Spring Note From the Founder: The Power of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Farms

Thirteen years ago I had my first taste of mustard greens. And kale. And collards. And turnip greens. I was in love. Growing up, my family’s dinner table always included at least two vegetables – often steamed broccoli and salad – but never cooked greens. These dark leafy greens simply had not been a part of my mother’s cooking repertoire (nor palette). It was fall semester of my senior year in college, and I’d just joined a CSA*.

Driving out to the farm for my first pick up was a new experience in and of itself. I don’t recall ever having been to a vegetable farm, and I didn’t know what to expect.

Just a stone’s throw from Tampa International Airport, Sweetwater Organic Farm was nestled in a neighborhood that cradles a creek and sits on 6 acres of sandy suburban soil.  I followed the hand-painted signs for where to park, and followed the worn path to a two-walled building that had commercial-sized refrigerators lining one side. On the large chalkboard hastily-written words instructed the reader what to do:

Bins are in coolers. Please shut refrigerator doors tightly after taking your share.

This week’s share:
Red leaf lettuce (1 head)
Green leaf lettuce (1 head)
Kale (1 bunch)
Collards (1 bunch)
Turnip and mustard greens (as much as you want)

“Really?!” I thought. “As much as I want?” My college student all-you-care-to-eat cafeteria mentality kicked in and I loaded up on the greens. I recall going home from that first visit with four plastic grocery bags stuffed to the gills with lettuce and greens. (Never mind that I was sharing a fridge with two roommates!) This was before the days of Buzzfeed cooking videos and millions of cooking blogs, so I learned how to eat greens through experimentation. I chopped up onions and garlic and started to sauté them. Then I filled the kitchen sink with cold water and submerged an entire bag full of greens at a time to rinse the sandy soil from them. I ripped up the mustard and turnip greens and added them to the sautéed onions and garlic. They quickly wilted down and as I stirred, I started adding whatever condiments we had in the door of the fridge: barbecue sauce, soy sauce, yellow mustard, and hot sauce. The foreign smell of cooking greens drew either pinched noses or intrigue from my roommates.

“Wanna try them?” I asked. They wanted me to take the first bite.

I sat down to a bowl-full of them and quickly discovered my new favorite food. I don’t know if it was the vitamin K or the sauce or the unrivaled freshness, but I was hooked.

That CSA share may have been out of balance in terms of variety of vegetables offered, but it still opened my eyes and tastebuds to a new way of eating. I didn’t know it at the time, but it also became a powerful entry point for engaging with food and farming to a degree I had never considered before. EarthDance may have never been born were it not for that meaningful connection I made with a CSA farm in my formative years. Our Program Director Rachel Levi, also cites her membership in a CSA farm years ago as the reason she works at EarthDance. When she lived in Chicago, she’d been a member of one of the largest and most prominent CSA farms in the country, Angelic Organics. (There’s a film that tells the farm’s story that is one of my all-time favorite films – check it out here.)

While Rachel could’ve easily satiated her appetite for locally-grown, organic vegetables at farmers markets in and around Chicago, she wanted to commit to and spend her money in a direct way with one farm. When she was moving back to St. Louis, she started looking for a CSA farm to join. In the process, she discovered EarthDance and ended up becoming one of our first Americorps VISTAs. Taking home a share of fresh veggies each week remains one of Rachel’s favorite perks of working here.

The good food movement, including the increasing preference for locally- and organically-grown foods, has enticed thousands of people who, like Rachel and I, wanted to eat healthier, fresher food, and found their solution in being a part of a CSA farm.

And – it is not for everyone.
The CSA model was not designed for convenience. Committing to our farm by becoming a CSA member means showing up every Saturday morning at the Ferguson Farmers Market, rain or shine, bags in hand, ready to pick up several pounds of fresh vegetables for 24 weeks straight. That commitment is longer than a lot of dating relationships. And like a relationship, it takes work to make it work for both parties. Sure, it’s great that farmers can pre-sell a bunch of their produce at the season’s outset, but if you took a look at our crop plan and seed order spreadsheets, you’d see the amount of effort and care that goes into even planning to provide a wide variety of vegetables for our members every week, let alone the labor to actually produce them. And it takes work on the eater’s end as well – these veggies do not come pre-chopped and ready to eat! Some you may not even have heard of before. So it takes learning new recipes and proper storage techniques, and a willingness to become best buds with your favorite knife and cutting board.

So the ‘moral of the story’ is this: don’t join a CSA farm if you’re looking for an easy solution to eating healthier. If you are, sign up for a green juice subscription , or an at-your-door organic produce delivery service . Those programs are an awesome way to eat healthier in a way that’s convenient for you.

DO Join a CSA farm if you want to experience a new way of eating – a way that forces you to learn the true meaning of eating with the seasons. For better or worse. There won’t be tomatoes in your share in May. But in July, August, September, and probably even October, you can expect the most incredible tasting tomatoes you’ve ever had.

*Want to learn more about what a CSA is, and how you can become a member of ours?
Click here.