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{The Blue Banner}
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Alumna provides to organic food landscape
Work share program assists members of UNCA community
Trevor Metcalfe
TOMETCAL@UNCA.EDU
STAFF WRITER
UNC Asheville alumna Tara Adi-
nolfi sat in Carmichael Hall on Thurs
day among boxes and boxes of unusu
al organic vegetables.
“We do everything you can think
of,” Adinolfi said. “This week we have
broccoli and cabbage and kohrabi and
kale, and we also have peppers and to
matoes.”
Adinolfi owns and operates Ostara
Farm near Burnsville with her hus
band, Sean. The farm practices com
munity shared agriculture, where
members purchase shares of the farm
and have fresh produce delivered
weekly for the entire growing season.
They recently handed out their last
crop of the season to UNCA share
holders.
“The members agree that they are
bearing part of the risk along with
the farmer,” Adinolfi said. “So, if my
tomatoes fail, they don’t get any to
matoes. So, this year, we had a few
failures, but mostly we had lots of
abundance.”
Shares are divided into working
and non-working shares, according
to Adinolfi. Working shares require
the members to work approximately
one hour a week for the farm. Adinolfi
said many jobs for the 2011 season
will revolve around the new farmland
she and her husband have purchased.
“We need people to help us build
(soil) beds, we need people to help
us build our bam. You can help work
with the plants and come out and help
us pick,” she said. “There’s lots of dif
ferent things that need to be done.”
Working shares for the 2011 growing
season cost around $500 for the entire
season, while non-working shares run
about $750. Adinolfi stressed the cost
doesn’t have to be paid all at once.
“It averaged out to between $20 and
$30 per week expenses,” Adinolfi said.
See farm Page 6
Trevor Mete ,
Alumna Tara Adinolfi delivers produce fo sfaff who fake parf in fhe work share program af her farm in
Burnsviile. Beiow, Adinolfi and her husband, Sean, deliver produce fo physics professor Michael Ruiz.
'We go beyond the
organic standard, so
it’s like organicaiiy
grown, but better, ”
- Tara Adinolfi,
UNCA alumna