For years, I would see a vegetable like okra or mustard greens in a grocery store and imagine what it would be like to make a delicious meal with such exotic ingredients. I was constantly promising myself that next week I would find recipes to fulfill my culinary fantasies. But as the weeks passed, it became obvious that I needed something else to get my creativity going. Fortunately, my fiancé knows me incredibly well, and he gave me a CSA subscription as a gift.
A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) subscription is an investment in a farm through the purchase of a share of a farm’s yearly harvest. The most poplar model consists of only vegetables, but many farms have begun to offer additional products including fruit, meat, eggs, and even honey, by expanding their growing or partnering with other farms within the community. Since household sizes vary, many farms offer several sized shares to suit individual needs. Typical models require a commitment at the start of each year so farms can spread the uncontrollable risks of farming, such as weather and disease, across many investors. Younger farms also use this income as beginning cash flow at the start of each season.
Reflecting back on my first CSA subscription to Eatwell Farms in Northern California, I feel blessed to have begun with one of the best models I have found to date. We enrolled in a bi-weekly distribution, perfect for two people, made up primarily of vegetables, though it did include occasional fruit at peak season, or a surplus from neighboring farms. We also got a dozen eggs each week. We were regarded as part of a community in the largest sense of the word. We stopped by another member’s home on our designated pick-up day to get our goods, and we got to know other members through farm events like peanut-roasting, beer-drinking, and tomato-canning parties. We were also included in decisions like how to source chicken feed to match the majority interest of all subscribers. What's more was that the community-submitted recipes that graced the pages of our weekly newsletter (as well as the online community discussions) helped push my cooking skills to what I now proudly consider expert level. I looked forward to "Eatwell Fridays" more than I can express and literally cried at the thought of giving up my membership when I ventured away from the Bay Area.
In my experience as both a member of a CSA and a worker on a CSA farm, I've heard a wide array of feedback about the CSA model. But I can say emphatically that the perks of buying into a CSA far outweigh any inconveniences. Here are just a few:
- Seasonal eating will take on new meanings as you receive a bounty of each produce item as it reaches its prime. You will be as ecstatic to receive a surplus of red peppers, as you will be sad to see the potato season dwindle down in the fall.
- You will be pushed and rewarded to incorporate vegetables in your meals that have otherwise scared you away. You will also discover many ways to cook the same vegetable as your craving for variety kicks in at the start and end of the season.
- A membership is an avenue for getting to know your farmers and the methods they use, which is as important as organic regulation becomes increasingly cloudy. You will also be in the loop when its been a bad year for a certain crop due to weather or disease and learn to appreciate when nature’s wonders line up to grow amazingly fresh food.
- The amount you pay for produce each week is substantially lower than the costs of shopping in a grocery store and you will feel the savings, especially in the heart of the summer.
- You can find a membership option that suits your family’s needs and many farms have mastered setting themselves apart by establishing flexible options.
Simple Good and Tasty has put together a directory of CSAs to get you started on your search. I've listed some highlights here:
Featherstone Farm
As Lee wrote last month about Featherstone Farms, "CSA Coordinator Margaret Marshall is updating the farm’s website, and... plans to launch a series of social media initiatives, including videos, recipes, blog posts, and tweets, all in an effort to delight and engage Featherstone’s customers."
Clinton Falls Farm
It’s common to find farms that team up to provide an increased variety as Clinton Falls Farm does with O-Wata-Farm to provide eggs to their customers. (Other farms do it with honey, or maple syrup, or beef, or fruit.)
Foxtail Farm
If a large up-front cost is intimidating, and you don't mind getting your hands dirty, consider joining Foxtail Farm or a farm that offers hands-on work in exchange for a reduced membership rate.
Big Woods Farm
If you are looking to concentrate on the community aspect of being part of a CSA, consider a farm like Big Woods Farm, which welcomes visitors and organizes events throughout the season, such as a fall squash and pumpkin potluck.
Laughing Stalk Farmstead
If the inability to choose your weekly selection is giving you pause, consider Laughing Stalk Farmstead, which gives you the option to "build your own box."
