Farmer Sells Shares Of Vegetables In His Garden

Enjoy fresh grown vegetables, but don't have time or space to spade a garden and grow them yourself? Leigh Hauter suggests investing in a farmer like himself willing to share in his harvest.

Hauter, who with his wife owns bull run mountain organic farm in the plains, Virginia, will make the first delivery Monday of lettuce, radishes, scallions and salad and stir-fry mixes to participants in his vegetable share programme.

Later in the season, people who paid $210 for a share of Hauter's harvest will receive beans and tomatoes, cabbages and cucumbers, peppers and other vegetables about 50 different kinds altogether.

 

"I already have 250 tomato plants out there," Hauter says of his garden. "I hope the early varieties will start producing in early July."

He planned to plant squash, watermelons and pumpkins last week.

Although his farm is larger, he uses only about two acres (0.8 hectares) for the share programme, including one acre (0.4 hectares) just for sweet corn.

Each share buys enough vegetables for a couple through the summer.

Also included are herbs such as basil, dill and parsley and cut flowers including daisies, sunflowers and zinnias.

Shareholders also can pick wild blueberries growing on the rocky hillsides of his farm on the edge of the blue ridge mountains.

The rocks, he says, are a renewable resource. Get rid of one and another reappears in the same spot the next day.

And for a little extra, shareholders can get fresh eggs from his 50 hens or honey from his five beehives.