The 3-Minute Interview

Brett Grohsgal

Grohsgal is owner of Even’ Star Organic Farm in Lexington Park, Md. His farm produces more than 120 varieties of vegetables, fruits and herbs, and is one of the few area organic farms to offer a winter community-supported agriculture program. Grohsgal operates the farm with his wife, Christine Bergmark, and his 10-year-old daughter.

Tell me a little about your farm, please.

We’ve been in business since 1997, and we own a little more than 100 acres. We chose the land based on the soil types. My wife and I met in graduate school in the soil science department at N.C. State, so that helped us make our decision. All 104 acres are fully organic.

What distinguishes your farm from other organic farms?

We specialize in winter cropping and plant many different varieties in September and October. Those are mostly greens, like lettuces, collards, kales, mustards. We have two greenhouses but we still plant 24 acres outside.

What sort of excitement have you seen surrounding organic farming?

I think that buying local is bigger than organic right now. Way bigger. And it’s been huge and unrelenting. It doesn’t matter how much food we grow, it’s almost all sold before we pick it.

What problems do organic farmers face in the Washington region?

What organic growers have real problems with — and that includes us — are crops that mandate spraying. Sweet corn is a classic case in point. It’s really hard to do sweet corn organically in this region. It’s almost impossible to do tree fruits like plums, cherries, peaches and apples organically around here. People do it, but they struggle with it.

Where can people find the products you grow?

We sell at the Chevy Chase Farmers Market on Saturdays and we sell wholesale to American University, Black Market Bistro, BlackSalt, Black’s and Addie’s. Those four restaurants are all owned by Jeff and Barbara Black, hence the name similarity. And we also sell to Grapeseed American Bistro.
– Markham Heid