Welcome To…

Who We Are

StPete.LocallyGrown.net is an online produce Market connecting St. Petersburg consumers with St. Petersburg’s growers of chemical-free produce and products. We do not sell conventionally grown produce, period. This Market was founded in January 2011 by the Levy’s (of Nathan’s Natural Veggies) to expand the variety of freshly harvested chemical-free produce available to our small group of friends and neighbors with whom we were sharing our homegrown produce.

Our Mission

  • We are helping to recreate a small town farming community in St. Petersburg. Limitations of personal urban spaces compel us to organize other local “urban farmers” (growing chemical-free in our backyards) and get all our excess produce to market to those who choose not to grow their own food. In this way, our collective produce strengthens our individual selling power and creates a convenient, one-stop-shopping variety for local residents.
  • We work hard to provide ways to educate our customers on how to grow their own food and how to prepare vegetables that are new to their household menu. We provide educational lectures that encourage and support a healthy lifestyle.
  • We strive to balance our customers’ needs with our need for a prudent business model. As we evolve, we will be counting on our customers’ feedback to help us improve, with the understanding that we (The Market) will not always be able to please everyone. But we will try! We want your business for the long-term. Open an account in The Market section.

Why You Should Buy From Us

  • Conventionally grown produce at the local grocery store is pretty to look at. The tomatoes are perfectly round and red. All the greens are clean and sprayed with water around the clock. The carrots are crisp and impressively long and straight. But if you look deeper, it’s not so pretty: The tomatoes are gassed when they’re green to turn red so they will last longer. The greens were grown with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The carrots are covered with an invisible petroleum-based membrane that keeps them crisp for months. We only sell organically grown, chemical-free vegetables and they are fresher than both conventional AND organic produce sold in local stores. Since they are grown locally—much of it within the city of St. Petersburg, our vegetables are picked fresh to order within 24 hours of delivery.
  • You are decreasing your carbon footprint by buying locally grown produce, lessening the need to transport vegetables in from other parts of the state or country. Most importantly, you are contributing healthier food to your most sacred environment, your body!

Standards of Quality

Our standards are high and we want to provide the best locally grown, chemical-free vegetables you can buy. Our Market vegetables may not always be as pretty or as large as conventionally fertilized vegetables. You may have to let that tomato sit on the window sill a day or two to fully ripen. You will probably have to give those greens a good washing. Our swiss chard leaves may have a hole here or there. Cauliflower heads are usually smaller than conventionally grown but so much sweeter! A couple of wonky carrots in your batch should add character to the bunch. We hope you’re not turned off by any of these quirks, but instead embrace them as a sign of authenticity. Our vegetables are grown in local gardens and backyards. They are not hit with chemicals. They are not engineered or covered in oil. And many of our growers do not extensively clean their vegetables because getting them wet speeds spoilage.

What We Ask of You

  • Become a customer and support our Mission with your dollars. Also, become a Grower for our Market and/or help us find Growers. To satisfy our bulging customer base, we need St. Petersburg growers of chemical-free produce to join our online Market. We know you are out there! We have a resource who will help you get started! Just ask. See Q & A’s section on how to become a Grower. No garden is too small for this effort and there is no longer any excuse for not starting your own chemical-free garden to earn extra dollars in this challenging economy.
  • Help us by having high expectations from your delivered order. If any product you buy is not up to your standards, we want to know asap. We will gladly refund your money or give you credit to choose something else. That said, we do request that you inspect your delivery once you receive your order.

Our Pricing

As you might imagine, it is difficult for us to compare our pricing with that of local retailers because our produces cannot be equitably compared. Our produce is picked the day the customer takes ownership compared to (so much of it) that which is trucked in and stored before a customer can examine and purchase. What price can you assign to “truly fresh” and still keep it affordable? Even though we are chemical-free and not certified organic, our produce is fresher than most USDA produce sold by local retailers. Our pricing reflects our philosophy that healthy fresh chemical-free produce has to be affordable for the general population. Every day, we strive to meet this challenge.

FAQ’s

We highly recommend that you review the Q & A’s section where you will learn quickly how we operate and what to expect.