Britton youth start their own garden business

Love garden produce but not the gardening? Then, Coteau Sunrise Farm has a summer bargain for you.

Tom and Marcey Jones of Britton started their children on a new adventure last summer. Junior Tomi Lynn, freshman Blaze and eighth-grader Trey run a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) business that they’ve named Coteau Sunrise Farm.

It is a local food system in which they produce food and provide it directly to consumers under a membership agreement. They sell shares of their garden.

As their brochure says, “Locally produced fruit and vegetables decreases the miles that food travels before it arrives at your table.”

Their mission is “To provide you, our friends and neighbors, with wholesome, fresh, organically principled, locally grown food directly from our farm to your table.”

“People across the country are looking to regain a sense of connection with where their food comes from. Here in rural South Dakota, it seems silly to think that people don’t understand this, but the average mouthful of food that you eat tonight will have traveled 2200 miles to get there according to USDA information,” Tom said. “Gardening is a great way to help be environmentally responsible.”

Read the full story by the Britton Journal’s Marcia Forrester here (register first — it’s free) or learn more about Coteau Sunrise Farm here.

Caption for top photo: The Jones family of Britton began a garden project selling produce to area residents last summer and plans to expand this year. Trey, Tomi Lynn, and Blaze Jones display some of the produce sold last year. Photo by Marcia Forrester/Britton Journal