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Farm Offers Memberships

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Tribune Staff

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 24, 2008

CARROLLWOOD - For those who love fresh vegetables and herbs, harvest time - beginning with sun-ripened tomatoes - is just around the corner at the Urban Oasis Hydroponic Farm. And now the farm is offering memberships, where folks can come by weekly and pick up their share of the harvest.

Since opening earlier this year, the farm has attracted customers who have come by to pick their own vegetables, but for those with farm memberships, owners Dave and Cathy Hume will harvest the crops and have them waiting for members on a designated pick-up day. Members will also get discounts on other purchases and first notice for special events and crops. The current planting schedule will support 50 memberships at the 2-acre site at 5416 W. Linebaugh Ave. Yearly memberships are $615.

Over the 30-week growing season from October through May, produce will include many varieties of tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, radishes, cucumbers, broccoli, okra, eggplant, Swiss chard, collard greens, spinach, sweet onions and a variety of herbs, according to a new release from the Humes. Crops that will be ready in October include a variety of lettuce, eggplant, squash, Swiss chard, tomatoes and many types of peppers.

Produce is grown hydroponically in vertical rows of stacking pots covered by shade cloth.

"We are the ultimate field-trip destination for schoolchildren," says Cathy Hume. "And when the season opens, we are a u-pick produce business too; everyone loves that."

For information about Urban Oasis, call (813) 293-3276, e-mail harvest@urbanoasisfarm.com or go to www.urbanoasisfarm.com.

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