Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a great way to access local food. In a “CSA program,” you can buy a “share” of a farm’s crops at the beginning of the season and receive a box of fresh, seasonal produce each week. Sometimes, you can even get meat and dairy products through your CSA.
Often, the box is delivered to your door-step for a nominal fee. Sometimes, you can pick up your box at a neighborhood drop point. Some farms offer on-farm pick-up. Depending on the system the farm chooses, you may have the opportunity (or the requirement!) to do work on the farm, or to glean the extra produce left in the fields.
By joining a CSA, you’ll be embarking on a culinary adventure. You’ll surely find all kinds of produce you wouldn’t ordinarily see in the grocery store. Vegetables like cow horn fingerling potatoes, banana peppers, Thai green peas, and Italian anelinno beans, as well as fruits like toad skin melons may grace your table. By growing nearly extinct heirloom varieties, small-scale CSA farmers are also helping to preserve a bit of our past and safeguard our biodiversity.
A couple of good places to start researching CSAs are:
Mike Klein of Good Fortune Farm Doing a CSA Delivery
Brett Grohsgal of Even Star Organic Farm Discussing His Crops
Shareholders choose their own produce at the Clagett Farm CSA wash station
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