Groxie

I can’t remember how I first learned about the Community Supported Agriculture movement, but I’ve been hearing about it ever since. CSAs are gaining popularity—even the U.S. government has a site about CSAs.

I belong to the Best of What’s Around farm. There are a few CSA farms around here, but I picked this one because it has a working share. I work at the farm two hours each week, and my share price is reduced by $300. I am required to work 30 hours—that means I make $10 an hour playing in the dirt. I am also learning plenty about plants, bugs, and farming in general—sometimes I almost feel bad about what a great deal this is!

I know that a working share isn’t feasible for everybody. But even if you’re paying full price, a CSA share is worthwhile. Friends of ours are saving money by splitting a Horse and Buggy full share with another couple, and they’re inundated with more fresh veggies than they could have purchased for the cost of their share.

After doing some hazy math, it seems to me that CSA groceries end up running between $5 and $15 per person per week. You can’t beat that for local organic food! Our grocery bills easily went down about $100—$120 a month once we started receiving our share. You do have to be willing to experiment a little; sometimes you’ll end up with a ton of one or two veggies that are at their peak. I fully intend to finally get good at canning when those tomatoes start showing up by the truckload.

Local Harvest is a great place to start if you’re looking for a CSA. Unfortunately it’s pretty late in the season, so most of the subscription programs are already full. Luckily though, many CSAs have farm shops or booths at the local farmer’s market. If you take the time to check out the farms now, by the time next season rolls around you’ll already know which farm you want to subscribe to.