Support Local Agriculture

Sure, you go to Farmer's Markets in season.  You even go to local farm stands on a regular basis and pick up whatever you can.  It's freshly picked, in season, and you have eliminated the middle man.

image: A Produce Bundle from Local Homestead

But, did you know there's an even better way to support your local farmers?

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a not so new trend where people take the risk with the farmer and buy a share of produce for the growing season.  You put your money down up front, and this gives the farmer the necessary influx of cash to get started growing for the season without having to take out a bank loan to buy seeds and get the growing season started.  This small influx of cash at the beginning of the growing season makes a HUGE difference to the small local farmer.

As a result of your cash investment at the beginning of the season, you get to reap the results throughout the growing season.  Once a week, you get to pick up a box full of fresh produce.  (Your share of the crop.)  The sizes of the boxes vary by farmer, and the contents vary by season and the growing conditions in the field.  You are sharing the risk with the farmer, and reaping the rewards along with the farmer.

We've been members of various CSA's throughout Central Maryland for close to 20 years now.  We've always been a member of a CSA that only requires our cash.  There are other CSA's out there that require an outlay of cash AND your physical labor.  I could never guarantee that we could put in that much labor over the course of the season, so we've always paid a little bit more to just go and pick up our box of produce.

So what have we gained?  We've made great friends with the farmers.  They are lovely people who live and work in our community.  Some of them only run CSA's for a year or two before they move onto a different business model, and others have been in the CSA business for years. Spaces are always limited in CSA programs, and if you don't get your deposit in fast enough, you find yourself scurrying around to find a new CSA before all the slots close!  We have been slow with our deposits in the past, and found ourselves shopping around for new CSA's more often than I would like to admit... but we've always enjoyed our fresh produce, and we've always enjoyed getting to know the farmers that we are supporting.  We greet our old friends when we hit up the Farmer's Markets over the summer!  They know that I enjoy canning, and they'll let me know when something is about to come in big so that I can place an order for a case of something (peaches, tomatoes, apples) for the following week.

Now is the time to join a CSA program for this year!  If you're searching for one in your area, follow the links below and search by your zip code for a program close to you!  The first one is a link to the USDA's website.  The second is a link to Local Harvest.  Enjoy!

https://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/community-supported-agriculture

http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

Community Supported Agriculture

Have you ever heard of a CSA?  Community Supported Agriculture is an idea which has been around for quite some time now.  I've been a member of several different CSA's over the years.

In a CSA, a farmer offers several "shares" of his crop.  These shares are offered before the season begins.  The consumer pays for a full season of produce for one full season in advance.  This helps the farmer with cash-flow, enabling them to buy seed and begin their season with cash in hand.  As a result, they don't have to take out a loan in order to begin their season.

When the garden starts producing, you will begin getting your "share" - a box of produce - once a week for the entire growing season.

You get to know your farmer.  In many cases, you also get to visit the farm. In some cases, the farmers will lower your cost of being a member of their CSA if you offer to help in the fields with weeding or harvesting a certain number of hours per growing season.

In my mind, the greatest thing about a CSA is that the food is locally grown.  I am directly supporting a local farmer.  I know my farmers, and I am familiar with their farming practices.  I also rest easy in knowing that their food is grown organically.

The biggest challenge is in eating through all of your produce in just one week!  In the spring, you will find lots of greens in the box.  Collards, Kale, beet greens... I have never been a fan of them, but I know how to cook them, and I will eat them when they appear in my box. 

I learned how to can and freeze fruits and veggies in self defense years ago when I didn't want the produce to go bad, but there was no way we could eat everything in time!  I began with jam and quickly moved out from there.  Freezing was easy for me.  We had a freezer, and most veggies only require that they be blanched for a few minutes in boiling water before they are submerged in ice water and then frozen.  For me, a young Mom with three kids under the age of four, I could prep and freeze a whole bunch of veggies during nap time, and get everything cleaned up before the kids got up and moving again.

If you live in a city, or in a house with no yard for growing lots of produce, a CSA is a great way to get healthy food into your life quickly and easily.  One quick trip each week to pick up your produce is all that is required.  When we lived in the city, we picked up our share from the farmer at the Farmer's Market.  She had a stand there, and we would go to the side, sign for our box, and rejoice in that week's bounty.  Now that we live in farm country, our farmers set aside a day for locals to come out to the farm and pick up their share.  The farmers are usually out in the fields somewhere, but we've met the dogs, the cats, the kids, and, occasionally, we'll actually meet the farmer or his wife.  One of our farmers delivers to the DC suburbs.  He takes his truck down to the city, and has picks up over a two hour period in different locations, varying from library parking lots to farmer's markets.    I met one woman a couple of years ago who drives out from the city to the farm to pick up her produce because she wants her kids to know where their food comes from, and she wants them to know that veggies grow in the ground. 

I've been a member of 6 different CSA's over the years.  This past summer, I wasn't a member of a CSA.  We didn't have the cash up front to put up for our share.  As a result, I spent a lot of time hitting up the farmer's market and my favorite little co-op produce stand.  I think I have enough to invest in a share again this year, but I lost my spot with my old farmer last year.  I'll have to see if she has an opening for me this year.  If not, I need to find another one. 

Even when I am a member of a CSA, I still hit up my local farmer's market once a week.  I love talking with the farmers.  I pick up extras of my favorite foods that might not be in my share.  I pick up large quantities to can and freeze.  Even better, I find many friends at the farmer's market, and I spend a lot of time catching up with people and exclaiming over how much the kids have grown!

If you are interested in finding out more about CSA's, or finding one close to you, follow this link:http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

On a side note, thinking about saving money with a CSA:  You are required to make a cash investment at the beginning of the growing season.  On the other hand, for about 20 weeks over the summer, you are receiving a box of veggies.  As a result, you are NOT going into the grocery store to find veggies, where you will be tempted to buy other items that are not on your list.  Depending upon where you live, your cost per week can vary anywhere from $24 to $40 a week.  You are responsible for checking into the farm, talking to the farmers, and finding out about their farming practices.  Because I hang out so much at farmer's markets, I know most of the farmers in our local area.  I know which ones offer CSA's, and I already know much about their farming philosophy. 

There is no way that a $40 a week/box for one person falls under the federal guidelines of $30/week/person as the bottom line for what it costs to feed a family.  However, I have 5 people in my family.  Breaking down a $40/week box by 5, I am paying $8/week/person for a box of organic, locally grown produce that was picked less than 24 hours ago.  The only way I'm going to beat that price is to grow it myself.  Even though I do grow some of my own food, I don't grow the variety of items that I find in a CSA box.

Some food for thought!