Fresh, Local, Ready for Pick Up: Silver Lake Farms CSA Open to New Members

Silver Lake Farms blog

Farmer John's white eggplant in Silverlake

How adventurous do you feel at the farmers market? Enough to let someone else do the produce picking for you? If so, now may be the right time to try a CSA, or community supported agriculture program. L.A. is chock-full of them and membership can sell out quickly, but Silver Lake Farms just rolled out round 5 of their CSA, and currently still has shares available if you want to get in on the locavore action.

Silver Lake Farms is run by Tara Kolla, a former backyard flower farmer who made the switch to vegetables when she found out selling homegrown flowers was against the law. (However, it was made legal as of July 15th of this year.) Kolla focuses on growing microgreens, and partners with farmer John Swedorski as well as Underwood Family Farms of Moorpark to supply the rest. She decided to sell them CSA-style instead of at the farmers market because it simply seemed logical to her. "It was about survival," she told us. "What if I grew all these vegetables, then couldn't sell them? It just made more sense to deal directly with the customer."

Silver Lake Farms also offers a "breadshare" or Community Supported Boulangerie program featuring the home-hearth creations of Mark Stambler, a fellow Silver Lake resident and blue ribbon winner for his French bread at the California State Fair.

To sign up for the CSA, breadshare or both, contact Tara via email, or by calling 323-644-3700. Full shares, in which members pick up goods each week, are available, as well as bi-weekly or half-shares.