City slickers till the soil, share bounty of urban farm
By SANDRA THOMPSON
Published November 13, 2004
It seemed impossible, but the directions had to be right. West on Hillsborough Avenue from the Veterans Expressway, right on Hanley Road and then turn onto a side street, loop around and you're there, at Sweetwater Organic Community Farm. We drove past Krystal hamburgers, Golden Corral, Jiffy Lube almost to T J Maxx and thought, there's a farm around here? Come on.
We turned onto a side street, pulled into a stretch of weeds and grass and parked, crossed a footbridge over Sweetwater Creek, and suddenly were in a place as bucolic as you can get and still be within city limits. We were on a farm. There was no trace of the urban jungle that surrounded us. It was quiet. It felt 10 degrees cooler.
Sweetwater Organic Community Farm was having a Planters Ball. Long tables had been set up outside, and a fire was burning on the ground. Only a few people were there at 5:30 when we arrived; I had figured farmers would be on time. We walked through the farm along the rows of vegetables and herbs and through the small citrus grove.
It was already fairly magical.
Rick Martinez, executive director of the farm, was greeting people. He is a third-generation Tampa resident, a former engineer, who lucked into this land 17 years ago. He heard about it from a neighbor, bought it and started his own farm. Now he flies all over the world inspecting farms and processing plants that want organic certification and teaching organic farming. This week he's off to Paraguay.
No time to farm; hence, the development of the community farm. Sweetwater has about 150 members who pay a seasonal fee and in turn share in the harvests. Some work on the farm, and earn rebates on their membership fee.
Someone pointed to the full-time farmer - a young woman with blue eyes who, if she weren't wearing farm clothes could be on the cover of Seventeen. The other young farmers are Mike and Jake, and an intern, May.
A group called the Urban Gypsies pulled up in a van and set up drums and amps under a rustic roof where farm vehicles are parked. We ate at a table near the fire. The salad, fresh from the farm, and the blueberry pie, baked by a young mother at our table, were delicious. We bought a bottle of organic wine from Venezuela at a tasting table.
It grew dark, and more and more people arrived.
Music played.
Children toasted marshmallows and made s'mores with non-organic marshmallows and Hershey bars.
At some point everyone had pulled their chairs into a semicircle around the Urban Gypsies, who passed a few drums into the crowd. More drums appeared - did people bring their own? - and the sound of drumming filled the cool night air.
This first harvest of the season was Oct. 31, and harvests will likely continue until May or early June. Harvests are Thursday and Sunday, and members pick up their shares after noon. A full membership is $525, for one share of produce per week; a half membership, for a share every other week, is $305. Memberships are still available. The Web site is www.sweetwater-organic.org
At dinner I asked one crucial question: Do you have a lot of lettuce?
Yes, they have tons.
Okay, we were in for a half share.
Last Sunday was our first pick-up. We were told not to expect much in the early harvests. When we got to the farm, bins of vegetables were set out on long tables and a blackboard instructed us on how much to take: one handful of basil, a bunch of radishes, three heads of three different lettuces - loma, magenta and Nevada and so on. Erica the farmer, in a wide-brimmed straw hat, had just come in from the fields with the last of the romaine.
We also got rosemary, tiny turnips, collard greens, kohlrabi and mei choy. No more will I have to hopscotch from store to store in search of a fresh head of lettuce and return defeated with prepacked greens in a sealed plastic bag. It's not as convenient but it's surely more atmospheric than shopping at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, if we had one.
Sandra Thompson, a writer living in Tampa, can be reached at sandrathompson1@mac.com