Enright Ridge CSA—Part of an Urban Farm Revolution

I read a statistic once that said as much food was raised in Victory Gardens during World War II as was produced by commercial agriculture. That is, during the war, half of all the food consumed in the United States was raised in people’s backyards and in community gardens. The Department of Agriculture estimates that 20 million Victory Gardens were planted and more than three times that many people farmed them.

Twenty million backyard gardens raising half of America’s food—wouldn’t it be amazing to see that again, but without a war? And it is happening, little by little. Next month we’ll collect the first harvest of our fourth growing season at the Enright Ridge Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) project in Price Hill.

We’re already working in the greenhouse on Enright Avenue that serves as the CSA’s headquarters, and on Saturday, April 7 (9 am to noon) we'll begin preparations for the Enright Orchard at the Terry Street garden, which will have native species of fruit and nut trees. Seedlings are sprouting, and onions have already been planted. The first harvest last year included several kinds of lettuce, vitamin greens, spinach, and green onions.

Right now, besides preparing garden beds and starting seedlings, we’re also looking for new members to join the Enright Ridge CSA. We get some grants, but we’d like to expand to make the cooperative self-supporting. If you or a friend are interested in joining the CSA, you can find information about the cost and amount of work involved in different shares is available on the Enright Ridge CSA website.

As the season progresses, our gardens will yield beets, turnips, carrots, basil, peppers, tomatoes, beans, squash, greens, and other produce. The food is distributed to share members every Saturday morning from mid-May through mid-November, which means we have plenty of fresh, local produce for half the year. And many members preserve the bounty of mid-summer so we have homegrown food even in the middle of winter.

It’s hard to describe exactly how much better food tastes when you know where it was grown, who grew it, how it was grown, and how it got to you. You don’t have to worry about preservatives or pesticides or petroleum costs; what you see is what you get: broccoli is just broccoli, beans are all beans and nothing more, and you have to try a fresh-picked carrot to realize just how delicious it can be.

Join the food revolution and take up farm implements to fight the status quo in America’s food production methods and raise your own local, sustainable, delicious produce. We’re happy to show people what we are doing, and we’re working this year to encourage people to start CSAs in other communities, too. Contact the Enright CSA to tour the greenhouse and see urban farming in action.