I’ve always liked the idea of a CSA (community-supported agriculture). In a CSA, individuals, and families can buy shares of a local farm at the beginning of the growing season. This provides funds for the farm to operate, and members receive a percentage of the produce grown throughout the season. I couldn’t think of anything better than supporting a local business in Central Mass and also receiving locally grown produce in return.
Why haven’t we done a CSA before?
I haven’t bought into a CSA in the past because I am a relatively unadventurous eater. I have hesitated to buy in because I’ve heard of friends getting CSA boxes full of Swiss chard and beets week after week, but I just knew I wouldn’t eat them. Now that we’ve settled into Central Mass for a while now, and we have young kids to teach about where food comes from, I wanted to make it work. So last year, I did a lot of research and found a CSA that would work the best for our family.
The different types of CSAs in our area
In our local area, we had a choice of several different CSAs. They all included a weekly share of vegetables, but some also included fruit, flowers, eggs, meat, dairy, or mushrooms. Some had to be picked up from the farm, some had to be picked up at a central location, and others could be delivered to your home. Most CSAs allowed you to purchase a half- or full-sized share depending on how many people you needed to feed, and the prices ranged pretty dramatically between the two.
Finding the right CSA for our family
With my concerns about potential food waste and my palate, we opted for a “market style” CSA. Instead of picking up a pre-filled box of produce, we received an empty bucket. Each week, I packed the kids in the car, drove to the farmstand, and “shopped” the CSA tables for the produce we wanted to take home. We can fill the bucket with seasonal favorites like potatoes, onions, corn, carrots, and kale. We can also be adventurous with new-to-us vegetables like daikon because we could take just 1 or 2 to try. If we liked it, we could take more during the next week.
The kids loved picking out the vegetables and it encouraged us to try some new vegetables and recipes. We also took advantage of the farm’s strawberries and pumpkins. We enjoyed it so much last year that we are returning CSA customers this season.
. In a CSA, individuals and families can buy shares of a local farm.){kind=link}