What's a CSA?

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a way for you to get food directly from your local farm by supporting them in the process.  When you become a member of a farm’s CSA group you receive their weekly vegetables and fruit, eggs, milk, meat, or any other products they may produce.  What’s available depends upon the farm, what they grow and/or raise and what’s been harvested in any given week.  Often, some farms partner with others so that they can provide you with more variety. 

It’s a wonderful way to become a part of a community that believes in whole food and its availability.  By taking a share in a CSA you take on a part of the risk that climate and other environmental threats pose on farms each year as they prepare their soil, plant their crops, and work their field.  You have a stake in something real that’s both giving and receiving. 

As the harvest season begins you receive a weekly allotment depending upon what’s available, so some weeks may be slim and during peak season they are often abundant.  Depending upon who you are feeding, you may need to supplement with more food than you receive from your CSA share, but it offers you the freshest picks and often a great variety of seasonal food to cook up and share.  

To learn more and to find a farm near you that offers CSA shares go to www.localharvest.org/csa .