Farm Fresh Pizza Night serves up fresh ingredients and sustainable food systems

Troy Community Farm employee takes hot pizzas from the stone oven on Farm Fresh Pizza Night. (Laura Schmitt/Madison Commons)

Troy Community Farm hosted their fifth Farm Fresh Pizza Night on Thursday, serving over 100 oven-fresh pizzas topped with organic ingredients to Madison residents.

From 4-7 p.m. last Thursday, the workers of Troy Community Farm were busy flattening dough, arranging toppings and taking hot pizzas out of the stone oven in Troy Community Gardens to serve residents young and old who came out for pizza night. 

Troy Community Farm is a fully functional and certified Community Supported Agriculture farm within the city of Madison. The farm promotes sustainable food systems through its organic produce and education of the next farming generation.

Ida Yu, an apprentice in Troy Community Farm’s Beginning Farmer Training program, said although this is the first year the farm has hosted pizza nights, their success has been better than expected.

“We’ve been ramping up production every week,” Yu said. “We started at about 60 pizzas and do about 100 now, increasing by 10 or 15 pizzas every week.”

The farm serves three different types of pizza each week, and the menu changes depending on what ingredients are available from the garden. Previously , customers have been able to pick from Margarita, Creamy Potato, or Pickled Hot Peppers and Kale.

In addition to making pizzas, Troy Community Farm also sells their individual produce. While waiting for their pizza to bake, customers can peruse vegetables in the mini market, walk around the garden, or sit and listen to music.

Local Madison musician plays music in the Farm Stand where fresh Troy Community Farm produce is available for purchase. (Laura Schmitt/Madison Commons)

Annali Smucker-Bryan, a crew leader with the farm, believes pizza night is not only a great way to diversify the farm’s income but also a fun event that brings the community together. 

“We have our CSA members who will buy pizza, folks from co-op communities, friends of the farm, and a lot of folks who I don’t even know how they heard about it, which is really cool,” Smucker-Bryan said. “We are just trying to make it more of a community event. We’ve sold out every single time, and it looks like it’s going to be close again tonight”

Jenny Gapinski, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, attended pizza night for the first time after hearing about it from her dietetics professor.

“I think it’s really important to eat healthy food that you know has been grown in a natural environment,” Gapinksi said. “This is some of the best pizza I’ve ever had, and I know exactly where it’s from and who harvested it.” 

The next Farm Fresh Pizza Night will take place on Thursday, Sept. 29 from 4-7 p.m.

Chalkboard listing the menu and ingredients available for the week’s pizza night. (Laura Schmitt/Madison Commons)