CSA

The title of this blog is actually an acronym for Community Supported Agriculture.

After a girls weekend with a couple long time friends, I found that they are each participating in a CSA this upcoming summer. I think its something people have thought about but don't usually do, though I think its gaining in popularity. I have just heard about it from a few people in the past from work but not much else outside of it.

But basically how it works is that local farmers let the community buy shares for a a fixed price for either a period of time(18-20 weeks is common), or for the whole year if they are able to offer year round produce. This is paid usually in a lump sum at the beginning of the year when farmers most need help buying supplies for the growing season. Then when the farm produces, each member gets their 'share' of what is grown.

Cool idea huh?

So, you basically support local agriculture, get fresh produce every week, you know where it comes from and how it is grown, and you reduce your carbon footprint. Plus the produce is so much better than the stuff shipped from who knows where, where its in season. Yes it takes some getting used to, in preparing just the produce that is in season at that time instead of us being accustomed to having whatever produce we want at any given time of year, but I personally think its worth at least an experiment.

So, I started looking into local CSA's. Things that are important to me are cost,convenience,variety and whether or not its organic. I haven't bought a lot of organic produce in the past, but I like the idea and if I can get it local for not a huge increase in cost its worth it to me.

I did find a website called localharvest.org where I was able to hunt down some local CSA's.

The first was called Stone Coop Farm, was organic and the pickup location is directly on my drive home. The downfall I saw was that it was a little pricey compared to some others and the offerings seemed
a little limited compared to others. On the upside it would be super convenient to stop on my way home each week to pick it up. They offered produce for 18 weeks.

The next one was a larger operation located in Howell called JT Todosciuk Farms and Greenhouse LLC. They used traditional farming methods(aka non-organic), but was priced a little more reasonably with quite a wide variety. They offer produce for about 20 weeks which included melons...yum, and had a pickup in Howell, which is a little bit of a drive, but not too bad.

The last one I'm really interested in. Its a small operation(family started and owned) that began just in 2009 in Pinckney called Portage River Farm. This is only their 3rd season doing CSA I think. However, they offer full, half and individual shares(based on size of your family),so there are a couple pricing options which would be great for us! They also raise chickens organically for eggs(bonus!), and have bee hives for honey and maple trees for syrup that they make as well on a limited basis. They also provide year-round produce(with the exception of 2 weeks), and each share receives eggs, honey and syrup as a bonus as well. They also have plans to expand into fruit(they planted 30 some odd fruit trees last year and are installing berry patches this year).

Portage River Farm also practices sustainable and organic growing practices(though they are not officially organic yet as they are in the process of certification). Good enough for me though. And they also have a pick up point in Ann Arbor(where I work), and also have several other families from Brighton where we could potentially take turns driving out to get the produce for everyone else.

In addition they are all about the community aspect of it all and have bonfires, taffy pulls, sugaring parties, picnics etc to get members to check out the farm, kids can see the animals and you can feel a real community connection with where your food comes from. Cool huh?
Maybe I'm a bit idealistic in all of this, but it seems like the next best thing to having a garden of my own (which I doubt will happen with all the shade we have in our yard and a new baby on the way), and hopefully it'll get us into a more local mind set to reduce our carbon footprint.

Also, who doesn't like farm-fresh veggies? I know I do! Its always a treat getting fresh produce from my mom and step-dad's garden each year. Too bad they just didn't live closer. :)
Anyhow, that's it for now, but I hope to update on this after we secure a membership with a farm.
Cheers!