Fresh produce to your door

There is a charming new face on the local farming scene. Kristen Southworth, above, has been growing produce 80 miles south of St. Louis in Campbell Hill (near Shiloh Hill), Illinois, population 300, and she wants to share it with you. Kristen, a graduate of Burroughs who grew up in Ladue, had been visiting the Campbell Hill area (her mother's birthplace) since she was a child and, as her young life unfolded, met a guy whose family does large-scale farming there—you know how it goes.

Last year Kristen started raising chickens on six acres that surround the house in Campbell HIll. As she said, "chickens and gardens go really well together. They eat the bugs and fertilize the soil." So it was a natural that she started growing vegetables on an acre of the land that's close to the house. She sprouted vegetable seeds in a back bedroom under growlights, but quickly determined she wasn't very good at it, and has since gotten help from the Amish who populate the area. Next year Kristen is going to leave plant germination to the experts.

I first heard about Kristen from neighbor Elizabeth Barnes and have been ordering fresh-from-the-farm produce and amazing organic eggs for about a month. Though I've been chomping at the bit to spread the word, I've been reined in until Kristen had enough produce to supply more than the 25 customers she currently has. This post signals that the time has come. Kristen loves delivering to the CWE because the houses and apartment buildings are close together, but she also has customers in Clayton, Ladue, Warson Woods, and Webster Groves. 

This young entrepreneur sends out a list of available fruit and produce on Monday or Tuesday, and delivers to your door on Thursdays. This week's list included blackberries, blueberries, peaches, tomatoes, etc., and homemade blackberry jam, $5. Some of Kristen's weekly offerings may come from neighboring farmers, which is duly noted on her email. In addition to managing her own farm, string-bean-thin Kristen is also running a huge orchard that a family friend just purchased that includes 17 types of organic apples.

On Wednesdays Kristen's mother, sister, and grandpa meet at the farm to pick organic blackberries, clean the produce, and sort the orders. As soon as her younger brother finishes baseball season he will help with deliveries. Thursday is the only day of the week that Kristen gets "dressed up" to make her rounds. Her  sidekicks, Stanley, above, and Tuesday (in first picture of van) enjoy the trek to the city. Customers include Good Pie on Lindell and someone (not identified) who requested small plums, upper left, for his small-batch moonshine production.

So here's the skinny: email Kristen at [email protected]. She'll send you a list of what's available at the beginning of the week. Email your order and put a check in a cooler outside your door on Thursday mornings. I pointed to the Park Plaza, and asked, "would you deliver there?" "Of course," she said. There may not be many eggs available for the rest of the month because of the heat (the hens aren't happy)–but she has a new crop of pullets who will be laying eggs in July.