CROZET Growing vegetables and raising chickens represent a small part of Innisfree Village's mission.

Founded in 1971 and situated on 550 acres of rural beauty in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Innisfree is a privately financed community for mentally disabled adults, a pastoral alternative to institutional living.

"We describe ourselves as a life-sharing and a working community where people come to settle down for their lives, learn some working skills and live in a family-style environment," said Trisha Costello, Innisfree's head gardener.

"What we do is intended to be therapeutic, but also meaningful, so that means we're doing real work."

That's where the gardening comes in.

Residents, volunteers and staff members tend the community's gardens -- tilling, planting, weeding, picking. The harvest supplies food to the tables of the various households in the community. About 35 other families nearby contract with Innisfree to provide them 5 to 20 pounds of fresh produce each week during the growing season in what is called a Community Supported Agriculture arrangement. CSAs are popular arrangements among "eat local" advocates.

Innisfree grows just about all kinds of vegetables, as well as herbs and flowers, and raises free-range chickens. Winter crops include cabbage, kale, broccoli and squash. It also has its own bakery.

-- Bill Lohmann