Please do your research when selecting a farm. Feel free to call the farm to ask questions or request references if the farm has offered a CSA in prior years. CSAs often work out best when there are no surprises besides the wonderful new vegetables that will become part of your weekly meals. 
Alicia Jabbar is a self-described foodie, cook, and advocate for local and delicious foods. Alicia spent several years living in San Francisco, but last year spent seven months living and working on a farm on the East Coast. Now she's in Boulder, Colorado, where she is pursuing an opportunity to become an organic farmer. The single best aspect about food, she says, is the community it engages and the conversation it creates. We couldn't agree more.
Comments
Disclaimer: what I write below is not meant to dissuade you from joining a CSA. I just want to provide you with our own experiences and what alternatives we employ instead which work better for us.
Back in 2008 we joined a CSA along with my wife's cousin and her husband. I was embarking on my journey into eating what I hoped would one day become a 100% organic and local diet. What I found was that the CSA, while wonderful in theory and heavily advocated by the local/organic foodies of Minnesota, did not work for my family.
After much research into the topic I decided on Harmony Valley Farm out of WI. They had everything we wanted: a local drop-off close to our home (about 7 miles road distance) with convenient hours, a flexible plan (you choose the weeks, rather than sitting on a set schedule), payment plan, and payment via credit card. Perfect.
Now, I loved the idea that I was going to be supporting a "local" (everyone's definition of 'local' is different, this fit mine) grower who had been struggling lately due to flooding. We'd be getting organic produce delivered close to home and it would give us variety and seasonality unmatched by other sources. Sweet.
The first box was smallish in size. Ah, the beginning of the season--not much in there eh? Well, our contribution (about 2x as much as we'd pay elsewhere) was going to a local grower and it all looked great. I even tried to eat the nettles which normally revolt me due to their sting as I brush by them in short sleeves on hikes through the woods. The ultimate revenge--consuming them!
But time and time again we received boxes which were took small and loaded with vegetables that I had no idea what they were or what to do with them. Scouring the recipes provided (which did absolutely nothing for my wife as she's into more standard eating) and the Internet I spent too much of my time cooking dishes that weren't at all enjoyable for everyone in the family. My wife's cousin and her husband had busy schedules and were finding that they'd eat the mixed greens and leave much of the rest to rot--which it quickly did.
By the end of the season when I was expecting loads of tomatoes for canning and corn like I'd never seen before, I found the boxes still lacking--yet another poor growing season and more flooding had killed off their crops and thus our boxes. Other people seemed thrilled to be paying good money for this, why wasn't I enjoying it as much?
Well, at the end of the day we decided that a CSA just wasn't for us. My wife wasn't adventurous, we no longer had a family willing to share the boxes with, and I had moved on to other more inexpensive ways at getting local and/or semi-organic vegetables instead.
I started shopping the local farmers markets (on Thursday downtown as well as Saturdays in Minneapolis) and I always asked where their farm was located (most were in Farmington that I spoke with--making my definition of 'local' even closer to my home in Apple Valley). I found local growers with stands either roadside or in their own homes who stated that while they weren't certified organic, they promised/swore/crossed their hearts and hoped to die that they weren't using many (if any) chemicals. I started shopping at my local co-op and eventually became a member and kept my promise to buy vegetables that were marked as local and organic.
Our vegetable budget dropped, my wife was happier, and we were still adhering to the principals which I set out to make when I embarked on my CSA adventure. While certainly not 100% organic, I find that I am much happier with my personal choice and still hope that some day, when money permits, I will find another CSA which may fit my family's pretty standard vegetable eating.
Good luck everyone in finding what's best for you and your own family!
Bill, I can completely see where you are coming from with this post. This will be our 3rd year with HV, and while I still love it, I would have been ok with stopping it and just shopping at Farmers Markets or at our Co-op.
I think it comes down to how you cook. If you'd rather create a menu for the week and then pick up the produce you'll need for it, Farmers Markets are the way to go. It will be cheaper and you can buy just what you need.
We've really enjoyed getting the random veggies each week, trying new recipes all the time. But it takes a lot of planning and being open to new meals. And with a baby coming this May, I worry about coming up with stuff to do with it all this year, and having a wife that will want to eat it.
