CSA's: Community Supported Agriculture

Every spring I am reminded of all the beautiful farms in my area and this year we are joining one in our town to receive fresh fruits, veggies and flowers once a week. If you are not able to have your own garden, joining a CSA is an excellent option. By becoming a member or ‘share-holder’ in a local farm you can actively participate by pledging funds in advance to cover costs in order to reap the harvest. Community support allows farmers to gain some financial security without having to spend a lot on marketing or incur large shipping costs. Local Harvest is a great resource with a search feature that finds fresh, wholesome food providers in your area. CSAs are a healthy way to have a connection to what we eat while supporting organic, biodynamic, and ecologically minded growing practices and avoiding genetically modified produce and factory farms. For those of us who live in cities, you can still support local growers. Some CSAs deliver or have pick-ups in urban areas. Farmers Markets, as well as co-ops and restaurants, can also be found through Local Harvest’s website.

agriculture, cities, community, CSA, farm, farms, Food, fruit, garden, health, liver, local, Organic, produce, restaurant, spring, urban

Kimberly Jordan Allen is a freelance writer focusing on health and wellness. Kimberly's work has been featured in E/The Environmental Magazine, NY Spirit, Check Biotech, and the Organic Consumers Association website.

Sorry, nothing found.

5 Comments on “CSA's: Community Supported Agriculture”

Loren
For those of you in the NYC area http://www.justfood.org is another great resource about CSAs. Additionally they have a handy toolkit which can teach anyone how to start a CSA in the 5 boroughs.
05/07/07 » 7:36 am »
Tiffany
Green People is another good place to look. I found quite a few local farms and CSAs that were not on Local Harvest and I want to know ALL of them…Mhwuahhaa.
I love CSAs though…they rock!
05/07/07 » 5:44 pm »
Kim
http://www.greenpeople.org/ Awesome thanks for the tip – just checked it out.
Thanks Tiffany – I dig your site!
~Kim
05/07/07 » 5:49 pm »
Tami
We are part of an organic farm share where we live 8 miles from the farmer about 30 miles from minneapolis and paid $550 for a share with us picking it up weekly June through October. This is the farmers first year in the program althoough they have done the local farmers markets for many years. We plan to donate part of our weekly share to the local food shelf. MN has a growing number of CSA the land stewart ship project is anther source. We will also be starting to grow our own straberries in our yard and hope to add more etibles in the next few years.
05/08/07 » 8:44 am »
Starre
Besides the freshness of the produce and the support of local farmers, this is also a great way to lower your CO2 levels- food doesn’t have to travel as far, using fewer fossil fuels.
05/09/07 » 7:19 am »