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    Resolve to Eat More Fresh Produce with a CSA

    Do you want to eat fresher foods, more often? Do you find yourself buying the same produce over and over? Community Supported Agriculture, a CSA, can help you break that habit, and put the freshest and tastiest produce in your regular cooking rotation.

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    A Full-Season Share with Sippel Family Farms out of Mt. Gilead will run you $700 and there are 4 pickup locations. Half and split shares also available. Their season typically runs from May to mid-November and you can see examples of the variety of foods will be in your weekly share. Sippel Family Farms grows many heirloom varieties.

    Toad Hill offers two CSAs, a Spring Season and a Fall Season. Spring Season CSA, Running from Early April to Mid June, for a total of 10 weeks with a cost of $225. The Fall Season CSA, runs from Early September to Early November, for a total of 10 weeks with a cost of $250.

    Carousel Watergardens Farm offers a Winter CSA that you pick up at the Columbus Winter Farmers Market located at the Whetstone Recreation Center on select Saturdays. There are options of Winter Vegetables, Eggs, Honey and Maple Syrups.

    Peace Love and Freedom Farm, This will be the 7th season operating our Clintonville based CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). We have grown using organic principles for over 20 years. In 2015, we hope to earn Organic Certification. Our CSA delivers weekly to a cooler outside your house. Deliveries will begin in mid May and continue for 22 weeks. You should expect about 6-9 different vegetables weekly from this list:
    radish, many types of lettuce, spinach, kale, turnips, beets, green onion, ground cherry, broccoli, shallot, garlic, leeks, fennel, cilantro, bulb onion, carrots, cabbage, oregano, rosemary, parsley, basil, cucumber, heirloom tomato and pepper, chard, summer and winter squash
    Full Share- $32/week X 22 deliveries = $700 (3-4 people)
    Half Share- $16/week X 22 deliveries = $350 (1-2 people)
    As always, please let us know your vegetable likes and/or dislikes or if you would like us to plant some specific plants just for you. In an attempt to grow our farm, we will be expanding and growing more specialty crops. As a result you will be receiving more specialty/gourmet varieties. These Shares are being offered on a first pay basis. I accept: Chase QuickPay, Cash in person, Check by mail and Paypal ([email protected])

    New Century CSA offers delivery to your home. The farm is run by the Cook Family, near Circleville. Distributions begin late May. You have a choice of Small ($22.50/week), Medium ($32.50/week), or Large Shares ($42.00/week) and they span 15 weeks.

    Swainway Urban Farm offers a CSA of certified organic superfoods – mixed mushrooms and micro greens -through March 28. It began in December, so contact them to see if you can still join. Pickups are at the Worthington Winter Farmers Market, and in Clintonville.

    Green Edge Gardens offers 100% certified organic produce: Fresh salad mix, microgreens, and mushrooms, as well as seasonal herbs and vegetables. Full share option comes every week for 20 weeks, Half share – every other week. Pickups are on Wednesdays at the following locations: Bexley, Clintonville, Dublin, Hilliard/Upper Arlington and New Albany. Quite a wide selection, you may choose a Veggie-only share, a Combination Share, and A la Carte items of Apples, Milk, Eggs, Cheese, Bread, a Sweet Share (maple syrup and honey once a month for 5 deliveries), and a Staple Share (includes popcorn and beans). FYI: the winter season began in December.

    EatLocalColumbus offers meat and egg CSAs and you can do the ‘try it once’ for $100, which gets you 10 lbs of pasture raised, hormone and antibiotic free, meat for one month.

    Rock Dove Farm offers Farm Bucks that allows you to purchase $100 for $125 worth of food sold at their Farmers Market stands in Clintonville and Worthington.

    Paige’s Produce, a Local Family Operated Farm, owned by Brian And Kelly Helser since 1999 and offering CSAs, May through October: Full Shares of Vegetable for $520, Fruit for $255, Flowers for $170, All three for $945. Half Shares of Vegetable for $295, Fruit for $150, Flowers for $85, All three for $530. Several pickup locations are offered, including Pearl Market on Fridays.

    Six Buckets Farm offers shares of hogs. Shares sell for $3 per pound live weight of the hogs. They have quarter, half and whole shares available, with $10 and $20 discounts for half and whole shares, respectively. Costs include processing and delivery to most places in Central Ohio. Reservations are being accepted for spring and summer litters. A $100 deposit reserves a half share. Reservations can be made on the Six Buckets Farm Facebook page.

