Family Farm Brings Local Produce to Darnestown

It's easy to miss the small farmers stand just 200 feet past Route 118 on Darnestown Road, where cars speed by at up to 40 miles per hour. 

But that single stand offers a rich selection of locally grown fruits and vegetables. In fact, the produce there is just about as locally grown as it gets. Everything comes straight from the farm just up the driveway.

Up that driveway sits Good Life Farm, a 40-acre family farm owned by Larry Ledgard — Farmer Larry, as he likes to be called — and his wife Laura. Since 2008, they have been selling their fruits and vegetables straight from the farm to the public with a website and this simple stand.

In 2009, the couple decided to create a community supported agriculture (CSA) program. Now in their third year of farming, they have more than 100 members who pay at the beginning of each season for a weekly selection of local, fresh produce.

A CSA is a membership program, where people buy a share in the harvest.  By paying up front they are guaranteed a selection of whatever vegetables the farm has each week.

The program helps the farmer by giving them money in advance to invest in the harvest, and customers get a diverse selection of produce chosen for them each week. Priced at $370 for 15 weeks of fruits and vegetables, it often works out to be cheaper than buying vegetables a la carte at the farmers market.

Deb Walmber-Basembe joined the Good Life Farm CSA this past summer.  She had been searching for a year to find a local CSA to join and found Good Life Farm on the Internet.

"We wanted to support our local farmers, and we wanted quality produce where we could interact with the people who grew and actually picked the fruits and vegetables … and to keep the family farm alive," Walmber-Basembe said.

The choices change every week. A recent selection included a variety of sweet corn, peppers, potatoes, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and watermelon. The husband and wife farmers said they enjoy chatting with regular customers — many of whom have become their friends — and often offer a recipe idea or suggestion for freezing vegetables with each purchase.

CSA member Amy Schmidt travels from Alexandria, Va., every week to pick up her share. She joined not only because she wanted fresh, local produce but also to support the family she came to know through their shared interest in horses.

"They're a great family. I wanted to support their CSA effort, and it's a really good deal," said Schmidt. "I go through my vegetarian cookbooks each week or clip vegetarian recipes out of the New York Times to find what to make."

Larry and Laura live at the farm with their three kids and welcome CSA members to come take a tour, help with picking or pet one of their Shetland ponies or Friesian horses. Their daughter also brings the Shetland ponies down to the farmers stand on Sundays for children to take rides.

Of course, there are challenges for a small farmer competing against agricultural giants. When a small tornado hit Maryland in July, it destroyed a field of corn and cost Larry about $10,000 in produce. Variations in weather impact the kind of produce that the farm is able to grow. Part of the idea of a CSA is that the customers help share that risk. The extreme heat conditions this summer made it difficult for berries to survive, so members did not receive strawberries in August. 

Taina Litwak said she would never buy produce from a grocery store when she can find quality fresh fruits and vegetables grown in season down the street from her house.

"The American food supply is toxic," she said. "It comes from too far away; the carbon footprint of most of the things you buy in the grocery store is dreadful.

"It's so wasteful to buy a squash grown in California it should be illegal."

Richard and Janet Kenly of Gaithersburg drive to Good Life Farm especially for their tomatoes.

"I hate them from a grocery store," Janet said. "You can't beat a local tomato. They don't pick them when they're green like you'll see in other places. They wait until they're really grown, and they taste so fresh."

Once people try the selection, they often come back the next week, Larry said. 

Jeff and Benita Copeland were driving back home from Leesburg when they spotted the stand a few months ago. Now they try and stop by whenever they are in town.

"I just bought tomatoes at the grocery store, but if I'd thought about it I would have just picked them up here," Benita said.

Good Life Farm is now accepting memberships for its fall/winter 2010 CSA, which started at the beginning of September and ends in mid-December.  They offer a variety of membership options in the hopes of accommodating any budget or scheduling concerns, including travel. Members can buy a five-, 10- or 15-week share for the dates of their choice. All members must pay a one-time membership fee of $40.

The farmers stand is open from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Fridays and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.