Over the past two years, my partner and I have been members of the Veggie Underground Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). There were many reasons to sign up: we wanted to diversify our veggie intake, the price was affordable and it was an opportunity to get to know the folks who feed us. In the middle of the July heat wave, I decided to see where my veggie basket actually came from and learn about the Veggie Underground’s history.
The farm is located in Vars Ontario, a tiny place about 30 minutes south-east of Ottawa’s downtown.“There’s about a hundred houses and a few farms,” says Veggie Underground founder Alex Bourne, who has roots in the small village. When Bourne and his partner Amanda Wilson decided to become more serious about farming, his uncle (a dairy farmer) suggested they use some of his land.
Bourne has now been running Veggie Underground for 4 years. When it started, the farm was about a quarter-acre. Now the CSA uses just over an acre of land. It’s still small, relatively speaking, but they manage to grow every category of vegetable – squash, greens, roots and perennial favourites like potatoes and onions.
“We’ve learned a lot about the best organic crops to grow and what makes money and what easily loses money; what saves time and what takes a lot of time.”
For example, it’s hardly worth it for them to grow peas since it can take all day to pick enough for its members. At the same time, the farmers also are trying to “learn more about what CSA members like and respond the best we can.”
It turns out Bourne never studied agriculture, something I was truly surprised by. Instead he studied philosophy at Queens, but after a while realized that wasn’t for him. He experimented with a few different jobs before finding the right fit with farming.
“There are lots of resources out there [to learn farming]. Most of it is labour and learning to do the right things at the right time.” It’s also helped that there are a few farmers in the family.
As a CSA member, I’ve been happy with the veggie side of things – very diverse and always fresh – but was curious about why I didn’t get many fruits aside from the occasional melon. It’s really about space, and that’s why they have been on the lookout for a larger farm to purchase or lease long term. Once they have more land they hope to add all the fruits you can grow in Ottawa: strawberries, raspberries, melons, apples and pears. The long term vision is to develop the capacity to freeze apples and other fruits and veggies and turn them to cider or sauce.
So far every season they’ve been farming has been at least decent, although last year the quality suffered from a lack of rain. “Generally, this season the vegetables taste better for everyone. When crops don’t get as much moisture, it doesn’t mean they can’t grow; it means they may not taste as good as you want them to.” This year has been more difficult from a labour point of view because the farm lost a lot of days in the rainy spring and they’ve had to play a lot of catch up.
I was curious about how they priced their basket and how it compares to the supermarket. It’s simple math, really. Pricing is on a sliding scale and Bourne encourages folks to pay proportional to their income. Generally, they seek to have 8 items on average in the share. He averages the price for each item at the market or grocery store to be between $3-$5, so an average of $4. Eight times four is $32 and their shares are $29/week. “Every year we keep track of what’s in each share everything and the value always adds up to a bit more than $29/week.” he adds.
When I ask if that’s enough to make a living, Bourne chuckles. “At this point no, we’re still struggling to find right fit, the right formula that makes sense since we have ourselves to pay and a piece of land to manage, equipment to purchase and fix.” Just like anyone that’s managing their own business, there’s a push and pull to pay yourself and ensure you have infrastructure and tools to keep going. Pursuing the larger property would give them the opportunity to produce more and hopefully become more financially sustainable.
The individuals that give Veggie Underground a try tend to return. There’s been an 85% return rate over the past few years, with every new member almost exclusively coming from a referral. They harvest 38 shares, which adds up to 70-75 people.
Members are invited to come to the farm and help out. “One day per month, we invite people for a formal visit – tour and activities in the garden. There’s also informal arrangements where people can come to help, work alongside us.” Some members trade services or space for a season. For example,this year they have three members who work 4 hours a week in exchange for produce. That’s one of the ways they meet the labour needs in garden.
The CSA makes up 90-95% of the Veggie Underground’s activities, but they also attend two farmers markets – Little Italy and Main St. – and have been providing produce to Zen Kitchen for the last three years. The connection started when Zen’s former chef Caroline Ishii came to Main St. market seeking local organic producers. Something Ishii said stuck with him: “It’s best to work with someone the same size as you; when chef and grower can talk is when it works best.” The relationship with Zen Kitchen continues under Kyle Mortimer-Proulx, the new Executive Chef.
Ultimately though, Bourne would like to focus on the CSA full time and drop everything else.
“We’d like to be able to feed people just through subscriptions. The reason being that subscription is the model that works for us. When we try to go to market or to restaurants, food waste increases a lot. With the CSA, it’s not the same degree of food waste – you can build relationships with people to prevent excess, to preserve extra produce.”
For now, Bourne and co. are focusing on a busy end of summer and fall harvesting. You can catch Veggie Underground at the Little Italy and Main St. Farmers’ Markets and if you’re curious about a veggie box for you or your family for next year, check out http://theveggieunderground.com/. They are also on Twitter and Instagram as @microfarmottawa.
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