Some of us grew up with family gardens that supplemented our dinners. Aside from these vegetables, we didn’t often think about where or how our food was produced. Yet our globalized world made it possible for rice from across the world to accompany the green beans from our backyard.
Eating foods produced locally is one way to be a more informed and conscientious consumer. Local foods don’t travel long distances to your dinner table, so they taste better and require less fuel to get there. Your money stays within the local community, strengthening the economy. Chosing local food means caring about what we put into our bodies, where it comes from and how it is produced.
Choosing local food options can take many forms from buying a "share" at a farm (as in Community Supported Agriculture, see below for details) to being aware of what your region produces each season. Use the resources on this site to create your own local food plan. The details are specific to the Greater Milwaukee Area, but we hope that this site encourages everyone investigate their own local options.
Community Supported Agriculture or CSA is like having your own personal farmer. In a CSA, you become a member of a local farm by purchasing a “share” in that farm. In return, you receive weekly deliveries of fresh produce throughout the growing season, typically late May to November.
Choosing a local food option is about connecting to a farm and your food. You are encouraged to contact farmers directly to determine which is the best fit for you.
2010 CSA Farm List |
Backyard Bounty
Vegetables, herbs, and strawberries grown in a sustainable way. Poultry and eggs available at an additional charge. Apples, peaches and some vegetables are purchased from other farms- these items may be organic. Season is 20 weeks from mid-June through October. A regular share feeds 2 adults. The large share feeds a family of 4 or 5. Work shares are available. Drop sites in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Sheboygan & Manitowoc counties. Farm is located 50 miles north of Milwaukee near Plymouth. |
Full Harvest Farm LLC
Chuck Frase and Terry Vlossak
7112 Co. Rd. S
262-673-6760
fullharvestfarm@yahoo.com
Full Harvest Farm, LLC grows 15 acres of certified organic vegetables, herbs and fruit. Our CSA members enjoy 20 weeks of mouth-watering, seasonal produce like strawberries, tomatoes, sweet corn, melons, broccoli, beans, and potatoes. We offer both a Couple and a Family Share with pick-up sites in Brookfield, Hartland, Oconomowoc, Pewaukee, Waukesha, Wauwatosa, Racine, Kenosha/Somers and the farm. Visit us seasonally at the West Bend Farmers Market to buy direct and wholesale to stores and restaurants. |
High Cross Farm
Steve and Kath Vogelmann
W2292 Rustic Drive, Campbellsport, WI 53210
920-533-3276
highcrossfarm@kmoraine.com
www.highcrossfarm.com
Superior quality organically grown produce. 20 weeks of small and large CSA shares. Always fresh, very clean, gently packaged with TLC. Fresh herbs and berries. 20 drop-off sites in 6 counties including Metro Milwaukee. Fall storage share option. Two-payment option. Worker shares. Farm festivals. Weekly newsletter. Satisfaction guarantee. |
JenEhr Family Farm
Kay Jensen and Paul Ehrhardt
6837 Elder Lane, Sun Prairie, WI 53590
608-825-9531
jenehr@aol.com
www.wisconsingrown.com
JenEhr is an experienced CSA farm that is certified organic. Early to late in the season shares offer lost of opportunities to eat local organic food. Three very easy and convenient Milwaukee pick-up locations make getting your food simple and stress-free. Besides great food, there are weekly newsletters, website bonuses and strawberry and tomato u-picks at the farm. |
Lot FotL Community Farm
Tim Huth
3037 Main St. Upper East Troy, WI 53120
(262) 951-0794
tim@lotfotl.com
www.lotfotl.com
Welcome to LotFotL, where in 2010, we’re almost all about expansion. Featuring new drop off locations, more flexible worker share options, more and more Michigan fruit, 80+ CSA items, a 26 week season, and lots more Grass Fed beef. LotFotL will stretch our horizons and your culinary plateaus to the limit. |
Pinehold Gardens
Pinehold Gardens is a 150-member CSA and market garden providing produce in a bio-sustainable way. Its 21 acres are within easy access of Racine and Milwaukee customers. The taste of our produce drives decisions on what varieties to plant. We also sell at the South Shore Farmers’ Market and at an on-farm market. |
Rare Earth Farm
A wide assortment of vegetables and fruits delivered from mid June to late November. Maple syrup and honey included with subscriptions. Free-range eggs offered for an additional cost. Pick-up sites in Kenosha, Milwaukee, Washington, and Waukesha counties. On farm activities: salsa-making and fall-harvest festival. Work share programs. |
Ruegsegger Farms, LLC
Ken Ruegsegger
75 York Valley Rd., Blanchardville, WI 53516
608-523-4705
krfarms@tds.net
www.naturalmeats.org
Ken and Sherrie Ruegsegger, owners of Ruegsegger Farms LCC concentrate on raising 100% “Grass-fed” beef and lamb, pastured meats and poultry, “Soy-free Eggs” and organic produce. All without added hormones, antibiotics, chemicals, or commercial fertilizers. Check out our unique CSA options, Farmers Market locations, and 14 years experience of free home delivery. |
Springdale Farm
Peter and Bernadette Seely
W7065 Silver Spring Lane, Plymouth, WI 53073
920-892-4856 springdalefarm@excel.net
