Eating healthy is a lot easier when a giant box of farm-fresh organic vegetables arrives in your kitchen every week.
If you participate in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, you’ll get just that. You’ll also likely develop a love of new and unusual veggies (radicchio, anyone?) while you get the added benefit of saving money.
Sometimes it’s hard to finish everything from one week’s box before the next one arrives, but keep in mind you are saving money and you can always share the bounty (and the cost) with a friend, neighbor or family member.
Do you want to try this brilliant (and delicious) way to save money for yourself? Here’s what to know and do.
What Is a CSA?
A Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program is a system where consumers buy “shares” of what a farmer is growing. The money is paid in advance of planting and harvest. This community-based commerce program is a way to help fund farms and for consumers to get fresh produce directly from the fields.
CSAs are great ways to receive a large amount of farm-fresh, often organic produce that typically costs far less than you’d find at a farmers market or even the grocery store.
How Does a CSA Work?
Consumers pay in advance for the produce from a farm and it is delivered in a couple of ways. Either consumers pick up their share of produce at a specific time and location, or it is delivered to their homes.
The produce delivered is what is ready to be picked that week and each box will contain a variety. Some CSAs let consumers say which fruits or veggies they don’t want. Since one of the goals is to cut waste, CSAs don’t want to deliver what people don’t want. Though, primarily, consumers get what the farm is delivering.
Every farm has different offerings, and the produce varies throughout the season (and by climate and region). Many areas of the US start off the season in mid-June with leafy greens, baby garlic, and herbs, then transitioned to…
