Our Share of the Harvest

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a both a movement and a method for buying weekly produce from a local farmer instead of at the supermarket.  CSAs are run by individual farms or small co-ops that make or harvest a variety of foods including vegetables, fruits, herbs, meats and dairy.  Our CSA, purchased through Maryland Sunrise Farm, provides veggies, some fruits and herbs with separate options to buy their beef plus eggs and honey from other producers.  Some CSAs are becoming all encompassing, offering cheese, bread, flowers and even wine with their share.  Involvement in a CSA requires a commitment to buying a share of the season’s total harvest–whatever the farmer grows– rather than a market-based a la carte produce selection.

The Basics

Here’s how it worked for us: we signed up, paid our money and went to a little potluck orientation to the farm.  Each week, we go to the farm and every member has his/her own bin in which the week’s harvest is placed.  We take our share, go home and enjoy the bounty.  Basically, we get whatever is in the box (unless we want to go back to our school lunch days and trade our beets for someone else’s snap peas).  We are entitled to whatever the farmer has grown and determined was ripe enough to give us.  Our eating is in the hands of the farmer and Mother Nature.  If the tomatoes get blight, we get no tomatoes.  If the basil is overcome by weeds, we get no basil.  If the lettuce bolts late, we get more lettuce.  If the rains are good and the sun shines down, we get more of everything.  Our share in the risk means the farmer has a more guaranteed income and food is not wasted sitting out at the market unsold.

The Specifics

• Our CSA had a waiting list; we were offered a spot the year following our request.  Some do not have waiting lists, some offer pro-rated shares if you join mid-season.
• Our CSA lasts for 20 weeks from mid-May to mid-September and cost $500, working out to $25 per week.  Others are more or less expensive, offer more or less items and can last all year if they involve other products.
• We pick up at the farm, others have drop off points, especially if they cater to more urban areas like Baltimore City.
• Our farm is all organic, some farms use integrated pest management.
• Our CSA does not offer half shares so what you see in this blog is a full share; other CSA offer half shares which may better suit couples who eat fewer veggies or aren’t sure about cooking random stuff.
• Some CSAs may also offer a work-share program which will entitle you to a share of veggies in return for working several hours on the farm to help harvest.

Why we support CSAs (ok, I’m soapbox-ing a little)

The food industry not only has a lot of control over the food sources we depend on but they are very opaque about what they do and how they do it.  More and more, I’m disgusted by what’s available on supermarket shelves that is supposed to be nourishing our bodies and our lives but is instead contributing a variety of public health disasters like obesity, metabolic syndrome and cancer.  Paradoxically, we have an alarming number of people who are obese yet malnourished, because they are eating cheap, inferior food that does not provide a balanced diet (Olsen, 1999; Tanumihardjo et al., 2007).  This food is calorie-laden from subsidized commodity crop ingredients yet nutrient poor.  Even the produce we get from Chile, Mexico and far away states is bred for transport and shelf-stability, not flavor or nutrition. Why would you eat a tomato that doesn’t taste good and isn’t really that good for you?

Moreover, I’m disgusted with the way modern family farmers are marginalized–poorly paid and poorly treated–while giant corporate commodity farms, feed lots and seed companies are raking in the cash.  I have no problem with capitalism which is why I’m letting my dollars speak my mind and spending them locally on good food.

Those who choose to participate in a CSA generally believe:

• It’s important to know where your food comes from, who grows it and how it’s grown.
• Farmers should be fairly compensated for their work.
• Food tastes better, has greater nutrition and has less impact on the environment when it is grown locally.
• Money is better spent within the local economy.
• Fresh food beats pre-packaged, processed food any day.

For more information on CSAs and local eating, please visit http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

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