This is based on the produce I picked up from the booth at the Fall Creek Bend's Farmers Market. Plant It Forward empowers refugees by setting aside some land for each farmer to grow their own produce and partners up with markets for a place for them to sell within the community. The produce I bought had been harvested the day before. The lettuce looked delicate but didn't get damaged en route to the house in a tote bag next to a loaf of sourdough and a container of sliced broccolini. It was tastier than expected, had a leafy but not weak flavor, and was easy to clean. The broccolini was hardy and had a sweet yet earthy flavor while eaten raw. Usually I find broccolini to be more grassy but was surprised at how sweet it was. The produce was still good when I ate it all on Friday. read more

Plant It Forward - a woman at a farmers market - Farmers Market Near Me - Houston, Texas

Plant It Forward is a non-profit company that offers outstanding local, organic produce at seasonal farm stands & through its CSA farm share program. This is grown by Congolese refugees each given a 1/2 acre plot w/in Houston, & the training necessary to farm it. The company is exceptionally good at maintaining the quality of its produce. Everything we bought over the summer, at the U St. Thomas farm stand, & received in our CSA shares in the fall & winter were unparalleled, relative to produce we've bought at farmers' markets here & in VT; from Abel & Cole grocers, in the UK; and even from Home Sweet Farm, in Brenham. Excepting a few boring mandarins, everything was gorgeous & tasty, the varieties, well-chosen, and all had been carefully picked & cleaned, ready to go directly from farm to table. But you needn't take my word re. Plant It Forward's quality--some of the most acclaimed restaurants in town use Plant It Forward's produce, too, inc. Underbelly, Uchi, Coltivare, Oxheart, Local Foods, Sparrow, Dish Society, Down House, etc. And let's face it, if it's good enough for their chefs, it's probably good enough for you & yours. If, like us, you opt to join the CSA, you'll receive at least 6-8 types of vegetables in each share, grown by a single farmer. Our share sometimes includes other local goodies, too. We've gotten honeycomb, pecan & rosemary infused honey, bread, Java Pura coffee, the mandarins, & Republic of Texas oranges. We even got a reusable Plant It Forward bag, just for being new members. This year, expected winter produce includes kale, spinach, collards, radishes, beets, carrots, turnips, Swiss chard, French sorrel, arugula, salad mixes, bok choy, cabbage, celery, cilantro, dill, fennel, & green onions. Sugar peas will be available in winter & early spring. Expected spring produce includes tomatoes, peppers, radishes, beets, eggplant, summer squash, green beans, arugula, cucumbers, collards, kale, fennel, mint, and other herbs. Expected summer produce includes winter squash, edamame, eggplant, peppers, okra, arugula, basil, cucumbers, green onions, roselle, malabar spinach, & maybe cantaloupe & watermelon. See my pics for fall produce. (More to follow.) You can pick-up farm share produce in Montrose (at Plant It Forward Farm-U St. Thomas), Greenway/UK (Urban Harvest Eastside Farmer's Market), Rice Village (Local Foods), Sunset Heights, Southwest Houston (Plant it Forward Warehouse), Meyerland (both at the JCC & ERJCC Bertha Alyce School), South Main, Greater Fondren Southwest, Westbury, Sugarland, or Pearland. Or try Plant It Forward's veg at one of their seasonal farm stands, at Urban Harvest Eastside Farmers' Market, the University of St. Thomas, Braeswood Church, or Westbury Community Garden. Presently, the full cost of a CSA share starts at $580 for a 25 week season, $1120 for a 50 week season, for those paying by check, one month before the start of the next growing season. Though, near the end of the last growing season, we received a coupon for $10 off the price of the 25 week season or $20 off that of the 50 week season. So the cost of a share currently starts at $22 per week. This is a steal, compared to the cost of a Local Box from Greenling ($35.99 per week, for a comparable amount of produce, some of which comes from Plant It Forward Farms, anyway) or a share from Home Sweet Farm ($36 per week). And as Plant it Forward's farms are located in Houston, itself, if you live in Houston, you'll be getting truly local veg, rather than produce grown up to 100 miles away. Best of all, Plant It Forward offers not just outstanding produce, but outstanding customer service too. This season, I failed to spot that pick-up times had changed--my bad. But Farm Share Program Manager, Kassy R. went above and beyond, switching us to a pick-up point & time that worked for us, then switching us again to one that works even better. *Thanks, Kassy.* So Plant It Forward's employees aren't just relying on your bleeding heart goodness. They actually want your business. Wow. The winter growing season started this week. Stop by one of Plant It Forward's farm stands to purchase their produce, or contact Kassy at Kassy@Plant-It-Forward.org to join their farm share program. In all, Plant It Forward offers truly exceptional locally-grown, organic produce at a fair price, & offers outstanding customer service too. It also helps refugees earn a good standard of living. How can you argue with all that? Plant It Forward is a great cause & a great solution. Special thanks to Gretchen P. for mentioning Plant it Forward on Talk-Houston. This is the single best business I've found using Yelp. And we weren't even looking to join a CSA farm share program. But this one was just too good to pass up. read more

