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Revisiting Charlestown Farm
By Jane G. Pepper, PHS president
.jpg) In the summer of 2005, I paid a visit to Charlestown Farm, a community supported agriculture
(CSA) farm owned by Liz and Bill Andersen. They, along with Bill’s parents, Kathy and Marvin Andersen, had purchased the land four years earlier. Located about 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia, this 80-acre property is a wonderful oasis, even though it sits fewer than four miles from the hustle and bustle of Great Valley and Route 202. In early August this year, I went back to see how the farm—and the owners—had made out in the intervening years.
 Some things were much the same—they still have 150 families on their roster who pick up a range of vegetables once
a week. Much however has changed. In addition to the vegetables, Liz (pictured at right) and Bill have added livestock, including a herd of Black Angus cattle, 145 laying hens, and 50 broilers—all raised on pasture. They also have five sheep and three pigs, so CSA members can purchase eggs and meat when they come to collect their vegetables.
When I was at the farm in 2005, the Andersen’s son Charlie had applied for a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to build a greenhouse in which to start vegetable seedlings. This year, the greenhouse had been a boon; not only had they planted thousands of seedlings, but also two long rows of tomatoes to provide their members with an earlier-than-usual crop. When I was at the farm, these plants in the greenhouse were some of the few that had survived the late tomato blight that is devastating tomato crops all over this year. In the greenhouse, the plants are protected from the rain and the spread of the blight spores (for which damp, cool conditions are perfect).
 Sarah Rider, the farm’s manager (right), first noticed the dark leaf spots signaling blight on the early tomato crop in the field in early July. Neither Sarah nor anyone else on the farm had seen anything like this. “Late blight,” she said, “usually shows up at the end of the harvest, so it’s not a problem most years. When we first found it, it was devastating to our morale as we anticipated the loss of harvest.
The farm crew, which includes Sarah, an assistant, and three interns, talked back and forth with the Andersen family as to how they should handle this dilemma. Charlestown Farm follows organic practices, so their best option was to use organic controls such as Serenade and Sonata (said to provide 40 percent control against the disease). Although chemical pesticides are thought to be more effective, when Liz talked to several members of their community, they said they would rather have a tiny tomato crop this year than use chemical pesticides.
 By August, Sarah and her crew had harvested a few precious tomatoes and were experimenting with organic sprays. I asked about crops in the same family as tomatoes. Eggplants and peppers are apparently carriers for the disease, but the plants are rarely affected. Potatoes are another story. In past years, they have harvested the potatoes through the month of August and provided some to the members as they harvested, saving the balance for distribution in fall and winter. This year they are not sure whether they can risk storing the crop because of the potential for the disease to take off in the storage cellar. Instead, they are offering lots of potatoes to the community earlier than usual.
Philosophically taking the good with the bad, Sarah said that the cool, wet spring had provided the farm with wonderful crops of leeks and spinach. “Imagine,” she said, “we were harvesting spinach and melons in the same week.” In an effort to make up for the lack of tomatoes for the members, Sarah and her team are planting more fall crops—such as spinach and other salad greens.
Sarah has greatly enjoyed getting to know the CSA families, especially the children. On one of the first pick-up days early this spring, a boy aged four to five came rushing into the farm shop and made a beeline for the shelf on which the Farm crew places little baskets for picking raspberries. His mother explained her son connected a trip to the farm with his favorite fruit, and it was hard to explain that the raspberry harvest wouldn’t start for another couple of months. For Sarah, another highlight of the summer was the potluck supper, attended by more than 100 members. Liz and Bill, she said, “really want members to enjoy the land,” and to that end they installed a Cobb Oven.. Subsequently, “pizza night” has become an ongoing Friday event—members bring a picnic, a blanket, and their pizza dough and sit around chatting and watching the fireflies.
When I was wandering around the farm, I ran into Inge Damstra, a PHS member. Once a week Inge drives from Newtown Square to pick up the family’s share. For her, the farm offers “fabulous vegetables,” and she loves her trip to the country. “Before we started buying our share,” she said “we would decide on a menu then go and buy the ingredients from the supermarket.” These days the Damstra dinner menu is dictated by what’s available from the farm. Inge loves not only the unpredictability of this, but also the challenge of figuring out how to use whatever is available. “We eat many more vegetables,” she says, “and I have become more familiar with recipes for chard, kale, and turnips than I ever imagined.”
Besides the development of their farm, the Andersens have been instrumental in starting the Farmers Market in Phoenixville, which runs weekly from the Saturday before Mother’s Day to the Saturday before Thanksgiving, then on a reduced schedule throughout the winter. Sarah, who has seen farmers markets up and down the east coast, praises Phoenixville for the offering atmosphere in addition to vegetables, bread, cheese, flowers, and meat. “People come to hang out and enjoy the music, the artists who set up their easels, and kids’ activities such as storytelling and yoga.”
The demand for fresh vegetables in Chester County is growing and Charlestown Farm’s waiting list of families who want to join their membership expands every year, despite the addition of several other organic CSAs in the county over the past five years. It was wonderful to know of the success of this enterprise, to witness Liz’s endless supply of enthusiasm and energy, and also to know that both the farmers I met when I was at the Farm in 2005 have gone on to start their own CSAs in other parts of Pennsylvania.
Photos by Jane Pepper & Pete Prown
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