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For the last few years, Tony Brusco had noticed that people in and around Frederick County were interested in purchasing locally grown produce.

So Brusco, co-manager of South Mountain Creamery in Middletown, surveyed his dairy-delivery customers via e-mail to determine whether they would be interested in having local, organic produce delivered to their homes.

The response was overwhelming. More than 1,200 people replied and many of them were highly supportive.

So he came up with a workable business model, sent feelers out to local farms, and set up a way for people to register for the service online. He expected a low number of people to sign up at first, but did not realize the importance local residents are putting on where and how their fruits and vegetables are grown.

"I was just going to do it myself," Brusco said. "I figured I would have maybe 50 deliveries in a week and I would go on Sunday in a pickup truck with some coolers, and make some money on the side."

Instead, 900 people signed up, and South Mountain Veggies (www.southmountainveggie.com) was born. To start, Brusco had to cut the number of customers to 400. The business will only serve areas closer to Washington, D.C. when delivery starts in June. But Brusco hopes if interest levels are high enough, he will be able to expand to serve Frederick County.

"This first season we're sold out, so we're not going to be adding any new people, but by winter season … I would love to serve Frederick County, it's closest to home," Brusco said. "It was on my radar to start here. I want to deliver to Frederick County."

By connecting delivery customers with local organic farms, the service will provide a means for busy people to experience the expanding community agriculture movement.

Sarah Irani, founder of eatlocalfrederick.org, a Web site dedicated to local agriculture and community-supported agriculture (CSAs) says she is seeing an increase in concern about food sources.

"I know that local agriculture cannot meet the demand in Frederick County in the last couple of years," she said. Many area CSAs — farms where customers purchase shares in advance then split the bounty the food farmers grow — have had waiting lists for shares because of the number of interested customers, she said.

Irani, who used to receive shipments of vegetables from a CSA in West Virginia, believes that this increased interest in finding local sources for food can be tracked to the "unsustainable" system of grocery stores and industrial farming that currently feeds much of the populace. She said that it is a sign of the times, and a reaction to the uncertainty many feel around them, much as Victory Gardens were during World War II, which boosted morale by allowing people to feel more self-reliant.

"We're a very nervous country right now, so this idea that we can move closer to knowing our food source makes us feel safe. That if something happens, we have a farmer," she explained. "… There's a certain comfort that we're not totally dependent on, say, the oil industry, to bring us our food. A lot of people are moving in that direction. I think it's definitely increasing."

E-mail Connor Adams Sheets at csheets@gazette.net.