Cypress couple’s co-op focuses on fresh
Cypress residents Brandi and Jack McRill are doing their part to encourage neighbors to eat farm-fresh produce.
The couple started a co-op on the north side of Houston — Cypress Family Farm to Kitchen — linking farmers to foodies on the hunt for quality fruits and vegetables.
“I thought this was needed in the Cypress area,” Brandi McRill said.
She used to go to farmers markets on weekends but found that Saturdays and Sundays were often too busy to break away.
“We have busy lives,” she said. “We really appreciate our Saturdays and Sundays. That’s all the free time we get.”
Groups in Houston that offered “community supported agriculture” or CSAs were too centrally located to be convenient, McRill said.
In July, she decided to start her own. The way it works is simple. Anyone interested in getting a “share” of vegetables signs up a week in advance and pays $30.
Each week, McRill collects the funds and shops for fresh crops from area farmers who are committed to not use pesticides. Then, she divides the produce for each order. One week’s shares, for example, included strawberries, snow peas, spring onions, cauliflower, collard greens and carrots.
“It’s whatever the farmer is able to harvest,” she said. “We try to teach people how to eat by the season.”
Individuals pick up their seasonal goods from McRill on Wednesdays. She sets up shop in a parking lot located on the corner of Huffmeister Road and Spring Cypress Road.
“We found some great farms in Cypress and surrounding areas,” McRill said.
She travels to farms weekly and has developed relationships with area farmers to ensure that the crops are chemical-free.
McRill has also started a Facebook page and Pinterest site to share recipes with group members, who now number about 30.
Her goal is to make it easy to eat healthy.
“You have a lot of people with small children who are all over the place — soccer practice, softball practice, gymnastics,” she said. “Then on weekends, they have to go to games.”
McRill said people have signed up for shares through word of mouth.
“We got people right off the bat,” she said. “It was easy.”
McRill said another main mission is to sup- port area farmers. Whenever she collects a profit from her enterprise, she gives it back to farmers for seed money. She also hosts fundraisers for the farmers and is working on developing a scholarship fund to support the Cy-Fair FFA.
“By eating locally and knowing your farmer, it empowers you,” McRill said. “You know what you’re ingesting and where it’s coming from.”
Eventually, she hopes to grow Cypress Family Farm to Kitchen to where there are multiple locations to pick up food shares.
“But we want to take this first year to work out all the kinks,” McRill said.
Cypress resident Gretchen Lewis found out about McRill through a neighbor.
“I felt there was a lack of accessibility, and Brandi’s filling that gap,” Lewis said. “She’s made it really easy to get food from farmers instead of going to the grocery store.”
Lewis enjoys planning meals based on what she picks up each week.
“It’s so much fun for me,” she said. “Brandi makes it possible to eat fresh produce that’s in season.”
Lewis said that supporting local farmers is important.
“It infuses our local economy,” she said.
As the mother of three children, Lewis said that staying away from food with chemicals is her top priority.
“All the stuff in the grocery store is covered in wax and pesticides,” Lewis said. “I don’t want my kids to eat that.”
She has already noticed a change in her family’s diet. The menu includes more salads and vegetables.
“You can just tell the difference,” Lewis said.
She admires McRill for taking the time to make all of this happen.
“She’s inspired me,” Lewis said.