Silver Lake Farms Flower CSA

As I shared several weeks back, we recently had the opportunity to spend the day at equal parts beautiful and inspirational Silver Lake Farms. A flower farm, full service garden design and maintenance company, and floral design studio, Silver Lake Farms was founded by grower, instructor and champion of urban agriculture Tara Kolla, and has over a decade of experience in the Slow Flower movement. And while many of the blooms in the larger flower marts around the city are often shipped from abroad and grown using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, Silver Lake Farms’ blooms and greenery are grown in the most Earth-friendly way, thus offering the freshest, most sustainably grown local flowers in town.

One of the highlights of our recent visit: learning about their Flower CSA. While most of us are familiar with CSA’s in general, the flower CSA is a fairly new concept in Los Angeles – and I knew that I wanted to be a part of it. That said, I’m thrilled to be partnering with Silver Lake Farms to become one of its Flower CSA pickup hubs. How does it work and why is it important? As you may know, CSA stands for “community supported agriculture,” a model in which members typically purchase a share of fresh produce grown locally by regional farmers. Through the Silver Lake Farms Flower CSA, then, members are able to purchase a farm share that allows them weekly pickups of top quality, farm-fresh, local organic flowers. And when members join the CSA, they are also contributing to the Slow Flower movement as a whole – local flowers free of pesticides and fungicides, and with a minimal carbon footprint.

THE SPECIFICS

Flower pickups at Jenni Kayne in Brentwood will take place on Fridays. Other pickup hubs around town include: Nickey Kehoe, Valerie Echo Park and Zinc in Downtown LA. Silver Lake Farms’ CSA is a flexible program that allows you to put your share on hold when you go out of town, with Tuesday at midnight being the deadline for placing a hold on your Friday pickup.

What do you get when you own a Farm Share?

Friday, October 30th: Farm Fresh Holiday Wreath
Friday, November 6th: Holiday Swags
Friday, November 13th: Floral and Greenery Mixed Bouquet
Friday, November 20th: Miniature Wreath Duo
Friday, November 27th: Holiday Centerpiece
Friday, December 4th: Farm Fresh Holiday Wreath
Friday, December 11th: Holiday Swags

Pickups then go on Holiday hiatus and resume late January/early February (depending on the weather) when Spring crops start to bloom at the farm’s two locations in Silverlake and Glassell Park. Pickups continue on through the rest of the year until Fall. Spring crops, which the farm is already busy planting now, will include the latest in flower trends: the ever elegant and highly sought-after Italian ranunculus, adorably easy anemones, fragrant and graceful sweet peas and a host of other spring lovelies in soft shades of white, pastels, blushes, blues and greens.

To reserve your Flower Farm Share (shares are limited, only 20 available!) or for more information, be sure to visit www.silverlakefarms.com. I’ve already reserved mine, and cannot wait for the first pickup. XXJKE