The sun beat down relentlessly on an acre and a half stretch of dirt that would soon quench the thirst of anxious localvores across the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

However, last weekend’s North Texas heat did little to deter the progress of getting that land ready for a new development in Balch Springs. It isn’t everyday you get to be at the ground level of an urban farm, but those seeking organic, locally-grown food are taking the plunge with Balch Springs resident and businesswoman Marie Tedei.

 Tedei, owner of Eden’s OrganicGardenCenter, located at 4710 Pioneer Road, is working to produce a viable Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA as it is commonly known in organic farming circuits, right in her own backyard. The farm has been stamped as Certified Naturally Grown by a non-profit alternative certification program tailored for small-scale, direct-market farmers using natural methods.

“The main reason I decided to do this is because I noticed a huge gap in the marketplace for local produce,” Tedei said. “A CSA is the best way to achieve the goal.”

The way a CSA works is that people looking to buy locally-produced food purchase a share into the farm which helps with “seed” money and necessary upfront costs for the farmer. It creates a relationship between the farmer and the food-buying public. When fresh fruit and vegetables are ready to harvest, the members, or shareholders, of the CSA take home a weekly basket of food.

“You are able to start the farm without going into debt,” Tedei said. “With being a first-time farmer and CSA startup, some people were really excited about that. It has really encouraged me. What has been more rewarding than anything else is that those who have purchased shares are so appreciative but I couldn’t have done it without their support.”

Some of the shares in the CSA are work shares. People like Balch Springs resident William “Butch” Gordon and his family work the land in turn for their piece of the locally-produced pie. Along with the CSA, the Gordons have a plot of land in the community garden at Eden’s OrganicGardenCenter where they grow cantaloupe, peppers and other foods. He said he and his wife Charity found Tedei when they were looking for a co-op.

“Organics is a major part of it [working with the CSA],” Gordon said. “Anything to help with groceries. I have five kids!”

Currently Tedei has 20 shares with three work shares. Her goal is to grow to 30 shares with a total of five work shares. Out of the 14 total acres of her property, about an acre and a half has been plowed and an acre will be put “into production” — one third of it at a time, seasonally. 

“The first third will have fall crops, mostly cool weather stuff like cabbage, beets, broccoli, squash (winter and summer), onions (cutting type), and soon garlic, lettuce and other things that need it cooler to germinate,” she said.

Although Tedei is no stranger to preparing land, her humble beginnings steam from tending to a 10 foot by 10 foot garden in Chicago where she is originally from — although you would never know it, as she boosted several shovels full of horse manure mixed compost into a Kubota.

The long-term anticipated result is food rich in nutrients. Assistant farm manager Kevin Herron said that exact science is what separates organic farmers from the rest. He said composting and amendments are major differences from a conventional farm in which everything is plowed.

“When you plow, you kill the organisms,” he said. “That’s what helps the plant take in nutrients. Plowing kills the life in the soil.”

But Herron wasn’t exactly sold on the larger scale CSA in the beginning.

“I had to be talked into it. I’m the practical one,” he said with a laugh. “She’s the ‘let’s do it and worry about it later.’ I wanted to look at other options, a smaller area.”

Tedei said being an entrepreneur is what gives her that spirit of risk. And everyone going into the CSA has to realize those risks — weather, unforeseen setbacks and the unpredictability of Mother Nature. Despite all of that, Tedei said she has seen a large movement toward locally-grown food, especially after the tomato scare from earlier this year.

“I hate it took something like that to create interest in local food,” she said. “A lot of people are skeptical in general about organics, but how do you know what you are eating is really Grade A? Local farming is the best way to get to know the farmer — look them in the eye. Trust me; we don’t want to be around those chemicals either!”