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**This review is based on the 1/2 acre farm on the campus of University of St Thomas. (Yelp admins decided not to separate the 2 locations, Willowbend & UST)** I love coming out here to volunteer when time permits! The farmer who runs it is Roy. He speaks English, Russian, French, and probably a couple of other languages. Nice, laid-back guy. They use raised beds to grow crops due to Houston's soil. Most of the crops grown are vegetables but some fruits are grown when in season. The farm isn't certified organic but they use organic methods. They use compost instead of chemicals. They use herbs such as, oregano, lavender, rosemary, to control pests. This farm has a farm stand to sell the harvest every Saturday 10am to 2pm. Cash only. Right now, what's in season/growing are: kale, swiss chard, tomatoes, malabar spinach, collard greens, orange carrots, sugar snap peas, snow peas, broccoli, fennel, lettuce. Other crops they grow during other parts of the year are: sweet potatoes, okra, blackberries, different squashes, basil, red tatsoi, edamame, bell peppers, roselle, bok choy, jujubes, grapefruit, lemons, broccoli, tangerines, radishes, jerusalem artichokes, gooseberries, arugula, amaranth, cucumbers, pomegranates, and so much more! What I love about Plant It Forward is not only do they strive to refrain from using harmful chemicals and materials in the crops, but their farms are located right in the city of Houston. Very convenient! Farms like this is what America needs today. Fresh, sustainable food grown from the earth near your doorstep. I would rather patronize small farmers, like Plant It Forward, over the big agriculture corporations responsible for food sold at your child's school cafeteria, grocery stores, movie theaters, gas stations, hospitals, franchise restaurants, vending machines, sport stadiums, the food you eat on domestic and international flights, and the list goes on. Just ponder for a second about where all that money goes to and how it affects you, me, and every living being. If you get a chance, it is worth visiting this location. Trust me, it really is. People walking or driving by, stop and poke their nose at what's being grown. read more

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O HAI, 800th review! How did that even happen?! So I first heard about Plant It Forward through Erin A. She wasn't able to pick up her weekly share and encouraged me to help myself to it. I had heavily contemplated becoming a better farmers market shopper and supporter of local business up until this point, but you know, never really did anything about it (shocking, I know!). Thus, I happily accepted Erin's offer and picked up a huge up bagful (bring your own bags, by they way, the plastic sack up some of the smaller veggies, but the big ole leafy greens are merely rubber banded up) of gorgeous produce at the University of St. Thomas pick-up spot. The husband and I proceeded to slowly graze away at the insanely delicious vegetables - through salads, a stir fry, in roasted form, etc. We actually half-seriously discussed signing up for PIF ourselves but we weren't conveniently located near a pick-up spot at the time, nor did we have much in terms of an inspiring kitchen (shared a tiny lil apartment), so we were content to reminisce about that one time Erin kindly hooked us up with some of the best vegetables we've ever experienced! Erin's review contains a pretty thorough and excellent description of how the farm shares works, what to expect, so I won't go into my usual fumbling details about this "business," but it is a pretty darn amazing cause! More info here - http://plant-it-forward.org Additionally, Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" recently profiled PIF when he stopped by Houston, which is pretty darn neat - so if that's still available anywhere for viewing, I would suggest that too. PIF also sells its fantastic produce at the City Hall Farmers Market perchance you wanted to sample the goodies before committing to a membership. Once the husband and I realized a pick up spot was literally down the street from us, we proceeded to sign up for the Petit Share. It sometimes seems pretty overwhelming for the two of us - I mean, I sort of think I could die happy if I never swallowed another bit of arugula pesto (aside from salad, what the hell can I do with all this arugula?!!!). On the bright green and healthy side, I'm pretty sure my vegetable consumption has drastically risen since joining PIF and it was already pretty freaking high with my vegan self. If you have a larger family or are more keen on daily food prep and cooking, the Grande Share would be your best bet. Grande Share usually has the upgraded stuff - for example, the actual root vegetable, while Petite Share receives the leaves of that vegetable. Admittedly, we have received a number of new and unknown vegetables that we've had to education ourselves about and occasionally, end up wasting (just didn't know how to prepare in a palatable way) or giving it away. And yes, everything does taste immensely better and fresher than HEB-purchased produce! It seems that PIF does thoroughly rinse the vegetables and fruits before bundling them up, but a good rinse at home might be necessary to loosen up some of the residual soil. I will mention that lately, the produce has been lackluster because the farmers were hardcore hit by the hard freeze and the flooding in recent months. So we've been receiving a downsized share as of lately and some of it isn't in the most glorious shape, but hey it happens. I'm sure they'll recover soon enough. If you neglect to pick up your weekly share (we've forgotten a couple of times) on the designated date and time, tough cookies, as you've already prepaid for it. But you can always assign it to a friend, just make sure said friend understands the protocol. For example, "or" means "OR!" This might be an issue unique to my pick up spot, but often the Petite Share cooler will state X OR Y between some of the options, but occasionally a Petite Sharers will go ahead and help herself or himself to BOTH of the options. Kind of bummer if you pick up later in the day, as you might not be able to help yourself to either option! Thankfully there is a trade basket that you can place items you don't want or trade them . . . so I've helped myself to one of those in the instances that earlier Petit Sharers have mistakenly treated themselves to both "or" options. If you can pick up earlier (for me, it's starting at 3:30 p.m.), please do so, to avoid this slight annoyance. Anyway, sorry about that little rant. I do love PIF and if there's a pick up spot near you, it's worth a try! Not only can you support an amazing cause, you reap amazing edible goodies in the process of doing so. read more