Soule Homestead Education Center, Inc.
 

What is a CSA?

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a partnership between farmers and the community.  Subscribers purchase a “share” in the farm’s harvest.  Each week, shareholders receive a freshly picked portion of each crop.  Shareholders in the CSA at Soule Homestead pick up their share at the farm, where they can also visit with the animals, hike in the trails or fields, and meet the people and horses that produce their food.

CSA is good for consumers because they receive fresh, healthy, delicious food and learn about the food system that sustains them.  The cost is lower than at a farm stand or market. 

CSA is good for small farmers, because they have a guaranteed market for their produce, and because they receive payment in the spring, when they have the most expenses. Seasonal risks are shared by the community instead of being shouldered solely by the farmer.

CSA is good for the environment because it dramatically reduces the amount of energy used in transportation, climate control, and packaging.  The CSA at Soule Homestead is organic, so no harmful chemicals are released into the water, the air, the soil, or your diet.

CSA is good for communities because food dollars stay in the local economy.  Open space is preserved.  And people come together with their environment and their neighbors when they come to the farm to retrieve their share.

What’s in a Share?

Each share is intended to fulfill the weekly vegetable needs of a family of four, or two vegetarian adults.  However, every household is different.  Many families find that the shares more than fill their needs, and choose to split their subscription with another household.  Others devour it all and augment their share with purchases elsewhere.  

Shares start humbly in June, but quickly swell as the season continues.  Most weeks the price of purchasing the same vegetables at an organic farm stand or market would far exceed the price of your share.  The seasonable variables of farming (weather, pests, disease) will affect each year’s particular harvest.  The great variety of crops ensures an ample supply of delicious food each week; but returning shareholders will note, and learn from, the differences from year to year.  Shareholders invest in the CSA program, partnering with the farmers in the risks and many benefits inherent in farming.

Each week your pre-packed share will await you.  You will receive an emailed newsletter detailing your share’s contents, and including farm news and recipe ideas.  You are welcome to linger at the farm and enjoy the animals, the view, the trails, and more. 

What Can I Expect?

Each season varies, but the following crops are being sowed for your share…

Early weeks: Chinese Cabbage,  Lettuce, Garlic Scapes, Greens, Herbs, Peas, Radishes, Scallions, Spinach, Turnips, …

Mid-summer: Beans, Beets, Broccoli, Carrots, Celery, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Herbs, Kale, Lettuce, Onions, Peppers,  Summer Squash, Tomatoes, Zucchini…

Late Summer/Fall: more of the mid-summer crops, plus Cabbage, Celeriac, Garlic, Greens, Leeks, Parsnips, Potatoes, Spinach, Turnips, and Winter Squash.

Shares start modestly in the spring, but soon grow to an abundant bounty.  Late summer and early fall continue in abundance.  Frost kills summer’s sensitive crops but many hardy fall treats round out the season.

Did You Know?...

*Massachusetts currently imports over 80% of its food

*The average U.S. food item travels over 1,500 miles from field to plate, losing freshness and consuming energy (for transport and cooling) along the way.

*Forty times as much energy is used to produce one calorie of processed food than is used to produce one calorie of fresh, local produce.

Sound interesting?

Soule Homestead does not plan to offer CSA shares this year. 

Two local organic farms that do offer CSA shares are Bay End Farm and Plato's Harvest.

You can learn more and find other organic farms offering CSA shares at the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) website.