CSAs

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

I really like my CSA, but they will not be delivering to Davis Square next year, and I am thinking about changing. They sent me a list of CSAs that deliver in or near Somerville. Although I’d prefer to pick up within walking distance of my house (that is, Davis Square), after looking at the websites, I’m leaning toward Enterprise or Farmer Dave’s because of the variety of produce in the shares (assuming, I guess, that the weather cooperates). The others may be good too, but the websites do not provide much information.


Here is the list of CSAs:
Enterprise Farm (Davis Square)
Luna Farm (Davis Square)
Parker Farm (Central Sq., Davis? Porter?)
Red Fire Farm (Somerville Community Growing Center near Union Sq. and Central Square)
Farmer Dave's CSA (East Somerville near the Stop and Shop off of McGrath Hwy)
Bay End Farm (Porter Square)
Drumlin Farm (Porter and Central Squares)
Brookfield Farm (Richdale Ave. in Cambridge, near Broadway in Arlington)

Do any of you wise folks have experience with any of these CSAs? I’d actually prefer a farm with more staple foods and not mountains of lettuce and braising greens (which are fine in limited quantities). I prefer foods that freeze well or store well because I can’t wolf everything down every single week in the summer (because sometimes, you know, we’re busy in the summer or it’s too hot to cook).

Farmer Dave’s and Parker Farm are already enrolling for 2009. Most of the others don’t open enrollment until January.

Thoughts?

Comments

[ron_newman]

Just curious -- why are they stopping delivery to Davis?

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

They are in Waltham, and they have 350 shares. Only 15 shares are delivered, and those all go to Davis Square. They are losing money on the Davis Sqaure delivery and would now prefer that everyone simply pick up in Waltham.

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

I've been with Parker Farm for several years now; they had a dropoff spot that's between Porter and Davis this year and it was very convenient. Good variety and Steve is great.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_meej_/]

Just seconding the recommendation for Parker Farm. Good mix of stuff, much of which freezes well with minimal prep (my wife and I also did a whole lot of that this summer), good quantity for the price, and a great guy.

Oh, and as a bonus, his toddler who often comes along on delivery nights is very cool.

[jennyelfenmass.livejournal.com]

Thirding Parker Farm. I only joined last year, but I had a wonderful time and will be renewing for this coming year.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

fourthing parker farms!

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

Fifth'd! Farmer Steve drops off in our driveway. :)

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Sixthing Parker Farms.

[crunchyjew.livejournal.com]

Seventh

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

Where can I find out more info about these CSAs? (prices, basically what to expect, organic/not, when to enroll, when they deliver, etc).

[ravenword.livejournal.com]

Googling each CSA should take you to their website for more info, or you can check out a plethora of CSA options at localharvest.org -- search for CSAs, farmer's markets, etc. based on your location, with links to many differetn farms.

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

The Parker Farm website (screaming colors, sadly) is here (http://web.mac.com/parkerfarm/iWeb/Site/csa%20program.html). This year, the melon crop sadly failed.

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

I think the melon crop may have failed everywhere. My CSA didn't have melons this year either. It was also a bad year for tomatoes. Too much rain in the summer, I think.

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

I use Red Fire. The beginning of the season was heavy on greens, but the rest of the season has been a good mix. They have an inordinate fondness for kale, and would probably consider it a staple if you asked about that... I thought they had a chart up for what comes when?

They are now accepting enrollment for all locations.

I have their extended season, which goes until this week. So many root vegetables...

meet the meat

[wolftone.livejournal.com]

Your question implicitly is asking about veggie CSAs. If anyone else is looking for a good meat CSA, I recommend Chestnut Farms (http://www.chestnutfarms.org/). Good quality, friendly folks, and their Arlington delivery is easily accomplishable by bus.

Re: meet the meat

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

Actually, I'm a member of Chestnut Farms' meat CSA (and I like it), but, you are right, I was thinking about veggie CSAs, since I need to find a new one.

[jadelennox]

the Arlington drop off point for Brookfield is a 30 minute walk from Davis. It is also on the 87 -- the stop is across the street from the drop off point for the Brookfield CSA. The Cambridge drop off is an uphill haul from Porter Square. Depending on where you live, one or the other might be more convenient for you, but the Arlington drop off definitely has the advantage of the bus. It's a very nice CSA, but maybe you want to pick somewhere closer (they have great pick your own, for example, but how often can you realistically get out to Amherst to pick your own?).

