Photo by Dawn Birch
Tulare County farmer James Birch, above, works on his farm in Three Rivers. At right, Kranz talks with San Diego County farmer Peter Schaner at the farmers market.
first knew Kranz when she was in the music industry, recording and touring with her indie band Snow & Voices. She’s been a customer of his at the farmers market. Not only is Kranz a “very talented musician- singer,” he said, but she’s in tune with the restaurant scene and chefs in the L.A. area, some of whom are her gardening clients. Kranz’s connection to the food world provided insight on how Schaner and other farmers struggled to find alternative markets for their crops when purchases from restaurants and chefs plummeted during the pandemic. Being a part of her CSA has been “a big financial support for our farm,” Schaner said, as it has allowed the farm to keep working and the crops to not go to waste. “She saw a way where she could help people out, and that’s what motivates her,” he said. James and Dawn Birch of Flora Bella Farms in Tulare County have known Kranz for 20 years, f irst as a customer of theirs at the farmers market in Hollywood and now providing produce to her CSA twice a week. The couple had stopped going to farmers markets because of health concerns brought by COVID-19. “I’mglad I knowher because (the CSA) is really helping our farm out a lot, and I’m sure it’s helping out other farmers she’s getting produce from,” James Birch said.
Farm to door Across the nation, subscriptions to community- supported agriculture food boxes have soared during the pandemic, with many farms that market their crops through CSAs reporting increased membership and growing waiting lists. The Edible Gardens LA CSA business represents one of many farm-to-door services that sprouted this year to meet surging demand for locally grown produce, as people shelter in place and make fewer trips to the store. Kranz described response to her CSA as “very overwhelming.” Her produce deliveries grew, mostly through word of mouth, from just five members during the first week to thousands of sign-ups, with hundreds more requesting the service each week, she noted. Some of the crops come from a “very small, modest urban farm” in East L.A. that she started farming a year ago, but most of what supplies her boxes comes from “favorite farmers” she’s known for years from farmers markets and “who really nurtured my early interest in growing food.” Connections that count San Diego County farmer Peter Schaner, who grows citrus fruit, avocados and seasonal vegetables, has been selling at farmers markets for more than 30 years. He
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September/October 2020
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