We were CSA members for 3 years, and won't be renewing this year. I loved that the CSA introduced us to new vegetables - chard, garlic scapes, and kohlrabi are just a few of the things I had never eaten before, but now love and will buy at the farmer's market. But there's only so much kohlrabi two people can eat, and our preschooler refuses to touch it. The lack of control is really hard. Also, as Bill said, we can easily shop locally at the farmer's markets, and usually more locally than our CSA farm, which is a few hours away, in Wisconsin. I loved the CSA and I am glad we were members while we were, but it just doesn't make sense for our family any more.
It is certainly interesting to see the view from the other side of the drop site.
CSA is not for everyone. And not all CSAs are the same. Also, it must be noted that CSA is not just a way to get low priced veggies. There is real risk in farming and CSA members share that risk. Imagine being the CSA farmer who gets hailed out in late July. What do you do ?
When Mary and I take a box on Tuesday, we are usually done with it by Friday. So we are always looking in the boxes thinking 'Is that going to be enough ?'
One of our CSA members suggested steaming kohlrabi and eating it with salt and pepper and butter. Her mother put Hollandaise sauce on it. Cooked is much better than raw.
Greg
Riverbend Farm
Thanks everyone - agree, agree, agree. I am a huge CSA fan, with the caveat that it's definitely not for everyone. In addition to agreeing with all of your points, I'd add that I actually find it easier to get my CSA box and figure out what to cook using its ingredients than wandering around the co-op or grocery store or perusing cookbooks trying to find ideas.
I support my local co-op and farmers market, for sure - I'm grateful for them both! - but I cannot wait to get my produce directly from the farmers again.
CSAs have an advantage over farmer's markets though, in that most of them provide organically-grown produce. At least here in the Cities, there are very few organic vendors at the farmer's markets, and their prices are significantly higher.
Also, with CSAs, you can find farms that practice strict organic farming methods, but haven't spent the time/money/energy on becoming certified. In three years with three different CSAs, we got far more produce for our money with the one that was organic, but not certified as such.
In bloomington, IN we have a great farmers market and some good CSAs too. the best CSA for me was one that offered half portions of their typical box. I liked that it forced me to eat more seasonally and wasn't too much. I'd pick up the CSA at the farmers market and if it was lacking something I wanted I could pick up the other things at the farmers market since I wasn't inundated with too much produce from the CSA half share.
Just as plants grow and change so do peoples ideas about local food. What does local mean? How do I wish to be part of my local food system? What kind of relationship do I want? It's great to see people talking about these things and thinking about them no matter what kind of food they eat. As mentioned above we have a "build your own box" share that offers the flexibility of a farmer's market, the benefits of having a close relationship with your farmer, and the perks (and risk) of being part of a CSA. This sounds like what the previous poster has found in Indiana.
As a CSA farmer myself, and with honest and close friends as customers, I can see where Bill is coming from in the first comment. As a customer I would be frustrated if I hadn't had my expectations set properly, and got faced with those circumstances. We've not had any environmental disasters to contend with on our farm (and never will - speak it!) but that is probably one of hardest situations to overcome as a CSA farmer, even though it's clearly spelled out as a possibility to our members ahead of time. There's a significant emotional tie between farmer and consumer with a CSA, and we don't want to give that news just as much as our customers don't want to receive it.
On the flip side, we see CSA farming as:
1) An adventure in new and different varieties of produce, including some surprises. Most of America has grown accustomed to one kind of potato, two kinds of onions, one kind of carrot, etc., and gently forcing yourself into a situation where you have dozens of new options is kind of exciting. At The Farm, we're fully aware that many of our customers wont enjoy one or more item throughout the season, but the added biodiversity is good for everyone. It opens doors.
2) A way to truly connect with a local farm, beyond a transaction. Participating in the events held at the farm, and speaking on a regular basis with the farmer and other members is critical to that relationship. There is an intangible feeling of supporting someone and something directly and personally, which is less present or not present at all in other types of transactions.
Of course as a customer, neither of those points may excite, but if you enter into a CSA without consciously wanting those things you may not have the full experience. As much as we think they should be, CSA's just aren't for everyone, and local co-ops, farmers markets, and other resources are equally important avenues for finding local produce for that segment of the population.
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