About CSA

This year we will be offering a CSA program to the public. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and in practice there is some variation as to what that term means. A good general definition of CSA is that it’s a subscription plan whereby members get a share of the vegetables grown during a set season. Typically that season is about 20-30 weeks during the prime growing and harvest period, about June through late November.

The spirit of a CSA is the inclusion of its members into the farming process. CSA shareholders help decide, through surveys what crops will be grown for the member households and often come to work on field days where they help with farm chores. The farm is an extension of the community it serves and is supported by that community.

CSA shares are paid at the beginning of the season so that the farm family has money for seed, fertilizer and labor to plant and tend crops. Oftentimes this early season capital is necessary as farm loans through traditional farm lenders, those serving conventional agriculture, are not available to organic producers like us. hare holders assume some of the risks of production, since farming is a unique enterprise with its own set of uncertainties. However, we diversify our crops and plantings so , after many years of production experience, we can usually and reliably make crops for most products we grow.

So the community supports the farmer to help with capital and risk and the farm family grows fresh wholesome food for the community that supports them. The community benefits in other ways as well. One important way is that the community helps to keep local agriculture sustainable and farm families on the land by allowing them to earn a living wage for their hard work. We are all aware of the disturbing trend of the loss of the American farm and the American farmer and the great distances food is typically shipped before it’s consumed. America is ever increasingly eating old food. CSA’s help to reverse those unsustainable trends by keeping farms near the communities they serve greatly reducing the time it takes from harvest to table, it’s like garden fresh food! An extra benefit is that members get to see and know how their food is being grown and the farmers who grow it. After all, food is a pretty intimate business as the products we farmers produce goes inside of people’s bodies. CSA shareholders support the production of food grown with integrity and respect for the land.