What is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)?
In the 1980s the idea of Community Supported Agriculture reached the United States. Community Supported Agriculture (referred to as CSA) seeks to provide community members with safe produce through earth friendly farming techniques. The community members agree to share in both the benefits and the risks involved in the human quest for food. Members support the farmer by paying prices in advance. CSA not only nourishes families with quality food from June to October, it connects them to nature’s cycle and variables. A cool spell might please the beans but it will slow the melons. CSA farmers attempt to account for these variables in measure by diversifying their selection of crops.
Procedures for Eighth Day Farm’s CSA
Length of 2013 season:
Twenty two weeks, starting June 4, 2013, and ending November 2, 2013.
Pick up days and times and location:
Pick up will be on a weekly basis and be set on either Tuesdays from 3:30pm to 6pm or Saturdays from 10am to noon. Please note the following change for 2013: our Saturday pick-ups will be held at a different location. The new location for Saturday pick-ups will be The Holland Town Center, 12330 James Street. Please make your day/location request known to us as soon as possible.
Day and Location
Tuesdays 3:30-6pm
The Growth Center
709 Pine Avenue
Holland, MI 49423
Saturdays 10am-noon
The Holland Town Center
12330 James Street
Holland, MI 40423
Price
For 2013 we will only be offering half shares. If you want more produce we suggest purchasing two of the half shares. The price of a half share is $250.
Other details.
Please be aware that there are many children and pedestrians in the neighborhood and on the sidewalks. Likewise, we ask that parents be watchful of their children during the pick up for the sake of safety.
Remember bags/boxes. Please bring some kind of basket or bag to load and carry your produce home in. A previous member recommends using old Earthbound lettuce plastic containers to put lettuce and greens in.
Vegetables for 2013
Beans
Beets
Bok Choy
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Collards
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Garlic
Green Onions
Greens
Kale
Kohlrabi
Leeks
Lettuce
Onions
Peas
Peppers
Potatoes
Pumpkin
Rutabaga
Spinach
Summer squash (and zucchini)
Swiss Chard
Tomatoes
Winter Squash
and Herbs
Our aim is to introduce our customer base to a variety of vegetables (pleasing those with the eclectic palate and hopefully creating more vegetable converts) while satisfying the majority’s desire for larger amounts of the popular staples. We realize that our culture is a little scared of veggies and in order to account for this we intentionally go heavy on crops such as beans, carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, peppers and tomatoes. If you are searching for the CSA with the most exotic food, we’re probably not it. That being said, diversity is a value of ours and we continue to increase our variety as the years go on. We are hoping to have strawberries available to CSA members this season.