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Saturday, March 17 |
Local Farmer Open House
Each spring, Riverside Park's Urban Ecology Center is THE place to be to meet local farmers who grow food sustainably and learn how to buy directly from them.
The annual Local Food and Farmer Open House event has grown since we first organized it eight years ago to help our community connect with local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), farmers. Now over 1,000 people attend each year, the number of CSA farmers attending is over 20, and the Open House also includes other local farmers who produce meat, dairy, eggs, honey and more. During the rest of the year, our community can visit the UEC and our web site to learn more about CSAs and where to find local farms.
- Learn more about Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) and buying directly from local farmers and producers
- Meet and sign up with farmers
- Learn how you can join a CSA farm (purchase a share of the harvest) and get a box of fresh produce each week during the season
Find out how you can buy meat, dairy, cheese, and eggs directly
from local farmers. Some food will be for sale during this event.
Why buy directly from local farmers?
- Enjoy fresh, tasty and healthy food
- Ensure fair compensation for family farmers
- Build a stronger local economy
- Encourage sustainable growing practices
What is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)?
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is like having your own personal farmer. In a CSA, you become a member of a local farm by purchasing a “share”. In return, you receive weekly deliveries of fresh produce throughout the growing season, typically late May to November. Along with the produce, some farms also offer meat, eggs, and other extras along with weekly newsletters, recipes, U-picks and farm festivals.
Choosing a CSA is about connecting to a farm and your food. You are encouraged to contact farmers directly to determine which farm is the best fit for you. To help you do this, we have information below about each CSA farm that participated in our 2010 Open House with their contact information and a short description of their CSA. You can also download this information. Or use this chart as an overview of what each farm offers.
Choosing Other Local Food
At our Open House, you can meet other local farmers who produce sustainably and sell directly to the public. This year, the farmers who participated sell meat, dairy, honey, and mushrooms. Their farm descriptions and contact information are below and included this download.
Community Supported |
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Backyard BountyLaura Comerford |
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Pick-up sites: Milwaukee, Theinsville, Plymouth, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, New Holstein and the farm in Plymouth |
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Vegetables, herbs, and strawberries grown in a sustainable way. |
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Full Harvest Farm, LLCChuck Frase & Terry Vlossak |
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Pick-up sites:Brookfield, Hartland, Oconomowoc, Pewaukee, Waukesha, Wauwatosa, Racine, Kenosha/ Somers & the farm in Hartford |
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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. Visit us seasonally at the West Bend Farmers Market to buy direct. |
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HighCross Farm Steve & Katherine Vogelmann |
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Pick-up sites: Kewaskum, West Bend, Grafton, Mequon, Whitefish Bay, Shorewood, Milwaukee, Bay View, Menomonee Falls, Wauwatosa, Brookfield, New Berlin, Waukesha/ Delafield, Sussex, Slinger, Eagle/Mukwanago/Palmyra, Eden, Fond du Lac, Plymouth, Sheboygan Falls & the farm in Campbellsport |
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Superior quality organically grown produce. 20 weeks of small and large CSA shares. Always fresh, very clean, gently packaged with TLC. Fresh herbs, berries and heirlooms included. Spring and fall share option. Two-payment option. Worker shares available. Farm festival and workshops. Weekly newsletter. Satisfaction guarantee. |
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JenEhr Family Farm Kay Jensen & Paul Ehrhardt |
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Pick-up sites: Sun Prairie, West Allis, Pewaukee |
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JenEhr Family Farm offers certified organic vegetables and small fruits through its CSA and Farmers Market Stands. Everything we offer is grown by us on our farm Poultry is raised on our Sun Prairie pasture, without hormones or antibiotics, we purchase grain from our neighbors so the meat is not certified organic. |
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LotFotL Community Farm Tim Huth |
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Pick-up sites: Brookfield, East Troy, Waukesha, Milwaukee, Muskego, New Berlin, Bay View, Wauwatosa, WCTC & Marquette (students & faculty only) |
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LotFotL provides a 26 week season. We accept all forms of payment, including food stamps. We allow for flexible delivery scheduling, customizing what’s in your weekly box, and paying month to month throughout the growing season. Fruit, meat, honey, maple syrup and more are available through our online store. |
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Piper Road Gardens Jodie Janovec |
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Pick-up sites: East Troy, Wauwatosa, Janesville, Whitewater and Burlington |
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Piper Road Gardens specializes its 12 week CSA in cut flowers, mixed salad greens, and culinary herb share. Piper Road Gardens can provide all of your fresh cut flower needs and wishes. Look at our website to learn about everything we do for wedding and event floral design. |
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Pinehold Gardens David Kozlowski & Sandra Raduenz |
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Pick-up sites: Cudahy, Oak Creek, Racine, Bay View, Greenfield, Milwaukee, Shorewood, Wauwatosa, & the farm in Oak Creek |
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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. |
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Rare Earth Steve Young & Debra Jo Becker |
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Pick-up sites: Bay View, Port Washington, Grafton, Fox Point, Milwaukee, Shorewood, Wauwatosa, Waukesha, Germantown, Kenosha, & the farm in Belgium/Cedar Grove |
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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. |
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Ruegsegger Farms, LLC Ken Ruegsegger |
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Pick-up sites:Farmers Markets and Home Delivery. Also on farm sales (tours by appointment only) & farm store (in Paoli) just southwest of Madison. |
