Community Support Agriculture - Farm Shares

[bicker]

Anyone doing this, or anything like it, this summer?

http://nesfp.nutrition.tufts.edu/worldpeas/csa.html

Our church has been pulling together a bunch of shares for years, but this is our first summer doing it. We're sharing a "full share" with some friends.

 

[mykidsand_i]

YES!!! We did it last year. We got a 1/2 share and it was WONDERFUL!!! AND, it forced us to try some things that we hadn't eaten in a while (or not at all!!!) We're doing it again this year. Since we know the farmers well, they sent us a form to fill out what our favorites were. Oh, MY GOSH!!! They had the BEST watermellons, cucumbers, pickling cucumbers (we made about 10 jars of pickles!!) and raspberries last year. We got WAYYYYY too much squash though. I mean, I like it, but not THAT much. We did an 'exchange' with our tomatoes, because I planted ours in hanging baskets last year and in our raised garden bed- and we got WAAAYYYY too many.

On top of doing the 1/2 share, we have a small garden plot and our raised bed this year. I'm sure we'll have plenty of veggies and fruits to get us through the year!

 

[MAKmom]

A few years ago we bought a share in an organic farming co-op at Newman College. It was very cool but I had to pick my share up every Tuesday rain or shine. It was too much for me with working. I am so glad I did it & if they delivered I would do it again

 

[bicker]

I went over the list of produce that they include, and only one of the items (amaranth greens) was something that we haven't used regularly in past summers.

 

[Colleen27]

I've thought about it, but I grow a lot already and prefer to know what I'm getting in advance to plan meals/preserving around so we decided against it. The farmer's market works better than the CSA for our needs.

 

[bicker]

That was a bit of a concern at first, but we were always taught that it is always best to cook with the very freshest ingredients - that as a chef you would want to go to the market that day and find the best of the best, and crafting your menu around that, rather than going into the store looking for specific things, and taking (the best of) what you were planning to buy, even if the best of that wasn't as good as the best of something else.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We only had one local farm do this and I was all set to try next year, but they decided to not do that. They went to just straight farm stand selling.

I remember meeting them and talking about it and seeing the end of season shares folks were picking up. It was pretty bad pickings.

I had wanted to join for the "salad fixin's", but I guess due to their CSA not performing well, I did not have the chance.

The thing with a CSA--you are totally at the mercy of the conditions. If they flourish, you get a lot. If there was something that harmed the crop, everyone shares whatever survived even if it is nothing.

I see no harm in giving it a go though. IT would be a neat way to have a steady supply of produce and maybe even try new things.

 

[bicker]

Two weeks in, and its been interesting so far. The first week the box was a little light, but this second week it was practically full. From what my friend, who's been doing this a few years, tells me, that's better than the last few years have been - it is unusual to have the boxes so full so early in the season.

There have been some interesting items in the boxes. This week we had some spey cabbage:

Since this week's share also included napa cabbage, snap peas, and thai basil, we made a vegetable and tofu red thai curry. The green portion of the spey is very good in the curry, holding up where similar greenery would wilt into gooeiness, but the white portion got a little woody imho. I think I'll be a little more careful about how far down the leaf I use, from now on.

Lettuce, arugula and cucumbers were also featured, this week, which made a really tasty salad. And the cherries this week were great, after being so-so last week. We have some turnips that we'll be using probably today.

I'm not surprised that our half of the share doesn't last long. As vegetarians, we probably should have gone for the whole share, ourselves, instead of splitting it with a friend from church. As a matter of fact, if what was provided was a little more reliable, and the pick-up a little more convenient, I could see us doing two shares.

 

[golfgal]

If you do this just make sure they are reputable. My sister did this last year and they would get a box and it would have 4 leaves of lettuce, a tomato and a cucumber. It didn't get much better through the summer. That was one expensive salad for one person (they have a family of 5).

 

[bicker]

Even the reputable CSAs have bad years. Remember, you're not buying a bushel of vegetables per week - you're buying a share of a farm. The harvest comes in, and is divided up among the shares, and whatever that division is is what it is. As a shareholder, you're taking on the risk that folks who own farms take. And if it's a bountiful year, you benefit. I think a lot of folks get involved in CSAs without understanding what it is all about, and they're invariably disappointed if the weather give them a bad year.

Also, one consistent aspect I've noted with the three CSAs we looked into here is that they are all driven by social action: You're not just buying vegetables, but rather you're supporting something you consider valuable, specifically local, small-scale, farming. The ascendancy of corporate-owned factory farming has had a devastating impact on local farming. While there's nothing wrong with what corporate farms do, that doesn't mean that individuals cannot pay a little more to support local farming, because they value it, because they value the opportunities it provides for the local farmers themselves, for organic farming in general (at least with our CSA), etc. So anyone expecting to pay less as a shareholder than they'd pay at the supermarket is missing a bit of the point, because the supermarket doesn't provide this community outreach. (That portion of the CSA's budget, attributable to training and technical support, is actually tax deductible as a charitable donation.)

 

[golfgal]

Even the reputable CSAs have bad years. Remember, you're not buying a bushel of vegetables per week - you're buying a share of a farm. The harvest comes in, and is divided up among the shares, and whatever that division is is what it is. As a shareholder, you're taking on the risk that folks who own farms take. And if it's a bountiful year, you benefit. I think a lot of folks get involved in CSAs without understanding what it is all about, and they're invariably disappointed if the weather give them a bad year.

Also, one consistent aspect I've noted with the three CSAs we looked into here is that they are all driven by social action: You're not just buying vegetables, but rather you're supporting something you consider valuable, specifically local, small-scale, farming. The ascendancy of corporate-owned factory farming has had a devastating impact on local farming. While there's nothing wrong with what corporate farms do, that doesn't mean that individuals cannot pay a little more to support local farming, because they value it, because they value the opportunities it provides for the local farmers themselves, for organic farming in general (at least with our CSA), etc.

True, but I think in this case the CSA either over extended how many shares to sell or were just not good at what they were doing. In her town there was a central pick up area for all the CSA's and the other farms would have a LOT of produce to pass along. It was quite obvious that there was something wrong with this particular CSA.

 

[bicker]

Understood. The one we belong to (New Entry) is supported by Tufts University, so we were very confident. There is another one, in the area, which is actually supported mostly by a very large farm in Dracut (Farmer Dave's). It is also very well-regarded.