Fresh and Local: La Nay Ferme provides community with fresh and nutritious produce

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A recent study shows 9 out of 10 Americans still aren’t consuming all the key nutrients necessary to stay healthy. La Nay Ferme of Provo hopes to help change that.

La Nay Ferme is a local one-acre farm that runs on the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) concept. Community members can buy a share in the farm and then, each week, pick up a bag of fresh produce grown right here in Utah County.

A video produced by the farm explains most produce in stores is picked before it has fully ripened and can then travel thousands of miles to get to the shelf. This process causes the produce to lose a significant amount of nutrients.

“When they pick up their share of produce each week, they are getting produce that is literally hours out of the ground,” said Clinton Felsted, owner of La Nay Ferme.

La Nay Ferme is able to provide fresh and nutritious produce to its customers by allowing the crops to ripen in the ground.

Their fruits and vegetables are centered around salads. While participants don’t always know exactly what produce will be in their bags from week to week, they can expect to have various types of leafy greens, such as red lettuce, butter lettuce, arugula and kale, along with other fruits and vegetables with which they can make a delicious and fresh salad.

BYU graduate Jenelle Tittelfitz learned about the farm after seeing a flyer in Mountain West Burrito, a restaurant that specializes in providing fresh food.

“A few days later, I visited the garden and was introduced to the philosophy and vision of the garden,” Tittelfitz said. “(T)o grow fresh, local produce that literally goes from ground to table in the passing of two peoples hands.”

She knew she wouldn’t be able to eat all the produce on her own, so she and a few friends split the cost, divided the produce and volunteered at the farm together.

“After discovering I had many food allergies, I researched, heavily, proper nutrition and was always redirected to key words: organic, raw, fresh, local,” Tittelfitz said. “Don’t get me wrong, I still buy Costco pizza sometimes, but I feel better inside and outside knowing I’m helping a local business.”

For more information on the farm and to learn how to become a CSA member, go to www.lanayferme.com

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