Consumer Connections

It's a sunny Wednesday morning at the Fisherman's Village shopping mall in Punta Gorda, Florida… And the Worden Farmer's Market has got your greens…Tomatoes and sweet corn, all standard farmers' market fare. But in the corner is an interesting looking vegetable called romanesco that attracts quite a bit of attention. Fortunately for customers, the farmer who grew that unusually pointed produce is close by and willing to share cooking tips.

Connecting with customers is Eva Worden's passion. She says, "People really like to diversity their diets and it's a nice way to add excitement to what would normally be just a regular household activity. It isn't just about filling the stomach. It's also about having a personal relationship with the people who grow the food."

Eva Worden and her husband Chris are the owners of Worden farm. The organic fruit and vegetable farm is located about 15 miles from downtown Punta Gorda. In many ways it's a return to farming of past generations. The Worden's sell produce and feed their family with livestock and produce raised on the farm.

The Worden's also connect with their customers through a Community Supported Agriculture program where members pay for a yearly membership and receive seasonal produce weekly.

The farm is the culmination of the Worden's life-long study of the role of food and agriculture in the community. Chris and Eva have PhDs in agriculture-related fields. Instead of testing their theories in academia, they put them to the test in the real world. Chris says, "I use my research and my education every day here at the farm: looking at innovations to bring to production, refining irrigation, looking at water and moisture, soil testing and plant or leaf testing."

Eva says, "I think that growing up in the suburbs for me and having food come to me with no story behind it was something that I wanted to rectify. And doing that as an adult and being able to grow my own food was very satisfying. And being able to grow food for other people is personally satisfying when I see how happy they are."

The couple hasn't given up on their educational roots altogether. During the growing season you'll find about a half-dozen people getting hands-on lessons in farming! The Wordens attract apprentices from all over North America.

Jean-Michel Archian Bleutcyr and Karine Bertrand operate a small farm near Montreal, Canada. They're spending their winter in Florida at Worden Farm. Jean-Michel says, "You need to work on a farm. That's how you're going to learn, so you need to go to a farm and really work during the season. You can also go to formal classes but when you do the full season you really get to learn like how it really works."

Karine says, "You're learning about soil, you're learning about micro-organism, you're learning about plant physiology, but when you're in the field then you see the plants grow and you see, okay it's warm, there's water, okay, it's growing really fast."

The Wordens are familiar with growing fast. Their farm has grown significantly since Chris and Eva started working 8 acres at this ground in 2004.

It's three o'clock here on the Worden Farm and things haven't slowed down at all. We're inside the barn where CSA members are coming by to pick up their fresh produce like they do each week. And they've got things like fresh greens, beets and of course here's that romanesco again.

We asked Eva, for all the people that buy their produce at the grocery store that are not buying this stuff today, they're saying, what's wrong with that? Why can't I get my produce at the grocery store? Do I have to have a connection with the farmer? She says, "I think it's a personal choice. And when we have different priorities in our lives we make different choices. So if somebody doesn't have it as a priority then I respect that. I also, though believe that there's much to be gained on the personal individual level and also on the societal level for people connecting to a farm."

Farmer's market customer Mary McLaughlin quickly picks up some fresh produce while her husband fuels up their boat at the nearby dock. She says, "I'm glad to have them right here. Have the farmer's market right here."

This Vermont snow bird says even on the water, the fresh produce is a way for her to connect with the Wordens. Mary says, "It doesn't get any fresher than this. You get more out of it this way. The farmer gets more money!"