Last winter, with their baby strapped securely into a snuggly, Dina Rudick and Erik Jacobs went door to door in their Hillside neighborhood, spreading the word about Plough and Stars, a community supported agriculture project that the couple was launching.

As they talked with neighbors, including many they were meeting for the first time, the eager couple explained they planned to grow vegetables on nearby farmland. Come spring, they would deliver their freshly harvested vegetables to the neighborhood once a week.

In a CSA, as these groups are known, members pay a deposit towards the future purchase of locally grown produce farmers typically distribute weekly from the farm or other central location.

The Plough and Stars model offered a differed twist to the more common model, bringing the produce grown specifically for the Hillside right into the neighborhood.

Now, after unexpected hurdles, Rudick and Jacobs have become the neighborhood�s farmers, realizing an improbable dream they have nurtured over several years.

More than 40 households signed up as founding members of the new CSA and there�s a waiting list with some 50 households and growing.

Three weeks ago, on a Saturday morning, CSA members scooped up their glorious bunches of purple kohlrabi, tangy radishes, lettuce, rainbow chard and red Russian kale at Plough and Stars� celebration during the first week of a full distribution.

Local musicians Ryan Alvanos and Raleigh Green livened the morning as people gathered on the back lawn of Jacobs� and Rudick�s home to pick up their orders, munched on homemade cookies and spent time getting to know one another.

"It was outrageously exciting," Jacobs told the Transcript in a conversation the following week.

"For years, we�ve been carrying around this idea that we�re going to be farmers," Rudick added. "Are we really going to do this? But now, � it couldn�t be any more real. We have these moments and we look at each other and say, �This is happening!�"

Jacobs, 36,�and Rudick, 34,�grow their produce on two acres of conservation land leased by the town of Lincoln. They are growing 42 different vegetables, with some 120 varieties. In addition to early crops of lettuce, chard and radishes, they will have peppers, eggplants, broccoli, potatoes, herbs and more.

While they are not a certified organic farm, they are using 100 percent organic methods.

Non-CSA members are welcome to purchase additional produce and can check availability or sign up for weekly email notices.

Jared Judson was among the neighborhood CSA members who stopped by for the gathering along with his wife and young daughter. He�s happy to support Plough and Stars.

"You know it�s grown locally and we want to support someone local trying to start a small business. And, it looks fantastic," he added. "They clearly have a green thumb."

Jacobs called the entire venture a connection.

"For us, [farming] means a connection to the earth, connection to a community, connection to our work and connection to our food," Jacobs wrote in an email. "We constantly struggle with the hurried and consumptive nature of our lives and farming is a bit of an outlet which helps quell the noise."

Unlikely farmers

Jacobs and Rudick may seem an unlikely couple to embrace farming. She grew up "a country girl," in Canton, Ohio and was on a pre-med track in college, expecting to become a doctor. He grew up in Asheville, N.C. and earned his college degree in exercise science.

Both pursued unexpected detours from their early career choices. Jacobs and Rudick are now widely acclaimed award winning photojournalists and videographers.

Rudick is a staff photographer for the Boston Globe. Jacobs� work appears in national and international publications including Time, Newsweek, The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Both have traveled the world on assignments.

They met when Jacobs was a photography intern at the Boston Globe, and their love kindled in 2005, when they were both assigned to cover Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. They married in 2006.

Their journey to Plough and Stars took root after settling in their new home in Medford, in 2008. Rudick began cultivating a garden and her enthusiasm proved infectious.

"Yard days were the things we looked forward to more than anything," Jacobs recalled of the time they carved out to work together in their garden.

They enjoyed cooking and sharing meals with friends and Rudick developed a popular blog, called citylovescountry.com, where she wrote about food and gardening.

"The biggest idea was feeling connected to nature in an urban environment," she said.

Over the next three years, the couple talked often about farming though it seemed unrealistic given the financial risks and their plans to start a family. They were influenced by the writings of Wendell Berry, a philosopher, poet and environmental activist who writes about the value of being rooted in a community.

A pivotal turning point came in 2011, when Jacobs learned about the Farm School in western Massachusetts, an organization that trains adults to become farmers and runs educational programs for young people. He was inspired by meeting members of the organization who were living the ideals he and Rudick shared.

They signed up Jacobs for a year�s commitment to the Farm School. The day he left proved momentous, as they confirmed Rudick�s long sought-after pregnancy.

Rudick continued working at the Boston Globe and joined Jacobs on weekends, at one point helping to plant 10,000 onion seedlings. He wrote about his experience in articles for the Boston Globe.

Soon after the birth of their son last year, Rudick and their newborn joined Jacobs at the Farm School for the remaining time in the training program.

Today, they are proud of having created a CSA for the Hillside neighborhood.

"The core of what we always wanted to do was grow food for people we knew and loved," Jacobs said.

Rudick agreed.

"I�m constantly filled up by the sense that Erik and I are such a team and we�re ...living to the edge of our experience, but doing it together," she said. "...right now, following our ideals in this way, feels right."

� For more information, visit http://ploughandstarsproject.com/csa/

ONLINE

Check out the distraction at http://vimeo.com/dinarudick/csa!