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“The decisions we make about food should nourish our children, strengthen all
kinds of families and build lasting communities. And so they will, too, if we
choose to conserve local resources and value local resourcefulness.” -Alice Waters |
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What is Community Supported Agriculture?
CSAs are a way for consumers to directly support organic farmers.
Families and individuals become ‘shareholders’ by purchasing a share
(subscription) of the summer season’s harvest. Shareholders help
sustain local farms by paying in advance. This up-front payment
allows us to purchase the needed supplies, seeds, and equipment for the
season.
CSAs allow people to reconnect to the land, their food, and the people
producing the food. We like to say you’re getting ‘food with a
farmer’s face. Rather than relying on our industrial food
system’s average 1300 miles from field to table, you’re getting food
grown locally and reducing your own ‘carbon footprint’.
How Does it Work?
download 2010 brochure
download 2010 registration form
If you want to support a local farm, you can make a commitment to a
season’s worth of healthy living and healthy eating. Send in your
registration ASAP...we anticipate another waiting list this year!
We’ll email you a receipt and confirmation email with more details on
the season.
What do I get?
For 18 consecutive weeks beginning in early to mid June 2010, CSA
members will be entitled to enough produce to supplement a family of
2-4 (1/2-bushel/1-3 paper grocery bags depending upon the time of year). AND…
· Food with a farmer’s face! We’ve come to call our shareholders a part of our family.
· Food security: safe & clean food from a local farm
· Recipes and farm news in our weekly e-newsletters
· A farm to call your own where you are welcome (almost) anytime.
· Optional farm events include the Pesto Festo (pick your own
basil and make pesto to freeze for the winter!) & Gleaning Days. Dates TBA.
· Extras: Fresh Michigan fruit including: cherries, blueberries, peaches, apples, plums,
nectarines, raspberries. Pasture-raised Black Angus beef from our family farm in South Dakota
(extras available to you for an additional cost)
· New for 2010: Pigs! Turkeys! Flowers! Meat Chickens! Farm Dinners!
Cost - For 18 consecutive weeks of Certified Naturally Grown, fresh vegetables during the summer season, we charge $480.
Discounts: $10 off for returning CSA members AND $10 off for early registration by February 15, $5 for early registration by March 1.
Distribution
- Tuesday is pick-up day. Stop by the farm between 1 and 7
pm. Home deliveries in Lake Geneva, Williams Bay, and Burlington are
available for an additional $5/week fee.
Dropsites
Mundelein, IL: Monday afternoons at Partners For Progress
Kansasville, WI: Tuesday afternoons at the home of one of our shareholders
What if I can’t pick up my share?
Summer getaways are inevitable. In the event that you are unable
to pick-up your box, you may have a friend enjoy your share while you
are away.
Seem Too Expensive?
It's a lot to pay all at once, but you're getting the same value you would get from purchasing
organic veggies from the grocery store plus many more benefits
including nutrient density, home-grown flavor, extreme freshness,
and farm events! Our price is very competitive to other CSAs,
often even less. You're supporting a local family that
is trying to make a living through farming and that is committed
to our community.
You can do a full or partial work-trade for your subscription. In
exchange for working 4 hours per week for 18 weeks, we’ll give you a
share. Please email for more information.
Why join a CSA?
· Fresh Produce:
Food grown locally and bought directly from the farmer is weeks fresher
than what is found on grocery store shelves. Fresh foods are full
of flavor; remember the rich juiciness of your grandma’s homegrown
tomatoes?
· Eat Healthier, All Natural Foods:
Organically grown produce has recently been proven to be
higher in vitamins and minerals than conventionally grown
produce. Soils are healthier and are able to give plants the
nutrients needed to make our homegrown produce chock full of the good
stuff our bodies need. CSA shareholders around the country are
amazed at how much healthier they begin to eat once they have access to
such deliciously healthy foods.
· Buy Local:
Did you know that our food travels an average of 1300 miles to get to
the dinner table? By supporting a local farm through a CSA
program, you will be eliminating a lot of those nasty greenhouse gases
associated with the foods we typically buy at the grocery store.
· Support Farming:
Farms and farmers are disappearing at staggering rates. Farmers
can no longer compete with large-scale or corporately owned farms
because the costs of their inputs are often higher than what they make
on their harvests. Farm kids are no longer encouraged to take
over the family farm. In fact, most farmers are actually
discouraging their children from farming! Its no wonder: Americans
only spend 8% of their annual income on food which leads us to look for the
cheapest calories possible, even if it’s from China.
By supporting a farm and farmer, you are helping to slowly turn the
tide and bring farming back into the spotlight it deserves. No
Farms, No Food
· Know Your Food:
Ever get that feeling that what you are eating just doesn’t satisfy
you, even though it might fill your belly? When we know where our
food comes from or have a story to go with our meals, we’re bound to
enjoy it even more. It’s fun to be connected to what nourishes us
and keeps us healthy.
· Get (Re) Acquainted With A Farm:
Aside from the apple orchards we Wisconsinites enjoy visiting every
fall, admit it, you don’t know much about the reality of farming
today. CSAs provide a unique opportunity for the local community
to learn more about farming and food production. Weekly on-farm
pick-ups and on-farm events bring farmer and consumer together to chat
about life on and off the farm. Never knew how broccoli
grew? If you’re interested, you can learn not only how it grows,
but also how it’s planted, cared for, and even harvested. Want to
see what a potato beetle can do to a potato leaf? You can when you support your local farmer!! |
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