Following the Produce: A Tour of Mountain Bounty Farm
Joining a Co
mmunity Supported Agriculture Program
Last May, I joined a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) vegetable cooperative. Basically, you pay upfront and receive boxes full of vegetables all summer long. The vegetables are grown locally at Mountain Bounty Farm in Nevada City, CA and pick-up locations are available every Thursday in Truckee and Glenshire.
Since the boxes of vegetables are quite large, I shared the program with some co-workers to reduce the expense and the amount of produce. A large family could probably go through a box in a week, but it’s also fun to share with a group of friends or roommates.
The vegetables are delicious and fresh. Although this week is the last vegetable box of the season, I decided to go find out exactly where my vegetables were coming from and how they were grown.
Touring the Farm
Down a winding road 10 miles north of Nevada City, I found Mountain Bounty Farms. The area was rich with native trees and plant life. Tucked away down a dirt path, the interns brushed their teeth in the outdoor kitchen.
They greeted me with a friendly smile and showed me the fields.
“We’re standing on two acres right here,” said farmer John Tecklin. “We have ten acres total. It’s a very small scale farm.”
Twelve years ago, John decided he wanted to start his own Community Supported Agriculture farm. He leased some land in Nevada City, California and got to work. He was originally in a partnership on a CSA farm in Portland, Oregon. He became very interested in gardening and moved on to farming from there.
“A CSA type program is really the only way to go with a small farm like this,” he explains.
In 1998, there were 48 families participating in the program. This year, 270 boxes went out to people around Nevada City and Truckee. The farmers also participated in a farmer’s market in Nevada City once a week.
This year there were 280 varieties of plants on the farm. That’s a lot of vegetables! Boxes were full of a variety of people’s very favorites to the slightly unusual.
What is this thing? It’s amusing to participate in the CSA program because receiving each box is like opening a special gift, a fun surprise. The vegetables vary weekly and remain seasonal and organic. Most of the seeds are sprouted right on the farm in the greenhouses located in the back of the property.
“We have heirlooms, bred-varieties and hybrid crops,” said John. “We have absolutely no genetically modified crops, and we don’t want them.”
Fresh Produce
Produce received in this summer’s vegetable boxes included red and green lettuces, carrots, broccoli, spinach, cilantro, kale, Tokyo turnips, beets, radishes, potatoes, tomatoes, bok choy, cabbage, basil, fennel, squash, onions, garlic, pumpkins and more.
The farm now has fruit shares and citrus shares. Fruit boxes included cherries, peaches, plums, nectarines, pears, grapes, apples and pomegranates.
Mountain Bounty Farm offers winter vegetable and citrus shares from November 24 through May 19. Summer vegetables are offered from May through November and summer fruits from June to October.
Sustainably Organic
The farm is totally organic, although not certified organic. They use all natural fertilizers, composting and alternative energy sources. Big industrial farms use a lot of nitrogen or natural gas based products in their fertilizers.
“These vegetables are cleaned right here at the farm,” notes farmer John. “They are probably cleaner than the ones you buy at the store.”
Beneficial plants that attract insects away from the vegetables are also used around the farm, instead of chemical pesticides.
The choices of vegetables for the next season are based on experience of how the vegetables grew on the farm, as well as surveys of the customers.
“We do what we can do, what we want to do, what we like, what we didn’t like and what tastes good,” explains John.
One of the most popular crops is sweet corn, so the farm tries to maximize the numbers grown by using various sustainable techniques. They also rotate the produce grown in each crop bed.
Working the Farm
Interns live in tiny huts stacked next to one another down a tree-lined grassy pathway of the farm. Although the houses were tiny, I wished I had worked on the farm for a summer in college, like many of my friends did.
The farm also offers work exchange programs where customers can work 4 hours a week on the farm in order to receive their boxes. John said that one of his best volunteers drives from Truckee to work on the farm. The farm provides him with a great release, a hard working day on the farm.
Find Out More
Mountain Bounty Farms has a very useful and informative Web Site at www.mountainbountyfarms.com. The site has numerous pictures of the farms produce with a weekly description of “What’s in my box this week?” with a photo of each box. The site also enables people to sign up for the CSA online. They can also be reached by phone at Mountain Bounty Farm at 530-292-3776 or by email at info@mountainbountyfarm.com.
Ta-HAPS 