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While local farmers markets continue to grow in popularity, many people are discovering the benefits of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) food subscriptions. By prepaying local farmers to help produce their food, subscribers take advantage of regular deliveries of super fresh food throughout the growing season. An upcoming CSA Open House at the Urban Ecology Center presents an opportunity to meet the growers and learn more about this unique relationship.
Each spring, CSA farmers offer a limited number of shares to the public in exchange for a weekly or bi-weekly box of vegetables. This provides needed cash flow up front for farmers to pay their expenses. Farmers provide newsletters and recipes and host farm events where subscribers can get to know each other better. Farmers and subscribers often talk about the personal relationships that develop through this arrangement. As David Kozlowski of Pinehold Gardens in Oak Creek explains, “family and friends are integral to our efforts as farmers to help bring real food to your table.” Subscriber Christa adds, “Sandy Raduenz and David Kozlowski [of Pinehold Gardens] have become great friends of ours over the 15 years we have known them.”
Growers offer a range of options when it comes to membership shares, both in the quantity of food and in the length of the subscription, with most averaging about $30 per week. LotFotL Community Farm in Elkhorn offers 12-24 week subscriptions while Tipi Produce in Evansville has 13-26 week shares. Some farms offer eggs as an add-on option. Pinehold Gardens recently partnered with Morning Star Family Farm near Hartford to offer CSA meat shares consisting of lamb, beef, pork and veal. Convenient pickup sites are established at neighborhood locations. Farms also offer worker shares in exchange for sweat equity, which is usually a weekly four-hour commitment.
What can you expect when you open those boxes of food? Your weekly subscription changes with the season and the produce reflects the food at the peak of quality.
Explains Beth Kazmar of Tipi Produce, “In spring, there’s asparagus, green garlic, tender greens. In summer, ripe tomatoes, peppers, melons, sweet corn and herbs. Fall foods will be heartier vegetables, potatoes, squash and Brussels sprouts.” Customers will be familiar with most items but often farmers add unusual items for interest (usually with directions on its use).
The 13th Annual Local Farmer Open House takes place 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, March 7 at the Riverside Urban Ecology Center, 1500 E. Park Place.
John Reiss is a chef and culinary educator at Milwaukee Area Technical College
