Community Supported Agriculture

Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA's, are local farms that produce food for members that pay for a share of the farm products. The farms can offer anything from just straight vegetables to fruit, cheese, meat, soaps, or anything in between. Shares are picked up at set locations, or at the farms themselves, on a weekly, semi-weekly or monthly basis.

I've talked of my CSA so much I often get questions about what it is and how to find one. I'll provide a couple of great links below to resources or farms themselves, but first I'd like to address the most common questions.

How much food do you get? It depends. I choose an every other week share and I get 2 pretty hefty boxfulls a month. You can pick every week, or you can also share a weekly with another person or family. I have a family of 5 and find that we can either eat or freeze what we get with no problem and usually don't have to stop at the store in between.

What kinds of food do you get? The food is seasonal based upon what is growing or being harvested at that time. If you are not familiar with what is in season, the Minnesota Grown website has a produce availability calendar that can tell you. If you like many types of food, or you are open and willing to try different things, you will probably enjoy the variety in the CSA. I know mine also offers many recipes to coincide with the food so I know how to cook it. I've been pleasantly surprised to try new things (I still rave about the baby white turnips with greens, bacon and balsamic viniagrette!)

What is the biggest difference between a CSA and what you get at the grocery store?
Namely, variety. The grocery store will ship in food from around the world to provide things that the majority of people want - your basic foods like iceberg lettuce, cucumbers and apples - year round. The CSA will give you what is available in your climate at the specific time of year it is available. The upside is there is way more variety. Things you probably never knew existed. Hong Tsai Tai, Rainbow Chard, sweet baby Peppers, Fennel, Beauty Heart Radishes. We even got baby dwarf cantaloupes that tasted somewhat like oranges.

I have to say that last year I ate way more vegetables - both in volume and in variety - than I ever had before. My kids tried new things and learned they liked them (spinach!). I didn't analyze it but I believe my grocery bill stayed the same. I just stopped buying vegetables (and fruits and cheese) from the grocery store and got them from the CSA instead. The other upside is that I knew I had fresh, organic, quality food with flavor that we've all been missing.

So, what are you waiting for? Here are some great links to get you started.

Minnesota Grown Website (in addition to the seasonal calendar has links to CSA's)
Local Harvest (nationwide directory of CSA's)
Harmony Valley Farms (the CSA I use)