Claire Garner of Randolph, Vermont and her "best friend" Ben Crockett of Waterford, Maine, aren't waiting until they graduate in May 2009 from UVM's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to do "the next thing."

The two have been commuting to Randolph on weekends to lay the groundwork for a half-acre market garden at the Garner family farm on Route 12 South. Already they are applying what they learned in pursuit of their majors: Garner is an ecological agriculture major who interned on several vegetable farms. Crockett is a sustainable landscape horticulture major with expertise in apple orchards.

Starting in June, their Sundora Farm will be the newest CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in the area, providing 17 weeks of fresh vegetables to the first 20 customers who buy an advance share in the business. Over the past few months, Crockett and Garner have tilled a half-acre of what was pasture for 30 years, seeded it in winter rye, and almost completed a 16-by-24-foot hoop house in which they'll start seedlings in spring.

Garner, reached by cell phone in mid November while studying at the University of Vermont library, said the idea for starting the CSA came out of a conversation last summer with her parents Pauline and Randy Garner. Her parents just happened to have a tractor, 10 year's worth of aged horse manure, and a hillside's worth of open, pesticide-free pasture land. And, Claire says, they were thrilled to have those assets put to use. She expressed her gratitude for this "fantastic opportunity" to start up a CSA with relatively low financial risk.

Of the two, she says she is the business planner and "veggie mastermind" of the operation and plans to finalize the CSA structure over the next few months and start selling shares in February. She calls Crockett "the tractor man, the tinker, woodsman and technical brains" of the operation and of the hard work of erecting the hoop house on the rocky land.

The half-acre market garden might yet be expanded to a full acre, and the partners are also mulling the idea of raising chickens and selling "shares" of meat as well. They are both committed to running a pesticide-free and sustainable operation. "We could be certified as organic, but because we're so small, we're not," Garner explained.

She and Crockett are also committed to educating the public about natural, sustainable practices. To that end, Garner maintains a photo-packed blog, detailing the dreams and realities of the project.

This article was first published Nov. 20, 2008 in "The Herald of Randolph, Vermont," which granted this reprint permission and retains the copyright. Herald photo by Tim Calabro of Claire Garner, right, and Ben Crockett setting up a hoop house on Sundora Farm in Randolph.