Does anyone CSA?

[kathyschix]

We LOVE our CSA. I believe it's one of the largest on the east coast. We are so lucky to be within their delivery area!

Spiral Path Farm

We've been members for 3 or 4 years now??? We get a medium share each year. That, combined with what I grow, is a good amount for our family. Did I say we love them?

They have several "open farm" days each year. Last August I got about 75 pounds of organic Roma tomatoes for about $15. Mmmmmmm sauce!

I obviously can't speak about running a CSA but am happy to share my experience as a member.

Regards,

Kathy

 

[vfem]

I do not CSA yet, but I may... our issue is we are currently on food stamps, and until further notice any extra money I have for food is tied up in bills. :/ BUT....

I do have a neighboring farm "Lone Pine Sustainable Farmstead" whom I've worked with before and I think we may discuss adding my jams to their CSA boxes.

 

[Whitewater]

I would love to join a CSA. Unfortunately, up here a single share is, on average, $500. And that's too much for self and Hubby to pay, even though we could probably use all the food every week, somehow.

Even going in with another couple would still be prohibitively expensive.

Personally I'd love to be able to buy pastured, organically raised meats in small quantities (up to $50/purchase). We have a chest freezer -- storing *some* meat isn't a problem. Storing a half a cow, even processed, would be!

I can't seem to find anybody who's willing to sell in small quantities. Meat isn't a big feature at the farmer's markets here.


Whitewater

 

[wifezilla]

That is a very valid point. I didn't join the Venetucci CSA because I didn't have an extra $500 sitting around that I could give them at one time. Instead I have spent money a little at a time and converted more of my lawn to growing beds.

I did buy half a pig though. Just waiting for him to grow out

 

[Kim_NC]

Kathy - Thanks for the link. Wow...they are a big CSA! Lots of good ideas on their website. Very helpful.

Vfem - Hope you get your jams added to Lone Pine. How fun for both of you.....and yummy for the members! Our folks really enjoy the jams. They look forward to each new fruit in-season because it usually means jam too. And they've tried things they never had before, like Pineapple Jam. Does Lone Pine have a website?

Whitewater, WZ - We had folks who could not pay the full share amount all at once too. (For us that's $400, plus $200 if meat option is included.) We allowed downpayments as small as $40 to reserve a spot, starting 2 months in advance. Then we accepted additional payments up to the week of start time - just so everything was paid in full by the time the share boxes started in May. That seemed helpful to about 20% of the members.

WZ....a half pig! You're going to enjoy that big time! There is nothing like natural pork. And what I call 'real sausage'.....sausage that's not all fat, and has actual meat.

I don't mind fat. I'm a firm believer of 'everything in moderation', and hey, sausage needs some fat! But commercial sausage is nearly nothing but fat...not good.

I learned a lot about sausage and fat content when we made our first batch of homemade sausage several years ago. (We can't legally sell homemade sauage, it's just for personal use.) We had to put 60% fat in the sausage to get any real amount of grease in the pan to be poured off while cooking. So imagine that stuff from stores that you fry up and it cooks to practically nothing while you pour and pour away grease......nothing but fat!

ETA: Yesterday we picked up the finished pork from a hog we had butchered Monday. I cannot wait to try the Texas Style Ribs (also called Country Style Ribs in some regions). First time we asked for that cut. We also got beautiful 2-3 lb netted roasts cut from one ham section. They're for a restaurant customer...but we'll be trying one of them

OK....off to work. Have to pick the gardens this morning, bake breads today, pack CSA boxes this evening. Everyone have a great day!

 

[vfem]

Hey Kim, they are in Coats NC:

http://lonepinefarmstead.com/

They update their facebook page like daily!

 

[Kim_NC]

Looks like lots going on at Lone Pine!

I keep saying we need a Facebook page. We have customers who say they've linked to us from their FB pages. Guess I'll set one up in my spare time.

 

[curly_kate]

Thought I'd revive this thread as I am thinking more & more about starting something like this with my garden. We have moved to 28 almost entirely flat acres, so we have a ton of room that we could expand to. Right now, I've been thinking about making it a per box charge, but it's hard to figure out how much I'd charge for it. And if DH & I do decide to go ahead with it next year, we'd probably start pretty small with friends and family, just so we're not overwhelmed & also so we can see how it works. I also make jam, pickles, and salsa, DH roasts coffee, and we have eggs from our chickens, and we have honey so we would have things to fill out the baskets (well, the coffee, eggs, & honey would be for an extra charge) if things were a little skimpy on a particular week.

So what have been the biggest hurdles for people who run a CSA, or even sell produce at farmer's markets? Is there a way to figure out how many tomato plants, for example, you would need to plant per person? I know they say you need 25 strawberry plants per person, but I've never really seen this information on other fruits & veggies.