By Nancy Smith
One look at Vesterbrook Farm’s website (www.vesterbrookfarm.com) is enough to convince the reader that this is a farm that is doing a great job of both growing and marketing. The growing is caring, sustainable, and beyond organic. The marketing is well presented, convenient, and tailored to the customer’s needs.
Vesterbrook Farm, owned by Mike & Carol Brabo, has been a family farm serving the greater St. Louis area for over 110 years and has been in Carol’s family since 1927. The farm has earned the label Certified Naturally Grown, which is a grassroots certification program with strict organic standards, in which member farmers certify each other’s farms. The result is easier on the farmer’s pocketbook and easy on the consumer’s mind.
The Certified Naturally Grown label ensures that the food offered by the member farm is safe, sustainably produced and organically grown.
It’s clear that Vesterbrook Farms has worked very hard to produce a CSA program that offers an extensive product mix, four seasons of availability, and an assortment of sizes and product mixes to fit a range of needs. The farm produce boxes range in size from a 8 to 14 pound box suitable for 2 people all the way up to a large family (or several roommates) box that weighs in at a hefty 33 to 50 pounds. Special boxes are available for families who want to juice quantities of produce, or who want to augment their diets with more fruit. In addition, Vesterbrook Farms has relationships with other farms with similar standards which enable them to offer a wider variety of fruits and packaged goods like jams and local honey. Special meat boxes are available throughout the year.
Vesterbrook Farms offers eggs from chickens which are grass-fed in sunny pastures, and fed non-GMO feed. Their chicken, beef, pork and lamb is grown in the healthiest possible way, and the animals are never fed antibiotics, growth hormones or genetically modified feed.
The farm is located in Clarksville, MO, which is halfway between St. Louis and Hannibal, north of St. Charles. If this seems too far to go for a CSA box, think again. Vesterbrook has developed a delivery schedule to multiple pickup sites throughout the metro region. As long as at least five families from an area sign up, pickups are available in Benton Park/Soulard, Fenton, University City, Clayton/Ladue, Kirkwood, Chesterfield/Creve Coeur, Ballwin/Ellisville, Town & Country, St. Peters, St. Charles, Lake St. Louis and more. Vesterbrook Farm makes it easy for St. Louisans to eat safe, fresh, quality farm food throughout the year.
Nancy Smith is the owner of Peace and Plenty Herbs and a regular contributor to The Healthy Planet magazine.