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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend March 1, 2005 The seedlings growing behind Suzi Fry of Fry Family Farm are nothing to brag about yet, but beginning this summer they will provide the material for home-delivered produce. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Fry Family Farms adds subscribers Frys join other organic farms in Community Supported Agriculture — and will deliver By JONEL ALECCIA Mail Tribune TALENT — It’s only March, after all, so Suzi Fry’s greenhouse is mostly full of promise. Trays of tiny seedlings carpet the floor, a sea of tender sprouts too small for the untrained eye to identify. But Fry, 54, who has been farming for 15 years, knows exactly what’s growing in every space. And she’s hoping that, come June, the promise will turn to pay-off as Fry Family Farms launches one of the region’s first home-delivered produce services. The farm, run by Suzi Fry and her husband, Steven, 53, is adding a CSA — or Community Supported Agriculture — component to its longstanding complement of organic vegetables, herbs, flowers and bedding plants. The Frys will join about a half-dozen other local CSAs headquartered from Ashland to the Applegate and dedicated to offering shoppers the chance to buy fresh produce while supporting the region’s farmers. Advertisement The arrangements works like this: Local diners "subscribe" to the CSA, paying a flat fee up front or in a few installments. In return, they receive weekly portions of fresh produce throughout the growing season. "The whole concept has been around a long time," said Suzi Fry. Indeed, nearly 40 Oregon farms offer CSAs, including some that have been operating for more than a decade. The Frys’ twist is that instead of simply offering subscribers the opportunity to pick up produce at a pre-set drop site, they’ll deliver the goods straight to people’s homes. "It’s for the people who can’t come down to the growers’ markets," Fry said. "There are so many people who can’t make it on a work day." Participants will receive weekly deliveries from June through November of a wide array of produce: cooking vegetables, salad vegetables and greens, a salad mix and seasonal offerings such as tomatoes, peppers, berries and herbs. The range includes everything from basil and beets to two kinds of corn, three kinds of tomatoes, parsley, potatoes and seven kinds of winter squash. Each box will also include a bouquet of cut flowers, which Fry said she included as a lovely bonus. "We figure it’s food for the body and the soul," she said. Cost depends on the amount and length of the buyers’ subscription. A partial share, which serves one to two people, delivered for a partial season, 20 weeks, is $380, or about $19 a week. A full share, which serves two to four people, and a full season, 24 weeks, runs $696, or about $29 a week. A flowers-only membership that provides four to five bouquets per week is $400 for 20 weeks. In addition to the produce, Fry Family Farms will deliver gourmet foods from several local businesses for an extra fee. That could include cheese from the Rogue Creamery, organic beef from the Prather Ranch, wines and specialty products from Rising Sun Farms or fresh bread from New Sammy’s Bistro. The Frys decided to add the CSA and delivery after expanding their farming space last year. They bought about 17 acres of land off Ross Lane in Medford and leased another 20 acres behind Rising Sun Farms in Phoenix, bringing their total to about 60 acres. "We found we were producing more than we were selling, so we needed another outlet," Fry said. In addition to boosting their own business, the Frys hope to increase the demand for local produce generally as well. "That’s our big push," she said. "It’s to get local growers and producers involved and to get people used to buying locally." That goal is shared by other local operators of CSAs. Mary Alionis, co-owner of Whistling Duck Farms in the Applegate, is heading into her ninth season of subscription farming. Her clients pick up weekly deliveries at growers’ markets or neighborhood drop sites. Alionis has had as many as 100 clients in a season that now stretches through the winter, but she said that doesn’t dent the produce-buying market. The new CSA offered by Fry Family Farms will be more collaboration than competition, she said. "We’ve been farming alongside the Frys every year we’ve been here," Alionis said. "We kind of feel the more, the merrier." For more information about the Frys’ home-delivered produce, call 535-8044. Reach reporter JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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