Vibrant colors of green, red and orange fill baskets upon baskets at the inaugural UCR FarmShare, a community supported agriculture (CSA) program, and an opportunity for folks to take home produce grown locally.
“Everything looks so fresh and delicious,” said Jaimie Van Norman, one of more than 130 people who signed up for the program. “I love that I get to pick out my own fruits and vegetables. I’ve been part of a CSA before, and you’re just handed a bag of produce, but this way I can pick and choose myself,” she explained.
So, what is FarmShare exactly? Well, it’s a program designed to bring fresh seasonal fruits, veggies and herbs straight from local farms directly to the university. In this case Old Grove Farm Share (OGFS) is the group providing the produce. OGSF is made up of local farmers from areas like Riverside, Redlands, Hemet, Chino and many other neighboring communities. Bob Knight, better known as Farmer Bob, has a citrus farm in Redlands. He said he decided to get involved “out of desperation.”
“We’re trying to figure out a new way to keep business going. Instead of depending on global distributors, we are now going to the community,” Farmer Bob said. “It’s really gratifying to see the produce you’ve grown being picked up by the customer — I’m not used to seeing that!”
Just how fresh is the produce provided? The lettuce and herbs community members took home came out of the ground Thursday morning. The citrus was picked off the trees the day before.
“I really like the idea of supporting local farmers,” Dana Taylor said. She works in the Student Health Department as a pharmacy technician, and said FarmShare is taking produce that is normally too expensive for her to buy, and making it affordable for her family of four. “I highly recommend it!”
How does it work? Those who want to join can subscribe to UCR FarmShare and pick up their fresh produce weekly at the Market at Glen Mor. Folks can purchase “full” or “medium” shares — each week’s full share will typically include five types of seasonal fruit, five types of seasonal veggies and one herb.
You can still join the FarmShare program, pick-ups are every Thursday for the next five weeks. Read more on the program and how to register.
