Valerie Cassity
Special to the Sun

There are many things that make living in the Kern Valley special, and now there is another. Abundant Harvest Organics (AHO) has come to the area, a company which provides quality, 100 percent certified USDA organic produce straight from local farmers at a lesser cost than non-organic produce in supermarkets.

According to their website, Abundant Harvest Organics is an alliance of small family farmers in Central California dedicated to growing superior organic produce and getting it to you in the simplest manner possible; that is, without the use of chemicals or packaging materials. They grow locally and supply locally, cutting the need for expensive and wasteful fuel and packing resources. Customers receive a crate of whatever fruits and vegetables are in season every week, picked within a day of their arrival to ensure freshness. “From the soil to your dinner table in a day” is one of their guarantees.

Co-op coordinator Rebecca Rozenberg of Wofford Heights talks with Richard Rowe, also a Wofford Heights resident, about his order of organic food picked up at Charlie’s Market Saturday morning.

In addition to supporting local family farms, enjoying fresh healthful food without chemicals the day they are harvested, and paying less to do so, there is another benefit to AHO, which is the community connection. While some larger locations have deliveries straight from the company, Kern Valley’s closest pick up point is Bakersfield. Word of AHO started spreading earlier this year, and several people became interested in participating, but hesitated because of the travel time and fuel costs associated with driving to Bakersfield every Saturday. So, Wofford Heights resident Rebecca Rosenberg volunteered to coordinate a cooperative effort so that anyone signing up for AHO would only have to pick up a large delivery every three months. This schedule worked for a while, but as the group of AHO customers began to grow, Rosenberg knew that the rotating pick up model could not be sustainable in the long run, so she became a Community Host. “The food was so good and the model was so sustainable and so in line with what my husband and I believe that we wanted to see the company succeed,” said Rozenberg.

Every Saturday morning, Rozenberg travels to Bakersfield to pick up approximately 30 crates of produce and arrives at Charlie’s Market in Wofford Heights by 9:30 a.m. so that she can distribute the boxes. Rozenberg also offers raw, organic pet food from Honest Kitchen so that pets can eat as healthfully as their owners.

A different AHO customer volunteers to assist Rozenberg every weekend, and the pick up becomes a social affair where people stop to chat with one another and share recipes and their thoughts on the produce in the previous week’s box. A peek inside this week’s box showed a beautiful head of red leaf lettuce, six jongold apples, onions, spinach, arugula, a large bunch of red grapes, carrots, an herb bundle, and cauliflower; indeed the “abundance” promised by the company’s name. “I used to plan my meals around the meat, now I plan them around my Abundant Harvest vegetables,” said AHO subscriber Pam Klug.

Thus far, there are 53 AHO subscribers in the Kern Valley and growing, although not every member chooses to receive a box every week, and Rozenberg said she averages about 30 boxes each pick up. Customers have a choice of a large box, which depending on appetites, could feed a family of four, at $33.80 per week, or the smaller box that will feed one to two people at $19.80 per week. They also have an ever growing list of farm products that subscribers can add-on such as raw milk, eggs, and chicken at whole sale prices. Rozenberg priced the small box produce at Vons and found that compared to their non-organic produce, the AH box was $3 less. She also weighed out the contents of a large box and found that she had received 30 pounds of fresh organic produce for the $33.80 cost; $1.13/lb.; a great value. “This is one way we can all make a difference in the health of our families and our community,” said Rozenberg.

To learn more about Abundant Harvest Organics, or to become a subscriber, go to their website at www.abundantharvestorganics.com.