Support Your Local Farmers - Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

If you've been reading my blog for a while now, hopefully you've picked up on the fact that I like to support local farms. I also believe in eating food when it is in season and preserving food so I can enjoy it when it's not. I still have a few frozen strawberries left from last June and it's amazing how much better they still taste than the "fresh" strawberries from California at the grocery store. 

 One of many boxes of strawberries we picked last year with 2 month old Isabel

There are many ways to support your local farms. Things like shopping at farmers markets, dining out at restaurants that buy food from local farms, and even shopping at a locally owned grocery store like Heinen's that carries produce from local farmers when it's in season. Another way to support your local farmer that some of you may not be familiar with is through Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA for short. Joining a CSA is an increasingly popular method of supporting local farmers while obtaining fresh, in-season, local (and often organic) produce, meat, eggs, etc.


A little more about CSA's from Local Harvest: 

Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a "membership" or a "subscription") and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season.

This year will be the third season we have belonged to a CSA. Our first year we were members of the Covered Bridge Garden's CSA. My wife and I split a full share with another couple for about $15 per week, per couple. Every Wednesday evening we traveled to the Lakewood library to pick up our overflowing bag(s) of goodies. Our shares were filled with a wide range of vegetables. Many things I'd never even seen or heard of before (what the heck is kohlrabi?) Prior to belonging to a CSA, there were very few vegetables I would eat. Corn, green beans, carrots, salad & green peppers were about the only veggies I'd eat. But when you are getting pounds of new vegetables each week, it forces you to go outside your comfort zone and try new things. Who knew how much I would love tomatoes, beets, cauliflower, egg plant, sugar snap peas, zucchini, squash, and so many other veggies! And our shares weren't full of just vegetables. We received fruits such as apples, strawberries, blackberries, jam, popcorn (fresh, not the microwave kind), and more. 

Covered Bridge shares waiting to be picked up

We were planning to join the Covered Bridge CSA again last year until we heard one of our favorite farms, Plum Creek in Valley City, was starting a CSA. Plum Creek Farm is a family farm that dates back to the early 1800's. We had been buying their amazing chicken, eggs, veal, and other stuff from them for a couple years and were very excited they started a CSA. The great thing about Plum Creek's CSA is they include meat & eggs along with the produce. So in addition to all the great fruits & veggies I mentioned above, we also received a chicken or some veal scallopini each week, along with a dozen eggs. Their CSA lasts a few extra weeks and even includes a Thanksgiving turkey and a Christmas duck (or goose). Plum Creek's CSA is much smaller in membership than Covered Bridge. They only have 15 members vs. the 450 that Covered Bridge Garden has grown to (they only had 200 when we were members). Because Plum Creek's CSA is so small, it is already sold out for this season but I still highly recommend checking them out the next time you are at the Shaker or Crocker Park farmers market. Their eggs, chicken, and veal are some of the best I've ever tasted, and their kids make a mean glass of lemonade. You can also place orders directly by contacting Don & Amie Sprinkle at 330-483-0222. Make sure to tell them you'd like to sign up for next year's CSA early and tell them that Dave sent you!

Plum Creek Farm

There are many other great CSA's in NE Ohio. I have friends that belong to the Crown Point Ecology Center's CSA in Bath and they have amazing things to say about it. In addition to providing their subscribers with beautiful, organic produce, Crown Point also donates massive amounts of food to the Akron/Canton Regional Foodbank. To date they have donated 250,000 pounds of fresh, healthy produce to the less fortunate. Sure beats the heck out of a canned food drive! Crown Point also has an heirloom plant sale every spring. This year's is scheduled for May 15-16, mark your calendar's now!

Basket of Life is another CSA that I have been interested in over the past couple of years. These passionate gardeners turned farmers took over 30 acres of land in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and have been producing beautiful heirloom produce ever since. Take a look at some of the amazing produce they raise. In addition to the CSA, they also sell at the Countryside Conservancy farmers markets in Peninsula & at Stan Hywet Hall in Akron. Basket of Like also writes a blog about life on their farm. It's an interesting read, check it out here.

I put together a spreadsheet with some information on the CSA's above, plus a couple more that I've heard good things about. If you have trouble reading it, email me and I will send it to you.

Click to Enlarge

Finally, here's a site you can use to search for more CSA's close to you no matter where you are in the United States: http://www.localharvest.org/search-csa.jsp

Have you belonged to a CSA in the past? What did you like / dislike about it?

Do you know of other CSA that I do not have listed here? Please leave me their info in the comments or send me an email and I'd be happy to add their information to this list!

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