of a measuring cup or drinking glass.  Repeat until you have used all the dough.
5. Bake the cookies, reversing the pans midway through, until they’re beginning to brown around the edges, 12-14 minutes.  Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them to a rack to cool.  For soft Snickerdoodles, place them in an airtight container or plastic bag one they’re cool.  For crisper cookies, allow them to remain uncovered overnight before transferring to a storage container.

Ingredients:

½ cup sifted cornmeal

½ cup buckwheat flour

4 cups cold water

a bit of salt

cheese of choice, to taste, cut into small pieces or grated

The Polenta:

1. Pour water into your saucepan and add salt. 
2. Slowly add cornmeal and buckwheat flour, whisking to mix.
3. Bring to a boil on medium heat.
4. Reduce the heat to low.
5. Continue stirring with the whisk until the polenta becomes thick, then stir often with a wooden spoon.
6. Cook for at least 50 minutes.
7. Add cheese of choice and stir to incorporate.
8. Serve immediately.

**Leftovers can be spooned into a square container and refrigerated, then sliced and lightly browned for breakfast or lunch the next day.

For the full story, we recommend reading Simona’s article at: http://www.northcoastjournal.com/food/2011/03/17/polenta-not-only-corn/