Several years ago, I was having a conversation about food with a fellow foodie and coworker of mine. She mentioned a great recipe that she had for Butternut Squash soup that she would share with me. The recipe came from her CSA when she picked up her weekly vegetable share. I’d never heard of a CSA, so I asked her about it. She explained that CSA stood for Community Supported Agriculture. It was essentially purchasing a share of a farm. You pay one price that entitled you to get a weekly share of the farm’s harvest. I was intrigued to learn about this, and like many things that intrigue me, the thought got buried in the back of my mind.
Last year, as my passion for farm-to-table grew, I discovered a chicken CSA in Pottstown (Snouts and Sprouts, mentioned in last week’s Farm-to-Table post). It reminded me that I needed to search for a local CSA to provide us with fruits and vegetables. I did a quick Google search and came upon Red Earth Farms, in Kempton, PA. They offered full and half CSA vegetable shares. You could also purchase fruit and dairy shares. While the actual farm was about 40 miles away, they delivered to various spots across the Lehigh Valley where you could pick up your weekly share. I was so excited about this find! Once I purchased my share, the farm had me fill out a questionnaire about what types of fruits and vegetables my family liked and they would use this information to customize our share each week. We decided to purchase the full weekly vegetable and fruit share. We also added on a cheese share, which included 2 cheeses from a local dairy every other week. Since our pick up day was Wednesday, I would get an email each Friday that would have my weekly share “pre-populated.” I could then go on to the farm’s website and edit my share, removing any items that I didn’t want and adding available items that I did want. I could also add on any extras like eggs, fresh flowers, etc. It was amazing!
With all that said, you might be wondering what the investment is like and whether a CSA membership is for you. Our current membership is a full share and costs $700. Before you have a heart attack, keep in mind that cost covers 20 weekly deliveries from June to October and breaks down to about $35 per week. They also offer half shares at a cost of $400, which is still 20 weekly deliveries, but you don’t get all of the veggies that are harvested that week. Regardless of whether you choose the full or half share, the farm offers payment plans so that you are not hit with a big price tag all at once. The farm also accepts EBT payments for qualified items, which helps to ensure that fresh food is available to everyone, regardless of financial status.
The financial investment is certainly something to be considered when thinking about purchasing a CSA share, but you should also consider the time that you will need to invest. Each week when you get your share, you have to be prepared for the time that you will need to dedicate to process your veggies. Your items will come straight from the farm, so you will need to clean them and make sure you either use them or store them appropriately. If you don’t, your share will go bad and you will be out money. For me, I enjoy the challenge of figuring out how many ways I can use beets and cabbage, or whatever the current seasonal item is.
If you love fresh food, if you want to support your local farms, and if you love to be creative in the kitchen, a CSA may be right for you. I’d encourage you to search in your area for CSAs, either through Facebook, Google, or localharvest.org. You may be surprised at what you find. It might be a veggie and/or fruit CSA or a meat CSA. You might find that there is a CSA right in your backyard and you didn’t even know it. Whatever the case may be, take time to learn about Community Supported Agriculture and spread the word. Know where your food comes from and get to know those who are feeding your family. Farming is hard work and like the bumper stickers say, No Farms, No Food.
