By Peter Covino
Lifestyles Editor

With temperatures well above 90-degrees and humidity to match, the last thing most area residents are thinking about is spending hours tending a backyard garden.

But the Osceola County Grown farming group already is thinking ahead to the fall.

The first meeting of the summer of the Osceola Community Supported Agriculture Rent-a-Row farmers meets Saturday.

The group operates a ranch three miles east of St. Cloud, said Osceola CSA Manager Nancy Pratt.

At the Saturday meaning, farmers will hold their first planning session. Seed catalogs will be handed out and decisions will be made on what to plant.

Garden work begins in August with first harvest around the end of September.  The farmers use only natural organic means and will teach everyone in the group how to do so with appropriate composting, fertilizers and planting methods.  They recommend two hours per week of time investment for the best results.

Anyone can be a part of the group farm, but space is limited.

Participants or shareholders can rent a full row to grow produce, 4 feet by 80 feet ($100) or half-row (4 feet by 40 feet). They get a basket of produce every week once the harvesting begins, so everyone shares a variety of garden vegetables, Pratt said.

“If you have a brown thumb, or really can’t envision growing anything but a rock garden… we can help,” she said.

For the price, shareholders have:

• Access to your row most anytime of the week

• A very rich composted soil to work with

• Timed irrigation

• Use of our CSA tools

• Free cuttings of an assortment of herbs

• Use of the wash area

• Help with planning your row

• Personal help during growing season

• And fellow gardeners who are also learning

While a row of vegetables many not seem like much, a share is enough produce to feed a family of three for one week.  Working shares have an opportunity to provide input into the vegetables that we grow.

“We’ve had purple beans which turn green when they’re steamed, and tasted some funky looking squashes.  We’ve shared recipes for kale and cucumbers and have learned the unique tastes of a variety of produce that we wouldn’t have ever tried.  You broaden your tastes….and if you still don’t like it, then next season you vote for less of that vegetable,” Pratt said.

Shareholders also can just grow exactly what they want in their row, as well.

Everyone is encouraged to work in the garden. The time commitment of a working share is about three hours per week, each Saturday from 7 to 10 a.m., she said.

There will undoubtedly be a couple of weeks in the beginning that will require additional hours as the garden is prepared and the seeds are planted. There will be a “farmer” to oversee the garden who will plan the layout of crops, and to see that everyone pulls their share. That person also will provide instructions on growing plants naturally.  If you are thinking of being a “working share” be committed 100 percent, she said.

There is more information on the program at the website http://osceolacsa.com/.

You also can email Nancy Pratt at osceolacountygrown@gmail.com.

The Osceola County Grown is a growing organization of farmers, cattlemen and more.

The group includes the Steeplechase Farm (honey collected from local beehives); Bullcreek Farms (offering several types of citrus for sale during winter citrus season); DPA Hydro Cultivations (whole, unprocessed farm-raised tilapia as well as vegetables grown in an aquaponic growing system; Kiss-im-mee’s Green Place for Natural and Organic Vegetables (featuring a variety of seasonal produce hydroponically grown on the farm); and Chapman’s U-Pick Berry Farm (a U-pick farm with 2,400 blueberry and blackberry plants).