What is Community Supported Agriculture?
Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, connects farm
with people who want to eat the freshest, local produce in
season. It works like a cooperative—you buy a share of the
season’s produce and get a variety of vegetables ever
the summer. Joining a CSA lets you reconnect with the
roots of the food you eat; you know exactly how your
food is tended. You might even help to plant or harvest
some of your food. Since Groundswell Community Farm uses organic methods, you are protecting the local environment.
This environment includes the Black River, a tributary of Lake Macatawa, which flows less than 20 feet from the farm. We
welcome you to visit the farm, whether you are helping in the harvesting or just enjoying the scenery.

Eating with the Seasons
By sharing in the abundance of the farm, you are also sharing in the risk. The weather always favors some crops even as others suffer. For example, there may be a bumper crop of something you hate in the same year that your favorite crop fails. Expect the unexpected.

You will soon learn the nuances of seasonal flavor. The menu in early June is heavy on greens, while September offers a bounty of tomatoes.

Meet Our Farmers

  

 

  Katie
 

 

I grew up on 80 acres of woods and wetlands and recognized a deep need for the country when I moved to Ann Arbor for college. This led me to work at farms in Tennessee, southern Michigan, Lansing, Grant and Jenison in summers, living in tents and camper-trailers. I had the city in the winter and vegetable farms in the summer. At one point, I worked at an environmental non-profit (WMEAC) which was a great opportunity, stimulating and really fun, but I was pulled back outdoors knowing just how much the farm life means to me.
We’re now moving into the fifth year for Groundswell Farm. I’m looking forward to working with Tom and growing new crops and varieties. It will be a real change to not have Anna to rely upon, to laugh with and to plan the next steps. Right now, I’m teaching biology labs at GVSU, pondering my master’s thesis and hoping to travel overseas in future winters. And definitely, we’ll continue to play in the rich, black dirt at the farm for many years to come.
 

 

  Tom 

 

 

After having been a friend and supporter of Groundswell Farm since its inception, I am overjoyed to become one of its farmers, though I am sad to see Anna go. I enjoy the work and the people of Groundswell and feel proud of the quality of what we produce. I look forward, as well, to having my life shaped by the seasons of the soil and the opportunities and challenges that brings.

I come to farm at Groundswell through a circuitous path. Having grown up in Grand Rapids with a passion to be a marine biologist, I found myself graduating from Hope with a BS in chemistry in 1989. From there I worked for a couple years as an environmental chemist to earn money for my next adventure – traveling the world. In June of 1992 a friend and I left for a trip that lasted 18 months, and took me through 11 countries in Europe as well as Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal in Africa. I returned from these exploits and began volunteering then eventually working for 13 years at the West Michigan Environmental Action Council, which I left in October of 2007.

My passion for agriculture grew out of a personal interest in “economics as if people mattered.” That was foundation for a Masters thesis which created a conceptual model local food system for my neighborhood in Grand Rapids. That work along with others awareness resulted in the formation of the Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council, an initiative I helped form and direct for many years at WMEAC. I also worked on numerous education efforts around sustainable agriculture, including the Beginning Farmer Training class through which Katie and Anna decided to start a farm together. Working at Groundswell is my next adventure...

 

 

  Anna

 

My desire to farm in a way that does not negatively impact the earth comes from my higher education on environmental issues, as well as, my travels to Central America.   In Honduras and El Salvador I lived with families and met people who suffered from economic disparity and violence.  There, every day is a struggle. I had to ask myself, what can I do and how can I live in a way that will not continue to negatively impact my friends in Central America.  Growing food for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) was the answer I found for myself. CSA offers many local and global solutions to innumerable societal problems in a simple way- we grow healthy, chemical free food for friends and community members who live no more than 20 miles from our land.  Personally, getting my hands dirty and learning by doing is a way for me to heal and grow as a person.  Farming works!

Anna has shaped Groundswell Farm from the start. We’ll be thinking of her in her travels this year and in future years when she is living the good life at an eco-village farm. This year, Anna is traveling to Mexico to improve her Spanish, followed by three months in LaDakh, India, working and learning along with the indigenous culture in this beautiful mountainous region. Returning to Michigan, Anna looks forward to a cycling adventure, biking through the Southeast and Northeast US and some of SE Canada to visit eco-villages and farms.