Located an hour north of Milwaukee, Springdale Farm has been a CSA since 1988, and currently serves 500 households. Vegetables and some fruit included, all grown organically (uncertified), with greenhouses utilized to extend the season. Organic eggs and broilers, along with (local) bread, can be ordered separately. June through early December deliveries, with optional mid-December storage share. Full shares (for 3-5 people) and half shares (for 2-3 people) available. Drop sites: Springdale Farm, Plymouth, Sheboygan, Mequon, Grafton, Bayside, Whitefish Bay, Shorewood, Wauwatosa, and Menomonee Falls. Workshares available. |
Stoney Meadow Farm
Stoney Meadow Farm is passionate about environmental stewardship. Pick up sites: Beans & Barley/East side, Delafield Farmers’ Market, Wauwatosa, and Sheboygan. Farm offers 16+ week CSA with both full and partial shares and a potato share. We try to accommodate for vacations, etc. and some personalization is available. |
Tipi Produce
With 35 years experience and 45 acres in production, we deliver satisfying weekly boxes filled with popular crops. All our produce is certified organic. Winter storage shares are also available. Newsletters connect you with our farm, located 1-3/4 hours from central Milwaukee. Bring the kids to our farm celebrations! |
Turtle Creek Gardens and V D B Organic Farms
Turtle Creek Gardens, in collaboration with V D B Organic Farms, consists of 6 acres of transitional-organic vegetable production and 114 acres of organic managed grazing. We offer wholesome, seasonal vegetables, grass-fed beef, pastured poultry, and free-range eggs using sustainable farming practices that care for the soil, ground water, and adjacent natural areas. |
Wellspring Farm & CSA
Wellspring is a not-for-profit educational organization offering healthy food, educational programs and community-building opportunities to the public since 1982. Our working farm is a human-scaled model of sustainable agriculture, a living classroom where community members come together to grow and enjoy healthy, life-filled food and explore the connections they have to nature and to one another. |
Willoway Farm
Willoway Farm grows heirloom crops, no GMO crops, using no poisons on a 1.5 acre garden created to exemplify the French Intensive Gardening method which includes permanent raised garden beds with clover footpaths between beds. Hand tools are the main source of cultivation for a light tread on the earth. |
Dairy, Honey, Mushrooms and Meat |
Bolzano Artisan Meats
A little Milwaukee company, making small batches of very slow foods with old-world craftsmanship. Where bacon takes as little as two days to produce, pancetta takes fifty; where a ham may take three days, prosciutto takes nine months. We’re more like a microbrewery than anything in the meat industry. |
Brattset Family Farm
Brattset Family Farm is a 290 acre certified organic farm located in the scenic, rolling drumlin fields of Jefferson County 6 miles north of Palmyra. Enjoy the exceptional flavor of our organically fed: free range poultry; 100% grass fed and finished beef; and pork which are raised in a humane way on our spacious, lush pastures. |
Country Haven Farm & Marr’s Valley View Farm
Anna Maenner
211 Canal Road, Waterloo, WI 53594
920-253-8515
acminc@verizon.net
www.countryhavenfarm.net
Country Haven Farm and Valley View Farm partner to bring shareholders a monthly, year-round meat CSA offering beef, lamb, pork, and poultry/eggs. Both family farms are located in southern Wisconsin and are pasture based. CHF raises the grass-fed lam and poultry; VVF provides the angus beef and pork. |
Golden Bear Farm
Golden Bear Farm raises 100% grass-fed beef and natural Berkshire pork. Our animals graze on certified organic pastures. We raise healthy, happy animals to produce wholesome, tasty and environmentally-sound meats. |
The Grassway Farm
We are a certified organic dairy farm that is continually working on improving our soil health. We rotationally graze all of our animals (poultry, dairy cows, and beef) so they get fresh pastures, clean air, exercise, and sunshine. |
LW Dairy LTD.
Maria and Larry Westhoff
N. 132 Lincoln Road, Ixonia, WI 53036
920-474-3060
lwdairy@powercom.net
www.lwdairy.com
LW Dairy was started by Larry and Maria Westhoff in 2001 – bringing glass, bottled milk back to Milwaukee and Madison. Answering the consumer’s growing concerns for local, rBST free milk, the Westhoff Family opened their own Grade A dairy plant in Ashippun, WI in 2008. LW Dairy milk, available through select home delivery routes and retail stores, is from one local, 5th generation farmer, 29 year old Adam Lauersdorf. Adam grows his feed and cows are pasture fed when available. |
River Valley Ranch and Kitchens
River Valley Kitchens is a family-owned mushroom farm and year-round market offering one-of-a-kind specialty foods and fresh grown produce. We handcraft our award-winning products using fresh ingredients grown right here on the farm. We offer the freshest mushrooms, seasonal produce and specialty foods from our 10 acre farm and River Valley Kitchens. |
Schmidt Century Farm
Here at Schmidt Century Farm, we have over 100 years of experience to provide you, our customers, the best products we can. We raise Black Angus Beef and pigs the all natural way with alfalfa, corn, and oats which are grown right here on our 180 acre family farm. |
Wisconsin Honey Cooperative
Wisconsin Honey Cooperative was created by four beekeepers to facilitate the bottling, marketing, and distribution of honey produced by the member apiaries. Collectively, we have over 4,000 colonies of bees producing honey mainly in Southwest and South Central Wisconsin. The Cooperative is dedicated to bringing you the finest quality honey possible that is naturally pure and locally produced. |
