What is Community Supported Agriculture?
For more information about our CSA, like pickup sites and prices, click on the down arrow button next to "CSA"
And read on . . .
We’re delighted you’re interested in the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) concept.
A CSA farm is supported by the community that buys its produce. Members of the community can purchase a share of that produce, and receive fresh vegetables on a regular basis. By paying in advance of deliveries, members help the farm pay for seed, fertilizer, equipment, supplies and the labor needed to grow crops. When you invest in a CSA share, you’re spending your money locally, and reducing your dependence on commercially grown food that is trucked or flown in from across the country or across the world.
A CSA farm is not just a farm, it’s your farm.
In Full Harvest Farm's CSA, your investment in the farm is rewarded with either 9 or 18 weeks of delicious, organically grown, seasonal vegetables, herbs and melons. Our CSA Shares begin June 28th and run to October 25, 2023. To keep the box interesting, we successively plant 40 or more different, high-quality vegetables during the season. This number does not include all the different cultivars of vegetables and herbs that we grow. We want you to get lots of things you love, like watermelons, sweet corn, carrots and tomatoes, as well as a few you may never have tried, before like orange beets, kohlrabi and Swiss chard. The freshness and flavor of your produce is ensured through proper harvesting, washing and cooling. We minimize the impact of agriculture on the environment while maximizing the healthy qualities of our crop by choosing organic growing methods. This way, everybody wins!
As a member of Full Harvest Farm’s CSA, you get more than just great food.
Every week, we put together a newsletter detailing what’s in your box, how the growing season is progressing and a recipe or two to help you use something new, or to expand your current repertoire. We also like to include recipes, stories and feedback from our members.
The produce you receive varies week by week, depending on what is ready and when. Early boxes usually contain lettuce, radishes, spinach, etc. with sugar snap peas, zucchini and green beans appearing shortly after. Each box has 8-9 different items in it that change as the weeks go by. We try not to give you too much of any one vegetable. This is truly seasonal eating.
We deliver your Share the same day it's packed to ensure your produce stays fresh for as long as possible.
Each pickup site has a Choice Box where you can leave something you don’t like, or take something you want more of. We often leave extra vegetables, or slightly irregular ones there.
We use food grade wax boxes to pack your vegetables in, which we encourage our members to return so we can reuse them.
If you're not sure you can use up an entire box every week, would like to ease into the CSA program gradually, or are only one person, choose our Every-Other-Week Couple Share. Because you receive a box every 2 weeks, it's easier to make the most of the contents. An EOW box lets you experience the range of produce available over the entire 18-week season. And, you can choose whether you want the Odd box Share (box #1, 3, 5, etc.) or the Even box Share (box #2, 4, 6, etc.).
Another option is to share a box with someone else. This cuts your cost in half, and reduces the vegetables you have to use up each week. You and your friend decide how you prefer to split the box. Many members choose this method.
If a weekly Share is what you want, you have the choice of a Couple Share, sized for 2 adults/1 vegetarian, or a Family Share, sized for 2 adults and 2 children/2 vegetarians.
Our CSA software, Farmigo, makes it easy for you to manage your CSA account from your own computer. Going to be gone for a Wednesday or two? Place a Vacation Hold on your box, then schedule a Make-Up Box. If you decide not to schedule a Make-Up Box, you can use that credit towards extra produce, or the Winter Storage Box. Even better, make arrangements for a friend to pick up your box and experience fresh, organic vegetables for themselves. In Farmigo, you can also change your pickup site, get all the details about your pickup site, find your delivery schedule, add another person to your account, and order Extra Produce. It's a great tool for you and for us!
If extra vegetables are available, we’ll let you know via email or our newsletters what it is, what it costs and the date we can deliver. Extra produce is always packed separately, labeled with your name, pickup site, and items inside, and delivered to that pickup site on Wednesday along with the regular CSA boxes.
To give you the chance to see just where your food is grown, we invite you to attend our Farm Day in late September.
Consider carefully your decision to join a CSA:
It’s not the right program for everyone. We find that the people who look forward to their box love vegetables, love to cook, take the time to cook often during the week and are flexible enough to create meals with what they have on hand. They also tend to be curious eaters, willing to try something new. If they have too much of something, they can or freeze it for use later. Eating fresh food involves a serious time commitment towards its preparation, but the delicious results are worth it.
Our CSA members accept the fact that they cannot choose what goes into their box, and only know the night before what produce they’ll find there. Many members think of their Share as a present they look forward to opening each week. You will need to supplement the vegetables in your box with items that are not included.
We recommend you choose a pickup site within 15 minutes of your home or workplace. That way, the trip isn't too long.
It is your responsibility to remember to pick up your box on Wednesday. Your site manager usually reminds you when they find any box left behind and no initials next to your name on the signin sheet. However, site managers are busy people too, so don't assume they will call you (even tho they probably will).
Chuck and I share these thoughts because we want you to be happy with your investment in our CSA program.
For detailed information on how we run our CSA program, what to expect during the season, our responsibilities and yours, please read the CSA Member's Handbook on this website. It will answer most of your questions, and a few you didn't think of.