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Local
Feature
"EAT
YOUR VEGETABLES" NEVER SOUNDED SO GOOD
words by Jolene
Polyack
Images
by Frankie Leal
We
live in the ‘fruit basket of the world’
so why can’t we get the best fruits and
vegetables for ourselves?” This is a sentiment
often expressed by Valley residents. Local organic
farmer Vernon Peterson heard it said enough times
to start thinking, “Why can’t our
own residents get the best produce?” And
that was the beginning of the farmer-turned-entrepreneur
Peterson’s recently launched business Abundant
Harvest Organics.
According
to Peterson, “Neither the farmer nor the
consumer are being served as efficiently or effectively
as possible with the current system. I thought
that if we could devise a system where produce,
meat and dairy could go straight to the family
without brick and mortar then the farmer could
get a fair price for his product; the consumer
could pay a fair price and eat the most wonderful
stuff they could ever experience. When people
order from us, we don’t want them to even
think. They know for certain that it’s organic.”
Today,
California produce is distributed through a complicated
distribution system that adds days to the journey
toward the consumer’s home. Even produce
grown in Reedley and Kingsburg will travel to
distribution centers north and south of here before
traveling back to your supermarket. Peterson has
cut out the middlemen and developed a delivery
system that just includes the grower and the consumer.
The benefit is fresher produce at a reasonable,
if not lower price – all picked about 24
hours prior to making it to the consumer’s
home. And all of it is certified organic.
Without
any publicity at all, Abundant Harvest Organics
is serving quite a few families with several stops
including Fresno, Clovis, Kingsburg, Reedley,
Bakersfield and Tehachapi. A consumer places their
order at www.adundantharvestorganics.com before
Monday morning and that Friday, they can pick
up their box of just-picked produce at a specified
location (in the Covenant Church parking lot in
Kingsburg or at Shinn’s Photography in Reedley).
What’s
interesting about the deliveries is that the customers
seem excited – since the produce was picked
the day before, they only find out what’s
in the box at pick up. A list distributed with
the food one day over the summer showed that the
produce had been picked from Kingsburg, San Juan
Bautista, Bakersfield, Salinas and Caruthers.
The boxes included grapes, green bell peppers,
Gala apples, red leaf, green leaf and romaine
lettuces, spinach, russet potatoes, red onion,
artichokes, cauliflower, tomatoes, rosemary, sage
and za’atar. Another week might have boxes
packed with totally different items. Each box
has a list of the items included and suggestions
on how to prepare and serve the produce. Peterson
recently added the ability for customers to order
their organic meat and dairy items also. His goal
is to provide distribution centers all over California
and then expand east. To his knowledge, no one
is currently running a business like Abundant
Harvest Organics on the commercialized scale that
he is operating.
When
talking to various customers, it became apparent
that the reasons to utilize Abundant Harvest Organics
are varied:
One
customer, Andrew Shinn, explained that he and
his wife have lost weight as a result of utilizing
this service. He said that they look forward to
seeing what’s in their box and strive to
utilize everything. According to Shinn, “We
end up with a richer diet because of it –
it forces us to eat not only healthier but with
more adventure. There’s more adventure because
you’re eating a lot of stuff that you wouldn’t
have eaten otherwise, we would have walked past
it in the store.”
For
Dennis Rosales, he started out just to help his
friend, Vernon, by signing up for a subscription,
but then, according to Rosales, “We received
our fist box and I just thought it was fantastic.
It was fresh and flavorful. My wife priced it
compared to the store and found it was actually
less expensive. The fact that it was organic was
just a plus for us, we weren’t organic minded
at the time but it’s growing on us now.
And it has helped us replace our sugary snacks
with good natural vegetable snacks. One benefit
we didn’t foresee was that it draws the
kids back to the house. Every week they’re
coming home and picking what they want out of
the box. We’re even considering ordering
a bigger box now.”
Another
customer who is sold on Abundant Harvest Organics
is Rich Brassfield. He says, “They pick
it one day and send it off to you the next. Our
fresh food shopping is taken care of. We can now
do a monthly Costco shopping trip, get our weekly
delivery from Abundant Harvest and have everything
we need.”
Bonnie Tuell started ordering her produce from
the company because it was organic. She was impressed
with the wide variety of food and thought she
could share whatever she doesn’t finish
with her friends and neighbors.
With
a family of seven, Sarah Jackson knew organic
produce would be a hit at home. She says “As
a result of being part of the program we have
totally changed our eating habits. We’re
eating a lot of salads and vegetables. We’re
at the point where we crave raw fruits and veggies.
Because it’s so fresh it lasts longer than
store-bought produce. We look forward to Fridays
to find out what is in our box this week. I think
it’s been good for our children to try new
things. I’ve been forced to try new recipes
and to be more adventurous in my cooking. They
always send recipes and that’s been really
fun too. I feel like we’re just healthier
as a family.”
Who
knew that words like “adventurous”
would be synonymous with fruits and vegetables?
And who knew that it would be considered “exciting”
to obtain home-grown produce in our own Valley?
Apparently, Vernon Peterson knew all along.
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