community supported agriculture: season summary 2011

Another CSA season draws to a close... It certainly was a good one!  Thank you Isabelle farmers!

are we crazy?

Yes we are. But we always knew that.

This time we are crazy because in addition to having our very first garden, we decided to continue with our participation in a CSA (community support agriculture). We will have veggies coming out of our ears!

If you're unfamiliar with CSA's, all we had to do was find a local farm that offers a CSA, pay upfront for an entire seasons worth of veggies, and begin collecting our weekly installment of veggies this week! CSA's benefit farmers because they provide cash early and reliably. They benefit participants because you share in the bounty of successful years and you develop a more personal relationship with the farmer.

This year we got a CSA with Isabelle Farm. We had planned to continue with Pachamama Organic Farm but they couldn't deliver to the Boulder farmers this year meaning that we would have to ride our bikes out to the farm once a week - quite a commitment. Ah well. Based on our first week of CSA produce from Isabelle Farm, we should still have an excellent year of CSA veggies!

community supported agriculture: season summary 2010

We picked up our last CSA share for 2010. For a last hurrah, the Pachamama CSA members gathered at the farm for a potluck and pick-your-own pumpkin fun. Now I'm craving some apple doughnuts...

community supported agriculture 2010

Just picked up our first CSA share of the season!! Check out this post for more background on CSA's and this post to see what we got from our Abbondanza CSA share in 2009.

This year we chose to go with Pachamama Organic Farm. We're pretty excited!

community supported agriculture: season summary

Back in February, we signed up for a full veggie share with Abbondanza Organic Seed & Produce. From the beginning of June until the end of October, we received a pile of veggies once a week (sometimes every other week). This kind of farmer/consumer relationship is called community supported agriculture (CSA). It was a great experience that we will continue in future years. In all we received 225 lbs of veg.

(photos above can be seen in more detail on flickr)

community supported agriculture

We picked up our first community supported agriculture share from Abbondanza Organic Seeds & Produce!!!

Community supported agriculture (CSA) is like a seasonal subscription to a local farm. You give a farm money before the growing season begins and the farm agrees to give you a share of their bounty each week throughout their growing season. CSA's are beneficial to small time, local, organic farms for many reasons. They provide money to the farmer up front when they need it for seed and equipment. Having a pre-arranged client base helps the farmer predict how much to grow and what their profit will be. They don't simply rely only on sales at the farmer's market that may vary from week to week. Risk is also reduced for the farmer because you pay for a share of what is grown. If it is a bad growing season you will get less produce than anticipated but if all goes well you will get a bounty (see above photo).

As a consumer, you have the benefit of really knowing your food and your farmer, building community and smaller economies, and being well fed with deliciously nutritious, super fresh produce!!