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Farm Kitchen:  CSA's  |
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woolgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
901 Posts
Elizabeth
Great Lakes
IL
USA
901 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 29 2011 : 1:27:07 PM
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I know it is too late for this years CSA, but I was looking at the prices and it is just SO expensive to buy a share into one! I truly wish I could afford it, but at $400-$500 for 16 weeks I don't know how I could.
Is anybody a part of or buy from a CSA? Is it worth the cost?
Liz
Farmgirl #1947
www.militaryfarmgirl.blogspot.com |
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vmfein
True Blue Farmgirl
247 Posts
Valerie
Dale City
VA
USA
247 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2011 : 2:36:51 PM
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we had thought about it but then once we got our house we started to have our own garden and then we go to the farmers market. This way we only get items we know we will like and eat. I am pretty picky on my veggies/fruit.
Farmgirl Sister #2619
http://www.etsy.com/shop/vmfein |
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prariehawk
True Blue Farmgirl
2914 Posts
Cindy
2914 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2011 : 3:27:57 PM
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It depends on how much vegetables you get each week--when I was with a CSA, the share averaged about twelve pounds each week. Our growing season was longer, from mid-May to the middle of November. So it was cheaper than buying produce at the store. But each CSA is different.
Cindy
"Vast floods can't quench love, no matter what love did/ Rivers can't drown love, no matter where love's hid"--Sinead O'Connor
"In many ways, you don't just live in the country, it lives inside you"--Ellen Eilers
Visit my blog at http://www.farmerinthebelle.blogspot.com/ |
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farmmilkmama
True Blue Farmgirl
2027 Posts
Amy
Central MN
USA
2027 Posts |
Posted - Jul 30 2011 : 05:17:56 AM
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Our CSA share is the only reason we are eating veggies this year! (Our garden just will NOT produce!)I know it depends on the CSA, but we get huge shares from ours. A little pricy but we were a drop site for awhile which cut our price in half. We also looked at it as part of our grocery bill. The shares so so huge that we seriously eat veggies for lunch and supper for 3-4 days after the share comes, so its cutting down on whatever we buy for meals at the store. For us its worth the trade off, but every CSA is different. :)
--* FarmMilkMama *--
Be yourself.
Everyone else is already taken.
-Oscar Wilde
www.farmfoodmama.blogspot.com
www.thehmmmschoolingmom.blogspot.com |
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camiesmommy
True Blue Farmgirl
113 Posts
Anne Jeannette
Stagecoach
NV
USA
113 Posts |
Posted - Jul 30 2011 : 7:10:57 PM
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I really hate to show my ignorance, but what is a CSA?
A.J.
Work is love made visible. ~ Kahlil Gibran |
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Jessi Lynn
True Blue Farmgirl
144 Posts
New York
USA
144 Posts |
Posted - Jul 30 2011 : 9:54:35 PM
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CSA-Community Supported Agriculture
Yes, it's worth it-the intial cost seems like a lot but if you were do
the math and figure the cost for each week its not a lot.
You bring a bag and the board tells you the amount you can take (ie: bag of carrots/3 heads of lettuce etc) This year the weather was terrible and we were overwelmed with lettuce. Now it's better and there's more choices. If you don't like somethingg you don't take it.
We get a veggie share and split a fruit share wih a friend. She also gets any of our veggies if we get overwhelmed. It goes from May-Novemember.
They're an organic farm and get low spray fruit in. If you compare organic produce at a store to what they have it's less expensive. We get a large share so when they're an abudance of a crop your allowed to take all that you can can freeze or eat in that week. Also when there's u pick options you get a discount 'cause you have a share (this week there's blueberries and beans).
They also have a winter share, they grow organic citrus in florida. So you get a case of organic citrus, root veggies (what ever they have and 4 credits towards baked goods, flour dry beans or grain). I think its around $300 total. Grape fruits are my favorite and their's are amazing. For this share we pair up with our fiend and she has two friends so its sixteen weeks total and we get eight weeks and her friends get eight weeks.
Looked it up and they said when looking at Tops, organic citrus by the case it was around $80 dollars, conventional citrus $50.
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clux64
True Blue Farmgirl
162 Posts
Celeste
Blair
NE
USA
162 Posts |
Posted - Jul 31 2011 : 08:50:09 AM
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A true CSA was designed as a way for you to support your local farmer, and then reap the benefits during the growing season. You pay up front and purchase a 'share' in your local farm. This means that you have invested in the farms success and failures. The upfront purchase gives the farmer capital to use for expenses the occur before the income producing time of their farm. Every CSA farmer I know (like myself) intend to make sure that your investment in their farm is repaid and then some, so your share should far exceed your investment. BUT, there are no guarantees and, since you have all your veggies coming from one source, some years are better for certain crops then others. Bottom line, know the farm that your are buying into, and don't get involved with a CSA because you are trying to save money on organic vegetables because a CSA was not designed as a cost saving tool. Also, really make sure you know what your getting into. Some of the CSA's in my area are a cooperative of 20-30 farms, so you may get produce every week, but do you really know who's growing it for you or that it's grown the way they say? Just my 2-cents....
Celeste
"No matter where you go, there you are"
--Confucious
www.urbanprairiehome.blogspot.com
www.kitchen-klatter-urbanprairiehome.blogspot.com
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Merry
True Blue Farmgirl
765 Posts
Merry
Ankeny
Iowa
USA
765 Posts |
Posted - Jul 31 2011 : 08:54:31 AM
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very good points Celeste, research your CSA before buying in!
Merry
Farmgirl #536
http://afarminmyheart.blogspot.com/
Your life is an occasion, rise to it. Mr. Magorium |
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Farm Kitchen: CSA's |
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CSA's
