What if, instead of juggling your schedule and battling trafficto get to the weekly farmer's market, the market came to you? Andwhat if selecting frilly greens and bumpy crookneck squash was aseasy as clicking a button?
It's possible for customers of Rhibafarms, a Chandler-Gilbertaquaponics farm that's launched an online CSA. Now, shopping forfresh-picked, local produce is as easy as firing up your computer,smart phone or tablet.
"You'll be able to pre-order what you want, and we can grow itfor you," says Mark Rhine, co-owner of the 2-year-old farm.
Turnaround time is only a matter of days because Rhibafarmsspecializes in microgreens, baby leafy greens and tender shootsthat are ready for harvest quickly.
Shoppers will be able to log into an online CSA Store, browseavailable produce, and place an order. The veggies will beavailable for pickup typically within the next week.
"With the microgreens, we'll give you the date of when they'llbe available to you, but you'll also have choices of seasonalthings to put in your box. So when it's eggplant season or onionseason, those things will be available until they're (sold) out,"says Rhine.
Rhibafarms uses fish, naturally occurring bacteria and water togrow microgreens in a parking lot behind its downtown Chandleroffice and on a three-acre farm in Gilbert. The Gilbert propertyalso raises dirt-grown crops that change with the seasons.
Among the food in the online store are peppers, salad greens,zucchini, cucumbers and baby Walla Walla sweet onions. More exoticitems include sunflower shoots, edible squash blossoms, livingwheatgrass, chia seeds and tea made from Gilbert-grownchrysanthemum flowers.
Customers will also be able to adopt free-range, organicallyraised hens or roosters. An online gallery of birds is scheduled togo online within a week.
"You get a jpeg photo of your chicken and a certificate, and youcan name him or her," says Rhine.
The fee covers the bird's room and board at "Chicken Town," onthe Gilbert farm, and the man hours spent caring for the birds.Benefactors are given six eggs per week, or they may opt to havetheir hen's eggs donated.
Community-supported agriculture, or CSA, is a popular way forconsumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer,according to LocalHarvest.org , a website that provides a publicnationwide directory of local and organic food sources.
In some traditional models, a farm offers shares for sale to thepublic. Customers purchase a share up front, sometimes called amembership or subscription, and in return receive food throughoutthe farming season.
In Rhibafarms' model, there are no membership fees, says Rhine,and customers are not obligated to take home a box full of produceweekly or bi-weekly as in some CSA's. Instead, customers registerfor an account online, buy points as they need them, then spend thepoints however they wish. Points are sold in increments of 80 for$20, and points don't expire.
Instead of picking up a mystery box of produce, shoppers knowexactly what they're getting.
"In some CSA's, you would pay $300 for a quarter, and you'll geta box every week or two weeks of whatever they're growing. Wethought ours should be a la carte. We had both been CSA members inthe past and were really disappointed. Half the boxes I purchased,I wouldn't eat the food because I didn't know what to do with it,and I would say I'm curious about food. Can you imagine a parentwith a couple kids who's working? Not everybody in the world knowswhat kohlrabi is or even know how to eat it."
But, he says the online CSA is still a work in progress. Rhibais a five-man operation, and most of their time is spent in thefield.
"We're getting emails daily about problems we're having with thesite. It's going to be that way at first, and we really need those10 or 20 people who are going to be patient and go through thebumps and grinds with us. There are going to be some mistakes," hesays.
He asks for patience as they work out the kinks.
"We're just a small, teeny-tiny little farmer, and we're tryingto supply local people with good, local food. We're trying to helpthem re-learn how to eat seasonally, teach them to grow their ownfood, like our grandparents did. We see real value in bringing backthose old ways."
Even, he says, if "you still have to work with the mentality ofpeople in today's world. Even if you're vegan and grow your ownfood, you still have your computer, and you're going to useit."
Now, to shop from a local farmer.
Rhibafarms' online CSA Store is open. For information, call(480) 632-0272 or visit www.rhibafarms.com
Contact writer: (480) 898-6818 or azajac@evtrib.com
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