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In the spring of last year, Tara Benedetti of Wading River was grieving her husband, a professional French chef who had died in January. Sustaining herself and her two children on unhealthy comfort food, Benedetti made a decision. She joined a community-supported agriculture farm or CSA- something that had intrigued her when her husband was alive but that, after his death, was a move that would change her outlook and ease her grief.
A community-supported agriculture farm sells “shares” of the farm’s produce or other goods to customers at the beginning of the growing season. In return, shareholders get a weekly box throughout the summer and fall full of whatever is being harvested or produced that week on the farm. Benedetti, having learned of the system the summer before, bought into Biophilia Organic Farm in Jamesport. And in doing so, she also found an unexpected link to her husband.
“I had all this stuff, and I felt guilty if it went bad. So I found myself making squash and potatoes and potato-leek soup and looking up my husband’s recipes for some of the things I didn’t know what to do with. And now I just feel so connected to my husband. This has been a really healing process for me,” she says.
Budding Movement
Not everyone buying a share of a local farm will have such a cathartic experience as Benedetti did, but you will get a weekly box of possibly some of the freshest, usually organic vegetables you’ve ever seen and some peace of mind in the fact that you’re helping to keep local farms financially afloat. And the system often becomes more than a business transaction—it helps you forge a relationship with your food and those who grow it for you. Many farms invite members to pick their boxes up weekly, while others drop off boxes at convenient spots for participants. Some offer discounts to members willing to put in a couple of hours of volunteer work. Many farms sponsor open house weekends and theme dinners to foster community spirit among those who have joined.
According to the Robyn Van En Center for CSA Resources in Chambersburg, Penn., the number of CSA farms in the United States has grown steadily over the past 20 years to more than 1,500, with the highest concentration of them in New York State. The center’s namesake, Robyn Van En, then a fledgling Massachusetts produce farmer, is credited with founding the movement in 1986 when she offered a subscription to her farm, although a similar farm in New Hampshire also traces its roots to the same year. CSAs first found their way to the metro New York area in 1991, says Paula Lukats, the CSA in NYC program manager for Just Food, a NYC-based non-profit that places customers and CSAs together. “They grew out of a need for good food in the city and demand,” she says. This year, 18 farms drop off share boxes at 50 sites around the city, and more offer drop-off and pickup sites throughout Long Island.
Growing Mindshare
The growth proves that the idea has taken root. CSA farmers say the benefits are both social and financial. “We found that farmers could have a little bit of stability,” says Maggie Kurek, who owns the Golden Earthworm Organic Farm in Jamesport with her husband, Matthew. Biophilia owner Phil Barbato says he enjoys the community connection he gets with subscription farming. “We’re selling to our neighbors. They come to the farm each week, and we walk around.”
Members agree. Benedetti says she loves going to Barbato’s farm each week to get her veggies. “There are a few things that I look forward to, and for me, it’s that Friday pickup,” she says. “I walk into a barn and my name is on this box. It’s expecting me. I always linger an extra minute and breathe deep.”
Lukats encourages members to spend some time on whichever farm they pick up their boxes. “People tend to have a real reality check when they get to the farm. It’s very powerful. They realize, ‘Wow, it’s lot of work, growing food.’”
Others say they love the element of surprise a CSA share offers the home cook. Golden Earthworm member Elyse Zucker of Williston Park says that finding out what nature produced for her that week forces her to plan meals around whatever is in the box, though for others cyclical, seasonal eating is too restrictive and, in fact, it’s something some farmers caution new members about. Strawberries only last for a few weeks, and when they’re gone, they’re gone. Corn doesn’t come in until midsummer, and some things just won’t grow in the humid Long Island summers.
While Kurek enjoys an 80 percent return rate among her members, she says most who leave do so because the system is too rigid—certain pickup days and a take-what-you-get structure to the boxes. “Not everyone is meant to be a CSA member. I’m not sure I would want to be a CSA member,” she says with a laugh. “I think I would rather just go shop at the farmers markets.”
Changing the Plate and Pocketbook
“Belonging to a CSA really changes the way you eat,” says Sister Jeanne Clark, who, along with her fellow nuns at the Dominican Sisters of Holy Cross, operates Sophia Garden, a CSA and education center in Amityville. “You have to work a little more at cooking. But, see, you’re relating to the vegetables that way.”
It’s a concept Biophilia member Chris Fanjul says he definitely buys into. “I love to cook, but I hate to shop. So being forced to use all these vegetables each week, I’m eating so much better,” the Southold resident says. But he still stumbles over the system at times, as he did in August, staring at three crookneck squashes that farm staff suggested stuffing and baking during a week when summer’s heat made the idea of turning on the oven less than appealing. Had Fanjul been more versed in cooking squash he would have realized there were many other uses besides one which required turning on the oven, highlighting that those who are not experienced cooks can have a hard time knowing what to do with their vegetable bounties—particularly if ferreting out recipes is not high on their to-do list.
Potential CSA members should also consider the costs—$400 to $700 for a full share. While it’s usually less than conventional shopping over the long haul, most farms require the full payment up front when their seed and supply costs are greatest, but long before members get to enjoy the first spring greens. And only Mother Nature can guarantee you’ll get a good harvest from the investment. A droughty summer or an insect infestation can mean smaller boxes on pickup days, and while that may appeal to the gambling type, others can’t afford the risk.
But if you think the idea sounds appetizing, or if you spent the summer salivating over your neighbor’s box each week, getting connected with a farm is easy. Several Web sites offer search functions to locate farms in your area and Lukats says Just Food will entertain requests from groups of 20 or more interested in connecting with a local farmer to set up a CSA drop-off site at a workplace in the city.
Sow This Fall, Harvest Next Year
But don’t wait until the start of next spring’s growing season to start finding a CSA. Now is the time to locate area farms and ask them questions about what types of produce they grow. Most start signing up members in January, and by April shares are generally sold out.
It’s also a good time to investigate other types of CSAs, which have begun popping up around the country to augment strictly produce farms. Some CSAs offer fruit shares for an additional charge. Golden Earthworm partners with nearby Briermere Farms to offer a weekly box of seasonal fruits to its customers, for example. Others are experimenting with winter shares by adding greenhouses and growing hardy greens and root crops in cold months. Garden of Eve in Riverhead offers a monthly share box December through March for members who miss the fresh produce once summer’s excess is over. Others offer different extras—eggs and flowers, for example—or partner with local meat producers to offer pasture-raised beef, pork and poultry.
If you start researching now, you’ll be well placed to decide which CSA you want to join come January. And next summer, you’ll find yourself embarking on a culinary adventure since the variety of that weekly box can be endless, and, with different seasons, ever changing. Chris Fanjul is thankful of the day he stopped by Barbato’s farm on a whim and was transformed from supermarket shopper to CSA member. “I feel like I’m incredibly fortunate to have so many local options.
