Community Supported Agriculture

[Greenbean]

IS anyone else here a member of a CSA?

I fell in love with the concept when I first heard of it: You pay a yearly membership fee to the farm, who use those funds to keep themselves operating (goodness knows it's hard in this day and age when farmers go bankrupt all the time!) and during the harvest you pick up a box of fresh, local, organic veggies once a week. It's eating locally, it's eating in season, it's cooking your own food and eating in more often. It saves money in the long run. ANd it's a really awesome connection with the production of the food you eat, especially if you volunteer at the farm as well. I love making a salad knowing that I was out there weeding that lettuce and pulling those radishes just the other day!

Of course, one has to get over one's "grocery store mentality". You can't get anything you want all year round; you really are restricted to what's in season - which I think is a wonderful way to get back in touch with the cycle of the seasons anyway. Also, members go into the deal knowing that by investing in this farm they're sharing the risks. When a hail-storm knocks back the lettuce, you don't get the lettuce "that you paid for". So again there's a need to get away from that mentality - you didn't pay for a product; you became a supporting member of the operation of a farm. So now when I look out the window and see hail, I have a better awareness of what that means as far as what makes its way onto my table.

Anyone else participate in a CSA and want to share their experiences?

[ngaire]

Hello, yes. I am soon to have a CSA up and running a little later this year. Great concept, where are you a CSA?

[OfOneEarth]

Sounds very clever, how does it work out economically though; I mean, the cost of your groceries from the community farm, are they comparable to the price/value/quality of a large supermarket/big box retailer?

[b-baby]

I love this idea - if anybody knows anything running in the Bristol area, please let me know!