Jul 15, 2022
It's a sister-rooted family scene at Fair Shares. The resourceful twist of this CCSA - Combined Community Supported Agriculture - nourishes St. Louis with produce and value-added products, a plateful of action for over 15 years.
As founding sister Sara Choler Hale prepares to set sail (literally) on her next life adventure, she and sibling Jamie Choler share the main course and many sides of their story with Earthworms host Jean Ponzi, with relish.
From dedicated subscribing to local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farms, this thoughtful startup started asking all the local farmers if they'd be able and willing to contribute to a Combined CSA (CCSA), where subscriber-member fees are shared among many farmers and food producers. Answer: YES!
In 2008, Fair Shares boxes started sending out Veg And: eggs, jams, honey, fresh and cured meats, cheeses, sweets. Each farmer could focus on what they do best. Today, over 400 members enjoy fantastic diversity of food from over 30 local farmers and producers. Little risk and strong support, serving healthy, varied weekly shares, year-round from this Local Food hub.
Fair Shares staff spans two generations, Family And. And while the crew will dearly miss Sara and volunteer/husband Stephen, the bonds of family and food will surely weather this year's changes.
THANKS to Andy Heaslet, Earthworms audio engineer, and to Jon Valley, KDHX Production maven. Thanks for the tip for this show to FOFS-FOEW, Tom Flood.
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Crystal Stevens, Flourish (Dec 2020)
Rosy Buck Farm Grows in Circles (April 2021)
Rustic Roots Sanctuary (June 2021)
Urban Buds City Grown Flowers (Nov 2021)
And more!