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USA - MARYLAND: Local Farmers Work Together To Sell Produce With Online Ordering And Delivery
“The goal of Garrett Growers is to feed our community, help our farmers and protect agricultural land in the county,” said Hannah Frazee, one of the coordinators for Garrett Growers
OAKLAND — Local fresh produce from a variety of local farms is now available for purchase online through the Garrett Growers Online Ordering System.
Individuals can order from the website and pick up at one of several locations throughout the county.
The online local fresh produce ordering system is one of the services provided by Garrett Growers to connect participating local agricultural farms with consumers.
Garrett Growers is a farmer’s cooperative located in Garrett County.
Currently participating farms include DeBerry Farm Fresh Produce, A.L.L. Produce, Naaman Miller Farm, Fawn Valley Farm, Whistle Pig Farm, Fred Petersheim Farm, Yoder’s Tomatoes, Lynndale Produce, Philip Schrock Farm, Jay Maust Farm, Backbone Food Farm, David & Martha Yoder Farm, Punky’s Place, Simon Yoder Eggs and Stemple Brothers Farm.
“The goal of Garrett Growers is to feed our community, help our farmers and protect agricultural land in the county,” said Hannah Frazee, one of the coordinators for Garrett Growers. “By opening up an online store, we can give individuals the convenience of being able to purchase fresh, local produce from our area farms anytime through their computer or mobile phone. This is extremely important for individuals who find it difficult to get to a produce market or who may be avoiding crowds due to COVID.”
Pickup is available on Thursday afternoons each week throughout the summer. Individuals can order online any time up until 3 p.m. on Wednesday for that Thursday’s pick-up.
Pickup locations include: University of Maryland Extension Office in Mtn. Lake Park; Deep Creek Pharmacy in McHenry; Firefly Farms Creamery & Market in Accident; and High Country Creamery and Market in Grantsville.
Other services offered by Garrett Growers include an ordering and delivery service of local produce for restaurants, grocery stores, caterers and institutions along with a weekly Veggie Box program.
According to Frazee, individuals who would prefer home delivery can purchase a Veggie Box on the same online ordering system.
Veggie Boxes can be home delivered as long as the residence is within the delivery radius. Residents can check to see if they live on the delivery route by emailing Garrett Growers at garrettgrowers@gmail.com.
“Some of the same challenges that have affected other industries because of the pandemic have also affected local farm sales, so it is more important than ever to support local agriculture,” said Frazee. “Fresh produce is often healthier because of the shorter time between picking and purchase, so the vegetables and fruits retain more nutrients. Plus, the one thing I generally hear is how much better local, fresh produce tastes. But something else that does not receive as much focus is the fact that local food production strengthens the local economy and helps to protect our local agricultural land. There are just so many benefits to purchasing local produce.”
For more information about Garrett Growers and the online ordering system, individuals can visit the co-op website at www.garrettgrowers.com or email garrettgrowers@gmail.com.
For information about other farms selling local products or to find a farm to visit, check out www.GarrettFarms.org.
Lead photo: Jacob “Jake” Hauser, delivery driver for Garrett Growers, stands in front of one of the delivery vehicles. Photo by Hannah Frazee
Urban Oasis Project Launches CSA Program
Since 2009, Art Friedrich, co-founder of Urban Oasis Project, has had one goal in mind: to make healthy, local food more accessible to all
JOSIE GULLIKSEN | OCTOBER 2, 2020
Fresh produce boxes like this will be part of the Urban Oasis Project's CSA program. Photo courtesy of Urban Oasis Project
Fresh produce boxes like this will be part of the Urban Oasis Project's CSA program.
Since 2009, Art Friedrich, co-founder of Urban Oasis Project, has had one goal in mind: to make healthy, local food more accessible to all.
Friedrich and his group of volunteers do this by teaching people in underserved communities to start and maintain food gardens. They also connect consumers to local produce through farmers' markets and fruit and vegetable subscription programs in conjunction with various health clinics.
Five years ago, Urban Oasis operated the CSA (community-supported agriculture) program for the Farm at Verde Gardens. That experience, and urging from its loyal customers to start a program of its own, prompted Friedrich to kick one-off.
The weekly CSA box will cost a flat fee of $40. Inside, customers will find a surprise assortment of locally grown produce.
The CSA program is a win-win for farmers and consumers alike, Friedrich says. “We get to buy more from local farms and the customers get a premium, first-dibs selection of what’s available. Because of the standardization and commitment, we will be able to offer more produce for less price."
For the program, Urban Oasis will be drawn from multiple farms they’ve been working with for years, plus any new local ones they can find, Friedrich adds. It will be a multifarm CSA," he says. "It will be a shorter commitment than the usual CSA because we have a lot more flexibility since we also run farm stands at so many farmers' markets.
