Recently as I was perusing Facebook a friend shared a post from a local farm here in the Flathead Valley offering full and partial CSA shares. For those of you that don’t know what CSA stands for it’s, Community Supported Agriculture. Most CSA shares are for vegetables and herbs but you can even find CSA’s that contain eggs, milk, flowers and fruits.
Community Supported Agriculture is so cool because it benefits not only you but also your local farmer.
Consumer Benefits:
- Extremely fresh local produce with high nutrients value
- Get creative using what’s in season and trying new recipes
- Use it as an opportunity if you have kids to educate them on new vegetables and where their food comes from
- Keep your money local
Farmer Benefits:
- Plan their crop season and volume
- Provide fresh produce to their local community
- Consistent cash flow to keep the farm running
Also it’s pretty fun for the Farmer and the Consumer to meet each other too. Things to consider with a CSA is that you assume a shared risk. The shared risk being if the crop season doesn’t do well for whatever reason your CSA share will reflect that. Although things typically don’t go wrong on the farm it is possible. But also when it’s a bumper crop year, you will benefit greatly from that.
CSA shares can vary from farm to farm but the CSA share I invested in is from Lower Valley Farms. Lower Valley Farms is USDA certified organic and they are approximately 7 miles from my house. They offer full and partial shares for the consumers. I’m the rabbit in the house and really enjoy my veggies more so than anyone else so I felt a full share would be too much, so I opted for a partial share. The share includes 21 weeks of fresh produce and I was able to choose a convenient monthly billing option at $49 a month. They also offered several pick up locations in the valley along with a nice newsletter with information on your share for that week and the happenings on the farm. All week I’ve been so excited for today to pick up my first share.
I have never tried Bok Choy before and am very excited to try it. Tonight we are having steak for dinner and I plan to saute’ the Bok Choy with some garlic and olive oil.
I had been contemplating getting a CSA share this year because I have a hard time keeping up with a garden in the summer. We do not have any built-in irrigation and are typically gone playing a lot on the weekends. I also really appreciate the CSA model of connecting the farmer and consumer. I’m so excited that I decided to do it and after today getting my first weeks share I know I made the right decision. I highly recommend you search locally where ever you are located and try to find a CSA.
Today I feel gratitude towards my local farmers (Jay and Mandy) for growing such beautiful healthy produce. Thank you Lower Valley Farms looking forward to the rest of the season.
–Mindy
Messy DIY Mom 