    Wayward Seed offers a CSA program that begins in mid-June and lasts through early December. The fruit supplement will be 20 weeks, making the veg share with the supplement only $850. You will find 9-11 items in your share, with an average of 7-8 vegetables and 1-2 fruits. The basis of the share will include greens, alliums and roots, with 2-4 expressly seasonal items, such as peas, corn, tomatoes, and autumn squashes. They also will offer a wide variety of berries, cherries, apricots, pears, plums, grapes and apples over the course of the season, as part of their partnerships with Eshleman Fruit Farm, Polter’s Berry Farm and Hirsch Fruit Farm.

    Great River Organics (GRO) is a non-profit, farmer-owned cooperative of eight farms, offering central Ohio’s only certified organic multi-farm CSA, with both workplace and public pickups. GRO offers three different CSA share options, as well as an optional, non-organic, Ohio-grown fruit supplement. “Being a farmer-owned co-op, that means 100% of your purchase cost goes directly to the farmers that grew the food. Each Market Bag contains a variety of produce at its peak, including herbs, alliums, greens (both salad and cooking), root vegetables and other specialty items of each season. Depending on the share you choose, you’ll also receive one to two Ohio-sourced items each month, like grains, maple syrup and honey.” GRO offers a choice between weekly and every-other-week deliveries, for either 20 or 30 weeks. The cost is about $27/week.

    Green B.E.A.N. Delivery promises the best organic produce growers & local artisans, delivered to your door. You may order Vegetable and Fruit bins in varying sizes. Small ($35), Medium ($42), Large ($49), a Fruit Bin ($42), and a Produce + Grocery Bin ($28) with the note that members with this bin must add $7 worth of groceries to their order to avoid a delivery fee. A delivery fee only applies to orders below the $35.00 minimum.

    Azoti also offers an assortment of local meats, vegetables and fruits, and other meals. Pickups are offered year round and home deliveries are made in the warmer months.

    Yellowbird Foodshed offers shares from their network of farmers. Share prices range depending on season. Currently offering a Winter Share, Spring Share, and Fall Share.

    Sunny Meadows Flower Farm offers a version of a CSA for flowers, a frequent buyer’s card that is purchased by farmer’s market customers. Prepay for 10 bouquets, get a hole punch on their card every time you get a bouquet at market, and then turn it in for your 11th bouquet for free.

    In addition to their stall inside the North Market, BluesCreek Farm Meats offers Blue Bag Bundles, special pricing on meats – beef, pork, and lamb. These are only offered on their Facebook page, so you have to follow them and see when they go live!

    Bird’s Haven Farms. CSA is a Bag that offers 9-11 items each week. Comes in the “Just Right” or “A Little More” sizes. Just Right is the most popular size, best for a single person or a family of two. Dates will begin the first week of June. Offers additional add-ons with partner farms. Meat, cheese, bakery, coffee, eggs options available. Available in 11 week, or 21 week time periods. Prices and more info on their contract.

    Triple J Family Farm. Details for 2015 pending.

    Not a CSA, but VidaFit offers healthy meals delivered. From their website: “meals are made from scratch with no added salt or sugar, gluten-free, 100% organic with mostly local, in-season ingredients and harvest to plate in two days.” Plans vary from 1 meal per day for five days for $95 per week, to five meals per day for five days for $387 per week.

    Fit Food Columbus also offers healthy meals delivered. Skilled chefs in Columbus prepare the meal and you get it delivered on the day you want it. Guaranteed to be low-calorie, and they have options to fit any diet restrictions. Prices range based on which meals you order.

    And you can also shop your Farmers Markets year round.

    From January 5 – 11, Columbus Underground is featuring our Health & Wellness Week series, brought to you by the The Fitness Loft. The Fitness Loft is more than just a gym – it’s a visionary approach to developing a sustainable community and creating an atmosphere that encourages people to lead a healthier life. Our holistic concept includes biometric wellness screening, Technogym exercise equipment that records progress, free group fitness and nutrition classes, an on-site Registered Dietitian, and much more to give you a truly unique wellness experience. Located at 625 Parsons Avenue, Columbus, OH 43206.

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    Anne Evans
    Anne Evanshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-evans/
    Anne Evans is the Co-Founder and Director of Operations for The Metropreneur and Columbus Underground. She regularly contributes feature stories on both sites, as well as Mega Weekend each week. She has started and grown businesses, created experiences, forged community partnerships, and worked to create opportunities for others. She loves meeting new neighbors and those making an impact in our community. Want to connect?
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