Eat Organic! Support Local Farms – CSA Boxes From Hillview Organics
My admirable friend and neighbor Shankar owns Hillview Organics LLC – founded in 2009 in Vacaville, CA. Shankar used to work at a large semiconductor networking system firm and a start-up technology firm. After a short period of studying Eastern Philosophy and 7 years of backyard gardening experience, he ventured into organic farming. Over the last 5 years he transitioned from textbook knowledge of farming to managing his own 33 acre farm! A few months after a CCOF inspector came to visit, they received their USDA organic certification.
Shankar’s belief is that organic food should be affordable and as nutrient dense as possible. They use specific rock minerals derived from volcanic ash and ancient mineral deposits to increase the nutrient density in the food they grow. Research confirms that in today’s time a person needs to eat 20-30 apples to derive the same nutrition that a person got from one apple grown in the 1920’s. Oranges sold at the grocery store may contain no Vitamin C. Broccoli, cabbage and potatoes could give you flatulence and stomach problems because the nutrition in their soil was not balanced. Today, our soil and the food grown from it are depleted of minerals. This leads to a lack of nutrients which are needed to fight off disease resulting from health issues. Shankar offers to share more information on this issue if you are curious.
The farm has Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes to offer at $25 a box. The boxes are nearly 15 lbs of all organic fruits and veggies picked less than 24 hours before it is delivered to you. Produce in grocery stores is at least 3 days old when it reaches store shelves!
My house has become a hub for pickup. I have received boxes including the following: Early girl, heirloom and cherry tomatoes, green beans, sweet corn, red, green and yellow bell peppers, eggplant, zucchini, watermelon, peaches, figs, grapes, red sweet and spicy peppers, garlic, cantaloupe, potatoes and red and yellow onions. Shankar also has the option of adding eggs, honey, butter, ghee, ice cream, cheese, walnuts, almonds, and other nuts. Very soon their CSA boxes will have okra, ridge gourd, snake gourd and bittermelon. For autumn there will be over 40 possible items in the boxes.
Vegetables available in the cool season:
Cauliflower white
Cabbage red
Cabbage green
Broccoli
Cauliflower purple
Cauliflower Cheddar(orange)
Cauliflower green
Romanesco cauliflower
Chinese Cabbage
Radicchio
Kale red
Kale curly
Kale Dino
Chard
baby Spinach
baby Arugula
Salad mix
Romaine
Butter Lettuce
Leaf lettuce
Parsley
Cilantro
Red beets
Golden beets
Kohlrabi purple for salads
Kohlrabi Green for salads
Fennel
Red radish (watermelon radish)
French breakfast radishes
Colorful mix of radishes called easter egg.
Carrots orange
Carrots colorful mix purple yellow red white
turnips for pickling
Banana potatoes or other specialty red potatoes
Regular potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Butternut Squash
Snap peas
Snap peas purple.
Green Garlic
Green onions
Bunched spring onions.
SEVERAL fruits such as oranges lemons persimmon apples.
They may give you more if there is a fruit/veggie in abundance. You can do it every week, once a month, or however you prefer. You will have so much, you can share with your friends!
I am so impressed with his cause and I feel we need to spread the word. This is not strictly a money making venture for him. His sole intention is to reduce disease in families by eating organic, seasonal vegetables. I encourage you to try out what he brings in his magic boxes. Try the produce…I did and I am telling you it was delicious! I am not too much into veggies but I enjoyed every veggie and fruit in that box.
Hillview Organics offers the Farmigo system for online sign up for produce boxes. Their CSA manager is working on setting up this system for you to see your account, pay your bills, see what is in your box, and when and where to pickup your produce boxes. You can also privately write to Shankar and send him your phone number so he can communicate with you. Here is his email: shankarv.dsl@gmail.com
-You can pickup one box for $25 (as a first time offer) and decide to do a 4 week trial from the following week
-If you order 4 boxes as trial for $100, they would love to receive this check from you in favor of Hillview Organics LLC
when you pick up your first box
-If you order 13 boxes, you pay only for 12 boxes – $300 check for Hillview Organics LLC
-If you order 26 boxes, you pay for 24 boxes with 2 boxes free and $600 check for Hillview Organics LLC
Hillview Organics is on its way to become a not-for-profit business meaning the employees will own the company instead of just Shankar. He wants the employees to help each other and benefit from one another’s work. Shankar was inspired by Swanton berry farm and Johnnys’ Selected seeds which are 100% employee owned companies. If people own they company they work for, companies usually become extremely successful.
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