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Tell me about your CSA!

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Started 3 years ago by yurtgirl
Latest reply from duncanfj

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yurtgirl
far, far south end
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I want to get input on other people's experience with their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). I used New Century from Pickaway County last year and was happy with their goods and service but their season was short and didnt' include many fall veggies and I'm always looking for others input on their CSAs.
So let me know who you used and how it went.

Posted 3 years ago #
byJody
Rural NW Columbus
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Hey I've stayed in that yurt! ;) Fun times indeed!

Local Matters has a great list of local CSAs.

CSA Directory

There is also a link at the end to add any that aren't listed.

Posted 3 years ago #
lisathewaitress
SoHud
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I think Wayward Seed has one of the best CSAs out there. They're generous with their portions, they have a great variety of things, and their fruit CSA is great too.

Elizabeth Telling is also great - she tends to sell some more esoteric things.

As far as fall veggies, I can't believe you weren't swimming in them! They are so hearty and plentiful!

Posted 3 years ago #
CheeseFoodie
Harrison West
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+1 to Wayward Seed, they're great!

Posted 3 years ago #
shroud
Polaris
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We've had a CSA through Bird's Haven Farms for the past couple years. Haven't tried any others, so I can't speak much for comparison, but we've been really happy with them.

They've got what seems like a long season, which means a lot of greens the first few weeks, but after you get past that, I think they've got a really good mix of stuff. Some of my favorites each year have been their beets, tomatoes, kholrabi, and corn.

Posted 3 years ago #
AnneD
Taco-Nazo-Land
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We've had the Wayward Seed fruit CSA for 2 years and the vegetable CSA for one, and we signed up for both again next year. I still have root veggies, even though our last pickup was in November! Very consistent with greens and root veggies and herbs, and in general a good variety of food with lots of heirlooms. They are great folks with a great vision of sustainable farming, and we're thrilled to be able to support them (and get lots of wonderful food in return!)

Posted 3 years ago #
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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Are there any single people on here that do this? I'd be willing to go weekly on the veggies if anyone else had any experience with the size of the single deliveries. Otherwise I think I'm going to do weekly fruit and bo-weekly veggies.

Thanks to the OP. I wanted to do this last year and missed it and almost missed it again!

Posted 3 years ago #
jarsloth
westside
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somertimeoh wrote >>
Are there any single people on here that do this? I'd be willing to go weekly on the veggies if anyone else had any experience with the size of the single deliveries. Otherwise I think I'm going to do weekly fruit and bo-weekly veggies.
Thanks to the OP. I wanted to do this last year and missed it and almost missed it again!

i'm very interested to hear about this as well. my wife and i are considering joining a CSA this year, though as it's just the two of us, we're wondering if it would be more economical to just do the weekly produce shopping?

Posted 3 years ago #
Cookie
Flyntonville
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somertimeoh wrote >>
Are there any single people on here that do this? I'd be willing to go weekly on the veggies if anyone else had any experience with the size of the single deliveries. Otherwise I think I'm going to do weekly fruit and bo-weekly veggies.
Thanks to the OP. I wanted to do this last year and missed it and almost missed it again!

I signed up for the bi-weekly single person veggie share from Wayward Seed. I'm still debating getting fruit too. This is my first year with a CSA, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Posted 3 years ago #
somertimeoh
Harrison West
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Yeah, I think that's the best way to go to start out. I'm struggling with the cooking thing so I bet LEW still ends up with a crap load of "what the hell do I do with this?" veggies anyway :)

Posted 3 years ago #
duncanfj

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jarsloth wrote >>

somertimeoh wrote >>
Are there any single people on here that do this? I'd be willing to go weekly on the veggies if anyone else had any experience with the size of the single deliveries. Otherwise I think I'm going to do weekly fruit and bo-weekly veggies.
Thanks to the OP. I wanted to do this last year and missed it and almost missed it again!

i'm very interested to hear about this as well. my wife and i are considering joining a CSA this year, though as it's just the two of us, we're wondering if it would be more economical to just do the weekly produce shopping?

It depends on how much produce you buy in a week. If you're buying a bag of salad and a couple of tomatoes, probably not. We did the two person share from Wayward Seed last year, which is $550 for 25 weeks ($22 a week). During the peak growing season, our kitchen counter tops were overflowing with heirloom vegetables and more common varietals. So if you actually use a lot of produce, it is very economical. We should have done a winter CSA this year. We will not make the same mistake next year. The website byJody posted, Local Matters is a great resource for finding CSAs in your area.

Posted 3 years ago #
osulew
My house...in the middle of my street
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somertimeoh wrote >>
Yeah, I think that's the best way to go to start out. I'm struggling with the cooking thing so I bet LEW still ends up with a crap load of "what the hell do I do with this?" veggies anyway :)

Wooooot! I am a veggie eating machine!!!!!!

Maybe if you get a CSA, I'll get you a copy of Veganomicon. You can find a way to cook any veggie out there with that puppy.