Since the coronavirus pandemic closed Urban Oasis' in-person farmers' markets around town, Friedrich and his volunteers have found a new, larger home at Radiate Fermentation Lab in Allapattah to store, pack, and sort produce.
“This current site is much more developed and helps us keep everything fresh. We converted an old walk-in fridge into our packing area, so it keeps everything nice and cool,” Friedrich says.
Since the pandemic descended, Urban Oasis has been packing community food boxes to give to families in need. Before that, it had staged a variety of special events for different groups, including a Thanksgiving giveaway for the Miami Dade College Hialeah campus. "We’ve done this for the past few years and it’s very similar to what we’ve done with the fruit and vegetable subscription program," Friedrich says.
Friedrich says all of Urban Oasis' projects serve one main goal. “We want to connect people to fresh, seasonal produce. The online store and our pick-up and delivery gives people another option. And because we are used to doing deliveries now, CSA feels like a very natural extension of what we do,” he says.
Creating the CSA program is also a homage to horticulturist Booker T. Whatley, an agriculture professor at Tuskegee University in Alabama who is credited with introducing the CSA model to the United States in the 1960s. Sam Vazquez, who with Ashley Varela runs Urban Oasis’ Project Maracuya, a CSA-style SNAP box program for families experiencing food injustice for a variety of reasons, did extensive research on Whatley.
“CSA has been an important part in the growth of the local food movement therefore, it’s imperative for the public to know that the roots of this very important development of farms came from an African-American farmer,” Friedrich says.
Friedrich anticipates reopening Urban Oasis' farmers' markets at Legion Park and the Arsht Center the weekend of October 24, and in South Miami and Vizcaya on November 7.
“We’re excited to get the physical markets back open but even when they do, we plan to keep the online market as long as people keep ordering and, of course, keep up the CSA Program,” says the Urban Oasis cofounder.
Order an Urban Oasis CSA box at urbanoasisproject.org.
Josie Gulliksen is a Miami native who's been covering Miami's arts and culture scene for more than two decades. She loves biking, spending time in nature, eating out, and attending all types of events. She dreams of one day writing a play and being on the stage.
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Josie Gulliksen FOLLOW: Twitter: @josiegullikse
It’s Fine If You Litter This Container, Because It Just Turns Into A Plant
This concept egg carton shows that, with a little ingenuity, packaging can be regenerative instead of wasteful
07.09.19
This concept egg carton shows that, with a little ingenuity, packaging can be regenerative instead of wasteful.
When you’re ready to throw out this new type of packaging, it shouldn’t go in the recycling bin. Instead, the carton is designed to be planted in your backyard, where legume seeds embedded in the material can start to grow, improving soil health and helping the dirt sequester more carbon from the air.
“Recycling is important but costs money, time, and electricity,” says George Bosnas, the Greece-based designer who developed the concept for the Biopack. There are other problems in broken recycling systems: Occasionally, items that are picked up from recycling bins aren’t actually recycled, as in cities that struggled to adapt when China stopped importing low-quality recyclables. When they are recycled, they might be “downcycled” to a lower-grade material. While some startups work on trying to solve those problems, Bosnas saw an opportunity to bypass the recycling system completely.
[Photo: courtesy George Bosnas]
The package, conceived for a circular economy design competition, is a simple egg carton. Bosnas wanted to focus on a common item that often ends up in the trash. (In Greece, egg cartons are usually made from plastic; in the U.S., where cartons are often made from paper, someone with access to composting could compost a carton if they wanted to circumvent recycling.) The package is made from paper pulp, flour, starch, and legume seeds. After use, it’s meant to be planted in the ground and watered, and then the seeds will sprout.
[Photo: courtesy George Bosnas]
“I chose legumes because they are used as nitrogen fertilizers in nature,” says Bosnas. The plants make the soil healthier. Though Bosnas wasn’t specifically focused on climate change, his product can have an additional benefit: boosting the amount of carbon that is stored 30% more carbon in the ground. Studies suggest that legumes can store soil than other plants. On farms, proponents of “regenerative agriculture”—who plant legumes among other methods to improve soil health—argue that these techniques are an important tool in fighting climate change. Most of that work has happened on farms, but it could also happen in backyards.
It’s not clear how much this type of packaging could replace traditional alternatives, or what happens when someone doesn’t have a yard or runs out of room to plant new containers. But something like this might work for some applications, just as others, such as architect William McDonough, have talked about the concept of wrappers that could be safely littered by the side of the road to decompose. Bosnas says that he’s already in talks with potential producers. He points out that it could also be a better experience than just recycling. “Besides [being] ‘more than biodegradable,’ it’s actually fun watching plants grow from packaging,” he says.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adele Peters is a staff writer at Fast Company who focuses on solutions to some of the world's largest problems, from climate change to homelessness. Previously, she worked with GOOD, BioLite, and the Sustainable Products and Solutions program at UC Berkeley.
Lead Photo: courtesy George Bosnas]