CSA farm shares

I saw something posted a few days ago about farm shares but I've never heard about those before. Can someone with any experience shed some light on these? Which ones are the best? Did you really feel like you were saving money? Did you have to scramble to figure out how to incorporate the vegetables into your weekly menus? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Re: CSA farm shares

I've never done this before, but I plan on doing it this summer. I'm going to do a 1/2 share as there are only 2 of us. For the amount of time, I think we will save money and it will force me to find different ways to cook veggies. I also live on the South Fork, so it won't be too hard for me to get to the farms.
I'm looking at biophilia and garden of eve.

Re: CSA farm shares

Last summer was my first summer doing it and I loved it! I used Golden Earthworm Farm, they have pick-up locations throughout Nassau and Suffolk. The cost was $550 for 26 weeks. There is also no farm work involved (there are some CSA's where members have to work a certain number of hours in the field). When you divide it, it comes to a little over $21 per week. I definitely think I got at least $21 worth of vegetables (if not more) most weeks. Even though there are only 2 of us, we were able to use everything because most of my meals are vegetarian. My primary reason for doing it was because all of their veggies are grown organically, so I loved knowing that all my veggies were organic. During the rest of the year, when I buy my veggies at the grocery store, I can find some organic, but not all, so I loved that everything was for those 26 weeks. As far as scrambling to incorporate them, I'm not gonna lie, that was definitely the hardest part. That's why, with coming this summer, I am splitting my share with someone. Every week I got the share list for the week and had to look up recipes for how to use them. Even though it was tough, I would say it made me a better cook and definitely widened the spectrum of what was on our menu week to week. It has actually gotten a lot more boring around here, menu wise, since the farm share stopped.

Also, Golden Earthworm doesn't offer half shares...if you want to split a share you are responsible for finding someone and working it out with them. I actually found someone on here to split with, so it worked out awesome. Other farms though, might offer half shares, so that might be something to look in to if you're not sure you'll be able to use everything.

Sorry this was so long...just wanted to make sure I answered everything. Let me know if you have any other questions!

Re: CSA farm shares

Thank you both so much for your responses! They were very informative!

Re: CSA farm shares

I just went to the Golden Earthworm website...I think I might do it...

I spend so much on fruits and veggies (I'm a veg who tries to only eat fresh)

It seems costly but like you said...it's 20 a week...

hmmm...

Re: CSA farm shares

I did the fruit share through Golden Earthworm last year and really enjoyed it. I'm definitely doing it again.

I am on the fence about a veggie share. One, it is HUGE for small household, and two, I found a lot of the veggies to be things I would not use weekly. They do put websites on their website for ideas.

Re: CSA farm shares

Re: CSA farm shares

Re: CSA farm shares

Re: CSA farm shares

Last year we did a half-share through Garden of Eve Farm

Garden of Eve Farm link

We did a half share to try it out, but I think we'll only do half share again this year instead of a full share -- I had trouble incorporating the veggies in our meals so we had some wasted food. IMO, that defeated the purpose of joining the share!

We picked up in Bayport every other week, which worked out great for us because we're only one town away. We got fruit, veggies, and a double-egg share (1 doz every other week) plus the flower share. We'll pass on the flower share next year, too -- wasn't too impressed with it every pick-up. Also, the fruit share wasn't very generous - maybe DH and I eat more fruit than others, so we'd still need to go to Meat Farms every other week to supplement with other fruits.

I loved that the food was so fresh and the taste of their veggies was OUTSTANDING. Plus it pushed us to eat outside of our comfort zone -- I was eating foods I'd never even heard of before....

Re: CSA farm shares

Message edited 2/2/2010 6:14:58 PM.