Does anyone here belong to a CSA (community supported agriculture) farm? I have been more interested in 1) reducing my non-organic consumption and 2) expanding my veggie horizons, so to speak, so I contacted two local farms to find out about getting involved.
Basically, you pay a set price up front and then get deliveries of organic produce from late spring through fall. The price can be sort of hefty (one quote was $500) but the deliveries go for roughly 25 weeks. I am certain that I spend $20 a week on produce anyway, and not all of that is organic either.
Just wondered whether anyone had experience with local veggies. Thanks.
There's a local organic farm that is also a nonprofit. Last year my husband volunteered about 10 - 15 hrs a week and we received boxes and boxes of organic produce each week. We never had to buy any.
Maybe you can volunteer to dig in the dirt and offset some of the cost that way?
I think the easier way to save on the cost is to split the veggies with a friend - the boxes are designed to feed four, and that's a lot of veggies for us! Digging in the dirt would be fun, but it is unfortunately quite a hike to get to the farm. I don't think we could afford the time to travel, let alone to dig in the dirt.
What a neat local farm, though. Was most of the produce that you got veggies, or did you get some fruit too? That's my only concern - we eat your basic veggies and lots of them, but I don't need pounds and pounds of salad greens each week. We eat a lot of fruit and would love to have some around that is all fresh and ripe.
I am getting (way) ahead of myself, but I'm already seeing homemade spaghetti sauce and applesauce for months to come...
Here there are tons of CSAs. There are some that you can get just veggies, others veggieas and fruit, others that you can also get poultry and eggs. There are some that act more as organic brokers. You get organic foods mostly from local farms, but also for things like bananas you get from other areas. I guess that is one of the benifits of living in a very 'organic' area.
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My dad and stepmom belong to one of these, and they do the dirt diggin' too. Everyone has to do x amount of work. I would love to join one. Dad makes me so jealous when he tells me he had fresh organic whatever for dinner and I'm shelling out 2.49 for a pesticide-laden cauliflower! Good luck. Good idea about sharing w/ a friend.
Would you mind passing along the info you have? I am super interested, and, I'm not too far from your area. I haven't been too lucky locating farms on my own. Thanks!
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Absolutely! I found two farms - one that has fruit (berries, melons and apples) as part of the package and also offers a free-range egg option and discounts on free-range meats. The drawback is that they are slightly more expensive and do not offer half shares, so you either have to buy the whole share or find someone to split it with.
The other farm is only veggies, but they do offer half shares and are a little cheaper. They also require 7 hours of "digging in the dirt" each season as Ammaarah mentioned above. I actually thought that sounded like fun, but DH has his doubts.
Neither of the farms have websites, but the directors emailed their brochures to me. PM me your email address and I will send them over to you!
Community Gardening (CSA) 
Good luck. Good idea about sharing w/ a friend.
