CSA = Community Supported Agriculture. Here’s a definition from the US-duh (a Joel Salatin term, not mine):
Community supported agriculture (CSA) is a direct-to-consumer marketing arrangement that permits household consumers to purchase advance shares of a farm’s production in return for regular (usually weekly) deliveries during the growing season. CSA operations have experienced a dramatic rise in popularity in the United States during the past several years, expanding from an estimated 60 operations in 1990 to approximately 3,600 operations as of mid-2010.
You may have heard it before, but I don’t think there’s harm in saying it again: CSAs are good for communities. And: YOU SHOULD GET ONE.
The scale of benefits are absurd. You’ll COOK, experiment with new ingredients, end up google-finding for new and amazing things to do with kale, help local farmers focus on growing and not on selling, and on and on.
Many local CSA shares start pick ups in the next couple of weeks, so there couldn’t be a better time to sign up.
One CSA that I know still has shares — because they were tabling next to me at the Michigan Theater for Joel Salatin’s talk — is Tillian Farm Development Center. TILLIAN! There’s something you should know about. The TFDC facilitates new farm business development in order to increase diversified production for local markets, year round in our food shed. Your Tillian CSA share will support your and your family’s health and happiness, but it will also go right back into Tillian’s Incubator and Residency programs. Positive feedback loop! What’s not to love?
(Need a link? http://tiliancenter.wordpress.com/ )
I’ve put a call out on Facebook for more farms with shares available. I’ll update this post with what I find. You should feel free to leave comments here or on Facebook so we can do some networking to get as many shares filled as possible.
UPDATES:
- This might help folks who otherwise couldn’t afford a CSA: Groupon deal through May 5th
- Grist article on CSAs
- People’s Food Co-op list of local resources (scroll down to “Local CSA’s”)
