By Emma Bowen Meyer, For The Herald Bulletin
RICHLAND TOWNSHIP — Putting a new spin on the popular Community Supported Agriculture farms, Matt and Sherry Gunter began their own version last spring.
Targeting the gourmet food market, they offer many exotic and unusual vegetables and fruits.
“We are truly trying to fill the gourmet niche,” said Matt. “You aren’t going to find most of the vegetables we have at the grocery store.”
Most of their unusual produce is of the Asian variety, like mizuna, bok choy, Asian eggplants, and edamame, which are reportedly all growing well. While more familiar vegetables are also available at Gunter’s Gourmet Garden, they are still grown and picked differently than at most farms.
“Some people, when they sell zucchini, it’s as big as a guy’s leg,” he continued with a laugh. “That’s not when it’s at its best. It’s at gourmet quality when it’s tiny and still has a blossom on it. That’s another niche we try to fill. We sell the vegetables at the youngest that they can be picked and the freshest.”
A CSA farm is a cooperative effort where shareholders buy into the farm at the beginning of the season at a flat rate and they all receive a portion of the yield each week. The bounty may be overflowing or a drought may cause a shortage.
Since this was the Gunters’ initial year for the venture, they decided to keep the number of shareholders low to ensure everyone received plenty and were satisfied. The results have been so pleasing to the eight shareholders thus far, the Gunters are planning to expand the farm to 35-45 members next spring.
“The food tastes wonderfully fresh,” said C.D. Oliver, shareholder and pastor of Chesterfield Community Church. “We’ve even frozen some of it and taken it back out of the freezer and it’s still really good. And you do know where the food comes from, who grows it, and they are certainly good friends.”
Oliver’s primary goal was to glean locally produced vegetables; the exotic nature of the food is simply a bonus.
“We get all kinds of recipes with the vegetables that tell different ways to cook them,” he added. “It’s packaged in such a professional way.”
Glenn and Lena Graham, fellow shareholders, are also thankful for the recipes and admit they wouldn’t know how to cook some of the food without them. The addition of greens to their diet was not only a pleasant new taste, but spurred a measureable health benefit as well.
“I’m a diabetic and I’ll tell you, when I started eating those greens, my sugar dropped,” Glenn said. “I was very pleased with that. Maybe it took the place of something I ate that wasn’t as good for me.”
“We had never eaten many of those cooked greens before, but we enjoy them,” agreed Lena. “It’s a really good meal.”
While the Gunters have grown food for years and sold the produce at the farmer’s market at Minnetrista, they decided to try the CSA route after reading how the movement has picked up considerably in the last couple of years. People’s concerns about pesticides and contaminated food supplies prompted them to dive into the venture.
“People are looking at individual farmers like us to support their food needs because everything gets trucked thousands of miles,” said Matt. “And it’s grown in varieties for trucking so it’s not been bred for taste or anything else other than rough handling and longevity to last on the shelf. There are not a lot of ways to get produce that has been bred for taste.”
The Gunters can still be found at the farmer’s market with any surplus of food gleaned from the CSA. In the meantime, the shareholders look forward to discovering which new vegetables will be in their sack on pick-up day.
“Each thing has its season and I’m looking forward to that,” said Lena Graham. “It’s a really nice program.”