[rainbow-spork.livejournal.com]

If it's uphill from Porter, then it can't possibly be on Richdale Ave. I used to live on Richdale ave, and I can't think of any part of that street that I would describe as being significantly uphill from anywhere. Unless you count walking over the Walden St bridge from Davis.

[jadelennox]

Huh. Most have moved, then. i only picked it up from Cambridge a few times years ago.

[kalliejenn2.livejournal.com]

just as an alternative to CSAs - bostonorganics.com delivers right to your door, and you can pick your % mix of fruit/veggies and what you don't want delivered. we love it.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

FYI, using Boston Organics doesn't necessarily support local growers (or even get you any local produce at all), and isn't much of anything like a CSA. Which isn't to say people shouldn't use the service, but BO is a lot more like shopping once a week at Whole Foods than it is like having a CSA share.

[kalliejenn2.livejournal.com]

i totally wasn't implying that is was exactly like a CSA - but they do use a lot of organic produce, and a good amount of it does actually come from locally (less so in the winter months, but they try to do local stuff as often as they can). they also have an option to *only* get stuff from local growers (this option is a new one).

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

They're adding a "as local as possible" option.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I understand, but it's still more like going to a crunchy supermarket than it is like a CSA.

And to the OP, you can add me to the chorus of Parkerites. I've also been logging my weeks, though before a certain point, they're f'locked: here (http://surrealestate.livejournal.com/tag/csa).

And I still have at least 20 pounds of winter squash to deal with, as well as potatoes and other roots. Plus the assorted items I've frozen and otherwise put by. Who needs a winter share? :)

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

Hear! Hear! It may be snowing outside, but I still have summer produce in my freezer. And for some reason, that always makes me happy.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've had Red Fire Farm for the last three years, and I've been very happy with them (extended season! :-).

If you want to see what the share tends to have, I've marked all the posts in memories (http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=magid&keyword=farm+share&filter=all) (only the last 3 years are RFF though).

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

Thanks! What detailed records! I'm impressed.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Thanks for spinning my obsessiveness in such a nice light :-)

[koloratur.livejournal.com]

Seconded - we were with Red Fire two years ago, gave Parker Farms a try this year, and are going back to Red Fire. Hooray extended season and bulk purchasing!

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

I may not be drinking the Kool-Aid here, but what is a CSA?

[taerowyn.livejournal.com]

Community Supported Agriculture. In winter/early spring (when farmers are planning and prepping and planting and thus needs capital) you shell out money for a share of the produce. Come summer/fall you collect your share of the harvest. Some places you go to the farm each week to collect your yummy goodness, some places deliver to centralized locations each week (like Davis). It's a fairly good deal in that local farmers get the cash flow when they need it and you get yummy, local produce all summer/fall.

[fredrickegerman.livejournal.com]

We were with Brookfield for a number of years (5-6 at least) and switched to Parker this year. Brookfield is much more salad-y; lettuce, celery, cabbage. Parker was super-heavy on green beans (which we love) and lighter on, say, arugula (which I also love), and had veggies arrive with slightly different timings (mid-summer potatoes). Both gave plenty of tomatoes (adjusting for a bad year) and squash. Parker ended 3 weeks - a month earlier (end of Oct vs Thanksgiving), but the giant pile of squash and pumpkins lasted until mid-December anyway. We've renewed for Parker this year.

I have the impression that you should get used to cooking a lot of kale no matter what CSA you join. It's the local robust green of choice. Luckily I like it a lot.

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

I like kale (and spinach and collards and all those kinds of greens) because they freeze well, and we can eat them in the winter if we don't get to them in the summer. I also like lettuces and delicate greens that wilt fast and don't freeze, but I don't like them in huge quantities because we can't eat them all before they go bad (and we even have a rabbit helping out)!

However, you guys are doing a good job of selling me on Parker Farm.

[syntheticnature.livejournal.com]

Speaking of kale, Enterprise Farm still has some shares available in their weekly Winter CSA, (http://www.enterpriseproduce.com/boston.htm) which includes local produce as well as good stuff from farther away. They have a few shares left for Davis Square pickup, and I believe more available for Arlington. (I don't know where in Arlington the pickup is.) We've been pretty happy with the first three boxes and are looking forward to lots more!

[bobobb.livejournal.com]

I'm doing Luna Farm this year for the first time. They are doing a drop in Davis and have an information session in January if you want to find out more...

[pearlythebunny.livejournal.com]

Thanks!