Column: Shorelines

Courtesy of Tenley Weaver

Dennis and Tenley Weaver of Good Food-Good People and daughter SummerRain Ursomarso (left); the Weavers grow fruits and vegetables on their Floyd farm for members of Community Supported Agriculture.

We are in the middle of winter; the trees are bare. But it's not too early to talk about locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables, because February is the time to sign up for a share or membership in CSA -- Community Supported Agriculture.

For more than 20 years, consumers have been buying into Community Supported Agriculture. Interest in locally grown produce has been rekindled in recent years because of food-safety issues surrounding mass- produced food.

CSAs benefit consumers in several ways. Locally grown produce, fresh from the garden, can be more nutritious. And CSAs enable farmers to spend time marketing their goods early in the year before they get busy in the field during the growing season. CSAs also help the farm's cash flow by providing payments early in the season.

CSAs work like this: When you buy a CSA share, you pay in advance for a growing season's worth of vegetables or fruit. During the growing season, the shareholder gets a box or bag of vegetables and other farm products such as eggs each week. The weekly deliveries are dropped off at designated locations for shareholders to pick up.

At this time, the closest CSA dropoff for lake residents is in Roanoke, but Tenley Weaver, co-owner of Good Food-Good People, said she is hoping to change that.

Weaver and husband Dennis operate a farm and produce-distributing business in Floyd County. Part of their business is a CSA. Weaver said she would like to offer services to those who live in the SML area. To do so she needs a drop-off location and 12 to 20 people to buy shares.

"A drop site can be either a public place or a private residence," said Tenley Weaver. "It needs to have good protection from the sun and rain and safe access for people to get in and out."

Weaver said there does not have to be a parking lot, but just enough room for shareholders to easily get in and out when picking up their shares. The drop sites are unmanned, meaning Weaver's driver drops off the vegetable and/or fruit and it is left for the shareholders to pick up during a designated time period.

"Closing time is usually set by the host," explained Weaver. "For a business, it would be their closing time. I ask that the host keep the site open for at least an hour after 5 o'clock so people coming home from work can pick up their shares. Sites are usually open from 1 p.m. to 6 or 7 p.m."

There are some perks to serving as a host. The host of a site with 15 or more shares gets a free fruit share. Any shares that are not picked up are kept by the host. Weaver said many of the hosts donate the food shareholders do not pick up to soup kitchens and food banks.

Through Good Food-Good People, shareholders can purchase fresh vegetable shares or fresh fruit shares. Vegetable shares feature more than 40 types of vegetables and herbs. More than 95 percent of the produce is USDA-certified organic or "trust certified" biologically grown, Weaver said.

Many drop locations have two drop-off days, though Weaver said the lake area would start with one day a week. Vegetable drop-offs begin mid-May and run through mid-November.

A vegetable share costs $575, which averages about $23 a week. Each bag feeds two to four people and is full of vegetables fresh from the field. Buying a fruit share would ensure the consumer gets locally grown cherries, berries, peaches pears, apples and melons on a weekly basis.

These fruits are unsprayed or low-sprayed, Weaver said. A single fruit share costs $240, which averages $15 a week. Fruit deliveries start at the beginning of June and run through mid-September. Double shares are available for both vegetables and fruits at a discount.

Tenley said to meet the demand, Good Food-Good People utilizes produce from their farm as well as 20 different vegetable growers and 10 different fruit growers. They are always looking for growers who need an avenue to get their produce to consumers.

"The flip side of getting more supply is as interesting to as us getting more customers," Weaver said. "It seems like there are lots and lots of interested eaters out there, but we're also trying to encourage lots and lots of farmers to keep that cycle going."

Those interested in produce shares, providing a drop-off site or looking to sell produce, should contact Weaver at Good Food-Good People, 674 Roger Road, Floyd, VA 24091. 745-4347. gfgpfarmshares@swva.net

Other Roanoke-area CSAs:

Seven Springs Farm Community Supported Agriculture, Polly Hieser, 426 Jerry Lane NE, Check, VA 24072. 651.3226. pollyhies@yahoo.com. Products include a variety of vegetables and herbs; separate fruit and bread shares available end of May through late December.

Waterbear Organic Farm, Richard Ursomarso, 477 Raindance Road, Floyd, VA 24091. 745-7478.

Eden's Way Organic Farm CSA, Cherie Shelor, Meadows of Dan, VA. (276) 952-6283