From the real Laura Kranz:

Today I finally found a farm, but it reminded me of those facade villages in old western movie sets. There was a quiet sprinkler running, a few plants growing, freshly tilled soil, but no people, and no vegetables. The greenhouses were empty, the tractors were lined up neatly in their shed, and the CSA vegetable list was still chalked onto a blackboard.

I like farms because you never see people hurrying around, and often you can't even see the people working, because they are scattered throughout the fields, but you can always sense that things are moving, people working, things growing. At this place, however, it was like the heat had squashed all that motion. It was just still. A Florida farm in the summertime.

Sweetwater Organic Community Farm is the only organic farm in Tampa, since this is an urban area, and it is located off of Hillsborough Ave. and Hanley Ave. I knew harvest season was already over, but I wanted to find the farm and check it out anyway. I actually did encounter two people briefly, who both ducked inside, away from the heat, and never reemerged as i wandered through the herb gardens and citrus trees. I was dissapointed because I had lots of questions, like "when are you going to start planting again??" But I think I know the answer: when the weather gets cooler! Peeking around on my own, I saw a patch of over-grown pepper plants, a flourishing herb garden being watered by a sprinkler, and several empty fields where it looks like they are getting the soil ready to replant. They also have citrus trees and across the street there were more fields with things growing, but the gates were locked. 

In the market area, there are many wooden tables outdoors under the oak trees, and a little concert venue where they host musical performances. The barn was cool and shady, too, used for storing tools and for CSA distribution. I learned all of this from a brochure, because no one ever came around to talk. I guess I am used to La Ferme in France, where everyone came out to say hello to every car that pulled up. Little farms need all the friends they can get - friends equal business. Someone who seeks out a hole-in-the-wall farm, North Of Kennedy, for that matter, is someone interested in what is (not) going on there. Oh well, next time I will grab them before they slip inside again. 

The brochure told me that the farm was started in 1995 and sells its produce through CSAs and the weekly Sunday market at the farm. The market features other vendors and artists as well, and The Corner Storein Plant City also sells their produce in season. 

I'm already sad that I will be leaving Tampa the end of August, just when things start back up again in farms here. And when I get back to Boston, all those CSAs will be ending and farms closing up for the winter. Then again, I will have no need for fresh vegetables, since i will not have a kitchen. Well, actually, today at Goodwill I saw a microwave rice cooker. Maybe I don't need a kitchen in order to cook. The rice cooker wouldn't be against the rules in the dorm, but i don't know what kind of example other contraband electrical appliances, like breadmakers, would set for the freshmen. On the other hand, perhaps it would set a good one: you can be more creative than dining hall pizza!! But only if they happen to live on laura's floor, cause I won't turn them in. 

The following is a really interesting article, with lots of pictures, about organic farmers on small farms all over America. They all do something to help their communities. Although there are only 8 featured in this article, every small organic farm I have ever been to or read about does something to help their community.