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Ken and Sherrie Ruegsegger, owners of Ruegsegger Farms LCC concentrate on raising 100% "Grass-fed" beef & 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. |
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Stoney Meadow Farm Steve and Andrea Levsen |
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Pick-up sites:Milwaukee, Delafield and Oconomowoc. |
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Memebers enjoy 16 or more weeks of fresh, prize-winning quality vegetables, fruit and herbs, grown organically by farmers with more than 60 years combined experience. Offering full, ½ and every other week share options. We try to accommodate for vacations, etc. & some personalization is available. Weekly newsletter, U-pick flowers and Farm Picnic. |
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Three Sisters Farm
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Pick up sites: Campbellsport, West Bend and Milwaukee |
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We are experienced CSA growers embarking on an exciting new project: Three Sisters Farm in Campbellsport, WI. In this, our inaugural season, we’ll lovingly grow biodynamic vegetables for a small group of committed CSA and farmers’ market patrons. At the same time, we hope to partner with others who value local food and explore ways to expand on the CSA concept as we move forward. |
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Tipi Produce Beth Kazmar & Steve Pincus |
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Pick-up sites: Brookfield, Milwaukee, Bay View, Wauwatosa |
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Join us for a season of your favorite certified organic berries and vegetables. With 35+ years farming experience, we reliably provide diverse boxes filled with produce at the peak of flavor. Members are welcome to visit during our strawberry u-pick and fall pumpkin/gleaning parties. Serving Madison, Janesville and Milwaukee areas. |
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Turtle Creek Gardens Janet Gamble |
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Pick-up sites: Milwaukee, East Troy & the farm in Delavan. |
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Turtle Creek Gardens is a diversified farm that embraces organic and biodynamic principles. We are located northwest of Delevan, WI and have drop sites as far east as Milwaukee, Oconomowoc, East Troy, Burlington, Waterford and Libertyville. We grow high quality nutritionally dense food. On our farm we grow fruits, vegetables, raise cattle and poultry in partnership with our neighbor VOB Organics. Turtle Creek offers Farmer Market style pick-ups, newsletter and food based classes in our education kitchen. |
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Vintage Hobby Farm
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Pick-up sites: Milwaukee and East Troy |
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Vintage Hobby Farm's goal is to bring back heritage breeds into farming and to grow and provide locally and naturally grown produce and products for families who wish to support local farms while also teaching children and adults the important concept of family farming. We offer CSA programs of vegetable and herbs, veggies and meat and summer only. We raise and sell heritage breed animals. |
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Wellspring, Inc.
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Pick-up sites:West Bend, Grafton, Milwaukee, Wauwatosa & on the farm in Newburg |
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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. |
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Willoway Farm Daniel Bertram & Jacqui Fulcomer |
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Pick-up sites: Milwaukee, Mequon, Grafton and on the farm in Fredonia. |
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Willoway Farm is a 7-acre farm using organic and biodynamic farming methods. We grow on 1 1/2 acres with raised permanent beds alternating with clover seeded footpaths. |
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Dairy, Honey, Meat and |
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Brightonwoods OrchardBill Stone |
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Established in 1950 as a hobby/heirloom apple orchard, we presently grow over 200 apple varieties on multiple rootstocks utilizing several different growing systems. We are located on a rustic road in western Kenosha County adjacent to Richard J. Bong State Recreation Area. Also on the property: a fruit winery, an apple cider house, a two- story tree house for kids, and walking trails through the orchard and adjacent woods. |
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Hazel Valley FarmJeannie Herold |
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Our farm philosophy is fresh air, natural spring water, sunshine, hormone and antibiotic free, chemical free, naturally raised animals. We grow hazelnuts and raise grass fed lambs, nut-finished pigs and free range chickens for meat and eggs. We are 40 minutes west of Milwaukee in the Kettle Moraine forest. |
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River Valley Ranch and KitchenEric Rose |
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River Valley Ranch and Kitchen is a commercial mushroom and vegetable growing celebrating 35 years in business. We follow the tenants of organic farming in our growing practices. All our jar products are made onsite using ingredients grown by us. |
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Rolling Meadows Sorgham Mill Richard Wittgreve |
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Brend and Rich Wittgreve operate Rolling Meadows Sorghum Lake on their farm near Elkhart Lake, WI. They raise the sorghum cane on their land and process the juice into an amber syrup in their processing plant. Sorghum syrup is very high in calcium, iron, potassium and antioxidants, with a low glycemic load. |
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Sauve Terre Farm Joe Mantoan |
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Pick up sites: Delivers bulk orders (25lbs or more) in Milwaukee area and on farm sales |
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Sauve Terre Farm, french for “Saved Earth”, is located 45 minutes north of Milwaukee, in West Bend, WI. Founded in 2009, we raise 100% grass fed natural beef . We are dedicated to building an ecologically based, food producing landscape that is bountiful and beautiful for generations to come. |
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Sweet Water Organics
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Sweet Water Organics is an urban farm located in the Bay View neighborhood that has re-purposed unused industrial building space; using aquaponics to grow fresh, safe produce and fish for local Milwaukee residents, restaurants and grocers. |
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Wisconsin Honey Cooperative Petra Ahnert |
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Wisconsin Honey Cooperative was created by four beekeepers to |
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