Community Supported Agriculture

[LGBurns]

Wondering if anyone else out there holds shares in a CSA farm? My husband and I used to be shareholders with a large group of people, but since we moved we haven't gotten back in the swing of things. How do you use your produce (since you often don't know what you're getting 'til your basket arrives)? Does the farm you belong to have programs where you could see the farm, etc.?

For those who don't know, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is when a small, local farm, usually organic, sells shares in their farm and then starting at the beginning of the season (around June here in Illinois) all shareholders get baskets of vegetables, herbs, fruits, etc. from the farm delivered either to their home or a local drop-off point.

[almiter]

I've never heard of them but would be interested. I'll look online to see if I can find anything. Let us know if you do too. Thanks!

[MPHenderson]

I used to participate in a Community Supported Agriculture project when I lived in Chicago. ANGELIC ORGANICS would deliver to my neighborhood once a week.

The pluses were: supported local agriculture (BIG plus), organic produce (BIG plus) and trying new produce (this is how DH and I discovered that we LOVE swiss chard).

The minuses were: can't pick and choose (it was a bumper year for beets and we hate 'em) and you're at the mercy of nature (see beets note)...but that's real life, isn't it?

Anyway, I think that they are great. We live in the 'burbs now and have our own VERY modest gardening efforts (we got one red pepper our first year, but it was a really tasty red pepper!).

[LGBurns]

Angelic Organics is the farm we belonged to. After we moved, we couldn't afford the share cost on our own. We'd like to try again. I'm curious if anyone else does this in other parts of the country? I agree with the draw backs. I thiink we were members during the beet bonanza, too. Beets and cabbage, if I remember correctly. We had lots of borscht!