Growing Healthy Families

It is the middle of summer at Hidden Villa and the farm here is bursting with food! We have had a successful year so far due to the abundance of the rainy season in the Bay Area of California. In spring, we submitted an update on the progress of our farmers getting every plant out of the greenhouse and into the fields. If you care to take a peek, you can see Jason (the CSA manager) driving the tractor to prepare the fields. Since then, the farm has really come into fruition and we are harvesting beets, chard, orange and yellow carrots, onions, garlic, leeks, rhubarb, lettuce, kale, collards, summer squash, zucchini, strawberries, blackberries, rasberries, grapes, radishes, potatoes, spinach, broccoli, basil, and more.

The local families that subscribe to our CSA Program have loved their weekly baskets of produce. We work really hard at ensuring a variety in their baskets and a couple recipes that the families can use to prepare the food. The Farmer's Market crowd has been loving the fresh produce that we bring (along with the eggs and meat from the animals) and almost every week we sell out. Lastly, our friends at the Community Services Agency of Mountain View are receiving the exact same variety of produce that we are selling at the Farmer's Market and distributing to the CSA subscribers. This is what really makes all of our hard work worth it! We get to see the smiling faces of those that come to pick up the fresh, organic produce from our farm in order to bring back to the facilities and distribute to those that are in need.

Hidden Villa's partnership with the Community Services Agency of Mountain View is now in its 11th year. Since the program’s founding in 2006, Hidden Villa has been the only source of regularly delivered organic produce and the only partnering organization growing vegetables for the primary purpose of distribution through the Community Service Agency’s food bank. Your support continues to allow Hidden Villa to ensure accessibility to the certified organic produce that is grown here to the members in our community most in need. This food is prepared and enjoyed daily by people in our community that we don't get to see everyday but we know that it makes a huge difference in their lives.

The donors that fund this project mean as much to Hidden Villa as Hidden Villa does to those that receive our food. Thank you for supporting this work and our farm crew. In case you live in the area and would love to visit, every Wednesday our farm crew hosts a volunteer opportunity from 9:30am-12:30pm with a community potluck to follow. Please come and join us if you have some time and want to meet the crew!

Links:

• Hidden Villa Home Page