1. What is CSA?
2. How Our CSA works.
3. Why Join Farmer Dave's CSA?
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a partnership between a farm and a community of responsible consumers. It puts you—the consumer—in direct relationship with the production of your food. There are no unknown middlemen. By paying for your produce upfront in the winter and springtime, you become “shareholder” of the farm’s yearly harvest. And each week during the growing season, you receive a portion of your share. We—the farmer—also benefit by receiving payments at the beginning of the season, when we need them most, to buy seeds and supplies to produce the food. This reduces the interest costs of loans to begin the season. The CSA partnership is good for you, good for the farm, and good for the earth.
How our CSA works?
Knowing how many shareholders we must provide for, Farmer Dave’s plants a wide variety of vegetables in successive plantings to ensure an extended harvest. By growing a range of crops that prefer and withstand different weather conditions, Farmer Dave’s ensures that the harvest will provide abundant flavors and colors for a full season. Common favorites include heirloom tomatoes, many types of lettuce, and sweet corn. Less known favorites include brussel sprouts, kousa squash, and rosita eggplant.
On the day of the CSA distribution, all the different crops ready for picking that week are harvested in the morning before the peak heat of the day. The items are gently rinsed, arranged in crates and brought to the distribution site. Each week we send out an email newsletter so the member can know what they are getting in their share.
In 2010, we are implementing a “Choose Your Own” model at our CSA pickup sites in Lanesville, Lawrence, Dracut, Tewksbury, and Somerville. Members are greeted by a CSA site volunteer, where they check in, but instead of dropping off and picking up a crate or box, members bring their own bags to transport their shares. Members then proceed to our line up of vegetables where all the week’s produce is set up in like a farmers market in rows of big green crates. Above each crate is a sign telling members how many of each item to take. For some of the vegetables, members will have a choice between two or more items. The signs will denote which vegetables to choose from and how many total items you are allowed to take. It’s up to you the combination of vegetables you want to take home. You can’t get more direct, fresh produce unless you grew it yourself (which we also encourage)!
Members can still opt to have their share boxed up for quick pickup. For our CSA site in Gloucester, Beverly, and Boston Medical Center, we will still be boxing the shares. We want to provide a pickup option that works for as many of our members as possible.
You can check out this video to see our “Choose Your Own” style of CSA in action!
3. Why Join Farmer Dave's CSA?