With help from volunteer involvement, community support and year-round preparations, local produce stands and farms are working to give back by providing Harleysville and Souderton area citizens with farm-fresh produce.
According to Living Hope Farm employee Jessica Geyer, their operation started back in 2010 when locals wanted to preserve the land and so it was turned into “an organically grown produce farm.”
“We’ve been operating as a Community-Supported Agriculture [CSA] ever since,” Geyer said.
The way the community gets involved is through purchasing the produce.
Living Hope Farm, located in Harleysville, grows year-round and has a website that people can subscribe to.
Subscribers can pick out what produce they want and then pick up their order during the scheduled times.
“We have three different seasons for people to choose their produce from,” Geyer said. “We have people who come and purchase shares.”
As a part of the mission at Living Hope Farm, giving back to the community is important. They give back by donating food to those in need.
“We have a farm-to-family program,” Geyer said, “where underserved families in the community come and are members of the CSA and can get a share each week at no cost.”
For Geyer, what makes Living Hope Farm different from other farms is their online ordering system.
“People can really customize their order for what fits their family,” Geyer said.
According to head farmer Sam Chronister, Living Hope Farm is “heavily dependent” on volunteers.
“Multiple times a week we have volunteer groups come out and help with harvesting stuff,” Chronister said. “Honestly, without our volunteers, I do not think we could do this.”
The 10-acre farm is “a lot of work” since everything is grown according to organic practices.
“We’re trying our best to take care of the land and the environment around us,” Chronister said.
Similarly to Living Hope Farm is Freed’s Produce, a produce stand in Harleysville. Owner Nancy Freed Welby and her husband Neil run the stand.
Welby’s grandparents, who were dairy farmers, bought the farm 103 years ago. Welby’s parents were also dairy farmers, but now the farm is purely produce.
“We grow sweet corn, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, zucchini and summer squashes,” Welby said. “In the summer, we have cantaloupe and watermelon. In the fall, we have pumpkins and fall squash.”
The farm stand also offers different types of flowers that customers can pick out in the form of bouquets or cut themselves right out in the field.
According to thelocalsouderton, a review of Freed’s Produce describes the experience as “awesome, plain and simple.”
“The farm is beautiful, fronted with a produce stand which many people stop at in order to buy fresh ingredients for their culinary adventures,” thelocalsouderton said.
The review suggests that one can taste how natural and organic the produce is.
In the Souderton and Harleysville area, residents are able to support farms and local produce stands by buying their fruits and vegetables there instead of at commercial chain grocery stores.
If buying the crops is not appealing but they still want to get involved, locals can volunteer at the farm or stand and help the farmers grow, harvest and tend to the plants, instead.
“We thank the community for their support,” Welby said.