Provident Organic Farms

    prov‧i‧dent [prŏv'ĭ-dənt, -dĕnt]  adj, providing carefully for future needs and events 

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Meet the Farmers That Provide the Content of Your Share

This year we will have 8 farmers serving our CSA. We have a 31 week season for about $25/week.

Our CSA is joyfully suplied by the following farms:

Jay Martin, Craig East, and Lisa Garfield and Patrick Bickingham are returning farmers.

Betsy Thornton, owner of Chesapeake Organics in Marion Station, Md. will be growing for us this year. Chesapeake Organics has been a certified organic farm for over 20 years, Prior to Betsy, it was the largest organic vegetable operation on the East Coast. Betsy has owned it and managed it for 9 years, scaling it back to 60 acres of production. She has been wholesaling to Whole Foods, Albert's Organics and other distributors for those years as did the farmers who owned it before her. Betsy recognizes that she can reduce her packaging and transportation expenses significantly by growing for the CSA and looks forward o joining our community.

Allen White, owner of Triple "D" Farms in Tyaskin, Md. grew up working on the many truck farms that dotted the landscape of the West Side when he was young. He served in the Marines and has since woked for Lifetime Masonry, supplementing his income growing vegetables. He will soon retire and has built a home on 20 acres in Tyaskin. Allen has been marketing his produce in front of his house and hauling the excess to the Laurel Auction block. He has no experience with organic farming but is anxious to learn. His 13 year old son, Josh, will be helping Allen.

Ike Ballard, of Westover, Md. has retired from Delmarva Power and taken up vegetable farming with his wife Hazel. They have been growing organically on 36 acres for 6 years, marketing mostly in farmers markets and to small retailers on the western shore. They would like to reduce their marketing expenses and time spent by growing for a local market. They are not certified but are dedicated to the organic method.

Aaron Cooper of Cutfresh Organics in Eden, Md. has farmed with his father since he was 12 years old. The farm has been in the Cooper family for 200 years. Aaron has begun to transition portions of the farm to organic practices. As he takes control of the farm from his father, he intends to transition the whole farm. Aaron and his wife Betsey operate a small CSA of their own, but they are seeking to grow crops on a larger scale for a local market. Our CSA fills that void for Aaron.

Joe Dickerson, of Bivalve, Md tells me he had a hoe stuck in his hand when he was 2 years old. Joe and his father Bill (now deceased) have grown vegetables for over 40 years. Joe markets most of what he and his wife Nancy grow at their farm stand in Bivalve. They also sell to some of the produce outlets strung along rte. 50. Joe is not an organic farmer but is willing to give it a try.