Homegrown Success

Rows of delicate, leafy lettuces, mounds of squash, clusters of bright red strawberries and tomatoes, bursting with sweet aromas and fresh flavors. Some might remember such fresh fruits and vegetables from their grandparents’ garden. For most Americans, though, supermarket produce is the norm. Grown far away, bred to withstand shipping, picked sometimes weeks before they ripen, mass-production fruits and vegetables can’t match their local, garden-fresh counterparts.

Accompanied by a recent flurry of books touting the glory of home-grown produce, a growing number of consumers are seeking fresher, more flavorful fruits and vegetables with fewer chemicals. And, as fuel and food prices soar, "locavores"—the term coined for those who choose locally grown food—further appreciate produce that requires less transportation and fewer middlemen to get it from field to table.

Although agriculture is an economic engine in Southwest Florida, finding produce here that is grown for freshness and flavor rather than for shelf life isn’t easy. Even farmer’s market fare is often from industrial-scale farms.

Chris and Eva Worden are providing a solution. About five years ago, the couple started Worden Farm, Southwest Florida’s only state-certified participant in Community Sponsored Agriculture (CSA), also known as a farm-share program.

The Wordens grow more than 60 varieties of organic produce on 55 acres near Punta Gorda. For a $600 fee, paid in late spring, they provide fresh, organic produce to their 300 members for several months. That’s enough "shares" for the Wordens to support their business, themselves and their two young children.