CSA
Community Supported Agriculture
What is a CSA?
CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and the idea is just that — local eaters buying vegetables from their local farmer, local farmers growing food for their community.
To be specific, a CSA is a structured relationship between the community member (customer) and the farmer in which the member purchases, and then over the course of the season receives, a "share" of the farm's harvest.
To support the farmer as they prepare for the season ahead, the customer prepays for this share before the farm season has begun. This pre-payment provides the farmer with both financial means to start the season and a committed customer base.
Traditionally, the "share" comes to the customer in the form of a weekly box of mixed seasonal vegetables selected and packed by the farmer. Over the years however, farms have put their own personal spin on the CSA model and we are no exception.
Our CSA comes with a lot of flexibility.
CSA as Farm Credit
Our CSA share comes in the form of farm credit loaded onto a CSA member gift card. Your credit and spending is tracked using this gift card each time you shop with us.
Each and every week, you choose exactly what you like - no need to take home a vegetable your family is not fond of or one that is plentiful in your own garden that week. You spend from your farm credit each week according to your needs and what's in season on the farm.
For example, if you are having guests for supper in the days ahead, you may want to pick up extra salad greens or, if you have a loved one celebrating a birthday, a beautiful bouquet of fresh farm flowers might be just what you need. On the other hand, if you are away for a week or simply cannot come every Friday, that is not a problem and no charge to your CSA member card will occur on those weeks.
On Farm & Online Ordering
Our CSA takes place on our farm. By that I mean, CSA pick-up is every Tuesday and Friday between 2pm and 6pm, and comes with the opportunity to take a walk around Small Holdings Farm -- your CSA farm.
We also offer a service of weekly online ordering to our CSA members. In this case, you place your order ahead of time and we pack it up for you for quick and easy pickup from the farm on Tuesday or Friday afternoon between 2pm and 6pm.
Vegetables, Flowers, Seedlings & More
Our CSA includes vegetables, herbs and flowers — all from our farm and all harvested fresh — as well as seedlings for your garden in the spring.
We also collaborate with other local growers and producers to bring you specialty crops, such as asparagus in the spring and watermelons in September.
CSA Share Sizes
We offer 3 CSA sizes:
Large
Full
Half
To thank you for making a commitment to our farm, we add to your CSA share:
A large-share member pays $600 to receive a farm credit of $630
A full-share member pays $400 to receive a farm credit of $420
A half-share member pays $225 to receive a farm credit of $235
As outlined above, you spend your CSA share as you'd like, but for the sake of illustration, you could think of the large share as $30/wk for 20 weeks, the full-share as roughly $20/wk over 20 weeks, and the half-share at $11/wk over 20 weeks.
Over our years of offering CSA, our members have spent anywhere from $235 to $1500 according to their household size, eating habits, etc. To accommodate this wide range we offer members the option of “topping up” their CSA share over the course of the season.
We are growing our CSA for the 2024 season with space still available for new members. If you would like to join you can do so here.
