From broccoli to cilantro, Sheila Cordrey, an employee of University Extension's English as a Second Language program, likes to know where her food is coming from and that it is pesticide-free. For the past year on each Thursday, Cordrey has participated in the Student Harvests program at the Student Farm. Last week, she brought home broccoli, carrots, chard, cauliflower, greens, garlic, lettuce, red cabbage, butternut squash and cilantro in her basket. Cordrey is doing more than getting fresh produce. She is participating in community-supported agriculture, a type of small farm agriculture that builds a cooperative relationship between the customers and farmers through direct marketing. The Student Farm offers monthly and quarterly subscriptions of seasonal produce for $12 per week to customers like Cordrey. Mark Van Horn, a coordinator at the farm, says that the subscription program was implemented about three years ago in response to the success of other community supported agriculture programs implemented by organic farms in the area. With 20 to 40 subscribers per quarter, the program is considered a success by Van Horn. In fact, coordinators at the Student Farm decided to limit the number of their subscriptions so that the students can handle the demand. Besides the subscription program, the farm is also busy providing produce to the Coffee House. Beyond limited capacity of the farm, Van Horn says, "When you make a weekly basket of produce, you have to have a certain amount of diversity." The farm prevents consumer boredom by producing a smaller quantity of several crops. Since the farm is primarily a teaching facility supported by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, he says that it's "great to have all different types of crops." Students have an opportunity to learn about a wide variety of plants. At the student farm, they try to involve students in all phases of crop production, from planting to harvesting. If the production got too large, students wouldn't be able to get such a diverse education, points out Van Horn. The farm draws from students in all majors. Bapu Vaitla, an undergraduate in Nature and Culture and volunteer at the Student Farm, decided to work at Student Harvests because he wanted to learn more about organic farming. He says that community-supported farms "educate the community about the limitations of the land. They allow consumers to understand how difficult it is to raise food." He also believes the variety of produce teaches consumers about the seasonal nature of food and its geographic restrictions. One person who has learned about the seasonal restrictions is ecology graduate student Heather Podoll, who began splitting baskets a year and a half ago with a friend. When Podoll began purchasing baskets, she didn't know what to do with much of her produce that was unfamiliar to her. "I saw it as a challenge to figure out how to use them," she says. Besides being exposed to different types of foods, Podoll has also realized what's available throughout the seasons. When she goes to the Davis Farmer's Market, she can now anticipate what the vendors will be selling. Subscriber Cordrey also enjoys the seasonal nature of the baskets, pointing to the "unusual things that you don't find at the supermarket."