CSA / About CSA

This section describes what a CSA is and how it works on our farm. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and it generally means that the farm is directly supported by purchased memberships which entitle the members to a share of the year’s production during the growing season.  For our farm that season is about 22 weeks during the prime growing and harvest period, late June through late November.  
 
The spirit of a CSA is the inclusion of its members into the farm. Farm visits and weekly pick-ups give farm and member a connection to what is happening on the land. Last year we held one farm visit and this year we plan more. These interactions at the farm and during pick-ups, between farmer and shareholder families, create connection and community – your food is handcrafted locally by real people, people you get to meet - it is not a commodity produced by big corporate farms far away. Organic food, grown responsibly, in fields you can see, delivered fresh, at the height of flavor and nutrition, is what we are about.

CSA shares are typically paid at the beginning of the season so that we have money for the inputs that we need to grow your food; seed, fertilizer and labor to plant and tend crops. This early season capital is critical to the farm. Loans through traditional farm lenders are often not available to organic producers. Shareholders also assume some of the risks of production, since farming is a unique enterprise with its own set of uncertainties.  However, we take seriously the trust our members place with us. As experienced farmers we build in hedges against crop loss due to weather or other failure through the use of diversification and sequentially staggered plantings. This we produce a wide range of produce over an extended period of time consistently, year in and year out. Please see our LIST OF CROPS PAGE in this section.

There are other benefits for joining a CSA. Joining a local CSA helps our local business become profitable. Small business is the backbone of the economy. Money spent with small business typically rolls over 6 times before it exits the community. So CSA shareholders get to “have their veggies and eat them too!” Think of it as enlightened self interest. CSA membership helps us overcome a number of special challenges not faced by typical small businesses.   Market coordination between farm and consumer lessens waste of; food, water, resources, labor and capital and makes for a more profitable and sustainable farm enterprise. Profitability allows the farm family earns a living wage for their hard work and keeps skilled growers on the land. We are all aware of the disturbing trend of the loss of American farms and the American farmer. Supporting local farms is a real way we do our part to ensure homeland security.

Supporting a CSA brings production of food closer to the consumer, providing a more nutritious and flavorful product, a much better value. We are painfully aware of the great distances food is shipped before it’s consumed. America is increasingly eating older food, treated with chemicals and preservatives and lower in nutrition and flavor. CSA’s help to reverse those trends by reducing the time it takes from harvest to table; it’s like garden fresh food!

CSA farms keep local farmland in production and maintain our green spaces. Green space is environmentally, defensively and psychologically important to our communities.   Having our farm close by benefits members who get to see how their food is being grown and meet the farmers who grow it. A farm visit is a happy enjoyable experience, there is just something fun about visiting a diverse productive vegetable farm on a bright sunny summer day!  Our CSA shareholders support the health and viability of the farm which directly impacts the health and viability of the community we serve, a truly green homegrown win- win arrangement. Thank you for joining and supporting our farm!