Community Supported Agriculture

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a relatively new socio-economic model of food production, sales, and distribution with the goal of increasing both the quality of food as well as the health of the land on which the food is grown while simultaneously reducing some of the potential financial risks for farmers.

As a shareholder, we pay for produce in advance of the growing season, providing the farm with the necessary capital to help cover the anticipated costs of farm operation and the farmer’s salary. In return, we get weekly shares in the farm’s bounty – fresh, local, organic produce! The farm that we became a shareholder in is Grindstone Farm located in Pulaski, NY.

We just purchased a 3 week share from the farm as a sort of test drive. This is part of the Spring Share and then we can decide if we want to do the Full Season Share which is 20 weeks for $565 or the Academic Share which is 8 weeks for $250. Most likely the Full Season Share is out of our price range, although I think we'd save money in the long run if we went with it. Right now with our diet having changed to mostly organic foods we spend between $80-$100 a week on groceries, most of that expense seems to come from produce. It seems wrong that eating healthier is more expensive--maybe that's what's wrong with our country!

We get to pick up our box of produce every Thursday at another shareholder's house, just up the street from us. We are excited to see what will be in our first box and what we can make with it! You don't really know what you're going to get in the box all we know is that we'll get "seasonally available vegetables and a few fruits." The variety and quantities of what's in the box depend largely on Mother Nature. The farm does have a website that let's you put preferences as to what fruits and veggies you like--we have a couple on our "Never Send" list--but really it just depends on what grows. You can also use the website to add extras to your box, such as eggs and meat.

We're really excited about this latest endeavor--I really think it will force us to eat more vegetables and ultimately, eat healthier.