Posted 3 years ago #
spookygoddess78
Northland-ish
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I always think about getting a CSA. The problem is that there always seems to be specific produce that I like from specific farmers and I like being able to have that choice and variety via the farmers' markets. But, I can't help but think that a CSA might be more economical. It's a tough decision. Also, as an FYI, when I've inquired about the fruit CSA from Wayward in the past, it was explained to me that the fruit is not from their farm, but comes from 2 other farms that do use pesticides on their fruits - in case that's important to any of you interested in the fruit CSA.

Posted 3 years ago #
jarsloth
westside
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duncanfj wrote >>

jarsloth wrote >>

somertimeoh wrote >>
Are there any single people on here that do this? I'd be willing to go weekly on the veggies if anyone else had any experience with the size of the single deliveries. Otherwise I think I'm going to do weekly fruit and bo-weekly veggies.
Thanks to the OP. I wanted to do this last year and missed it and almost missed it again!

i'm very interested to hear about this as well. my wife and i are considering joining a CSA this year, though as it's just the two of us, we're wondering if it would be more economical to just do the weekly produce shopping?

It depends on how much produce you buy in a week. If you're buying a bag of salad and a couple of tomatoes, probably not. We did the two person share from Wayward Seed last year, which is $550 for 25 weeks ($22 a week). During the peak growing season, our kitchen counter tops were overflowing with heirloom vegetables and more common varietals. So if you actually use a lot of produce, it is very economical. We should have done a winter CSA this year. We will not make the same mistake next year. The website byJody posted, Local Matters is a great resource for finding CSAs in your area.

thanks - that does help. right now we don't eat a lot of produce, but we've been wanting to eat more and hoping that joining a CSA would force us to do so. we just didn't want to become overwhelmed with uneaten produce and have to either give it away on a weekly basis or, worse, have it rot in our fridge.

Posted 3 years ago #
yurtgirl
far, far south end
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Well, this is my second year and our second week this season w/ New Century CSA out of Pickaway county. The first week our cooler was overflowing with romaine, spinach, napa cabbage, radishes, green onions, kohlrabi (soooo yummy), snap peas and shell peas, red raspberries and strawberries.
Week number two was minus the fruit but added a yellow squash and larger onion. My fridge is so full of greens, I don't think we can eat it all. The neighbors love us!
We purchased the fruit option this year again. Last year the watermelons, especially the yellow ones, were amazingly sweet.
How's everyone else's crop coming along?

Posted 2 years ago #
_bluescreek
Columbus, Ohio
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Has anyone who is involved (or is looking to get involved) in produce CSAs ever thought about doing a Meat CSA? We have recently started our own Meat CSAs and they have been a huge hit! But we're always looking for hints on who we can improve our CSAs, and after reading this thread I'm wondering about us doing a smaller CSA for single or light meat eaters. Would anyone have an thoughts or suggestions?

Posted 2 years ago #
Parker
Franklinton
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We have a share with the Sippel Family Farm. Ben and Lisa are great and their CSA runs from May to mid-November (sometimes even late Nov). Monthly pot-lucks at the farm are a lot of fun, and if you have young kids, their son can help give them a tour.

They also have pastured beef and pork for those interested (and brats from Lisa's family recipe) and are starting to make sheep's milk cheese.

Not to gripe, and this is off topic so I apologize upfront. . . Local Matters has good information on their site, but I really wish they had more genuine community engagement.

Posted 2 years ago #
Parker
Franklinton
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_bluescreek wrote >>
Has anyone who is involved (or is looking to get involved) in produce CSAs ever thought about doing a Meat CSA? We have recently started our own Meat CSAs and they have been a huge hit! But we're always looking for hints on who we can improve our CSAs, and after reading this thread I'm wondering about us doing a smaller CSA for single or light meat eaters. Would anyone have an thoughts or suggestions?

I *like* your idea about light meat eaters. We don't eat meat at every meal, but we also aren't vegetarian (but support those that are!), so this sounds like a good idea.

How does your meat CSA currently work?

Posted 2 years ago #
Cats With Thumbs

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I did just sign up for my first veggie CSA and I am so excited for it to start!!!

I have definitely thought about doing a meat CSA. The main drawback has been that they are expensive and (for me at least) difficult to get that much capital together at one time. I like the idea of the single/light meat eater option.

Posted 2 years ago #
kitty

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_bluescreek wrote >>
Has anyone who is involved (or is looking to get involved) in produce CSAs ever thought about doing a Meat CSA? We have recently started our own Meat CSAs and they have been a huge hit! But we're always looking for hints on who we can improve our CSAs, and after reading this thread I'm wondering about us doing a smaller CSA for single or light meat eaters. Would anyone have an thoughts or suggestions?

I would be interested in something like this. The current shares offer too much meat for 2 people with an apartment sized freezer. If I had a bigger freezer the small special meat CSA would be good, but it would last much longer than the months of pickup.

Posted 2 years ago #