Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

Every Saturday, from May through Mid-November, Justin and I go visit "our farmer" between 9 and 11 AM at the Clintonville farmers market down the street. It became quite the comforting ritual last year, and as much as we love to travel, we always hesitate to be away on a Saturday morning in the summer because we would miss visiting with our farmer (we can send someone else to pick up our produce!). Its quite an exciting concept! having a farmer that is!

A little background. In the 1980s a concept migrated from Europe and Japan: CSAs. CSA stands for community supported agriculture. A few quotes taken from this article eloquently speak of this wonderful farming practice:

"Although CSAs take many forms, all have at their center a shared commitment to building a more local and equitable agricultural system, one that allows growers to focus on land stewardship and still maintain productive and profitable small farms. "

"In basic terms, CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community's farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production. Typically, members or "share-holders" of the farm or garden pledge in advance to cover the anticipated costs of the farm operation and farmer's salary. In return, they receive shares in the farm's bounty throughout the growing season, as well as satisfaction gained from reconnecting to the land and participating directly in food production. Members also share in the risks of farming, including poor harvests due to unfavorable weather or pests. By direct sales to community members, who have provided the farmer with working capital in advance, growers receive better prices for their crops, gain some financial security, and are relieved of much of the burden of marketing. "

So our farm is the Sippel Family Farm. Ben and Lisa Sippel, no older than ourselves bought 20 acres of land about an hour north of Columubs last year after Ben finished up college in some sort of agriculture field and finished his internships.






There is no way the Sippels could afford a conventional farm.... it just requires too much land to compete with corporate farmers. BUT, this 77 acre farm (with 35 more on the way... not sure how much is planted and in rotation) will keep at least 150 families in fresh, organic produce for 30 weeks out of the year. So, we pay the Sippels $525 (that ends up being about $17 a week) for a share at the beginning of the year. In turn, we pick up fresh vegetables (usually picked from the fields on Friday) every Saturday morning along with a newsletter detailing how things are going at the farm that week.



In addition, the Sippels have picnics several weekends throughout the year and we are always welcome to come out to the farm to help out. We can (and did) buy a 1/4 or 1/2 side of beef from them once a year and eggs from their neighbors. In turn, they get most (if not all) of their fixed costs covered and we get a vegetable garden!

We love eating our fresh vegetables. This time of year (particularly because its been a wet cold spring) the share consists of LOTS of mixed greens... so many that we can eat a HUGE mixed green salad for dinner 5 times in one week!





As time goes on, we get all sort things from herbs and flowers to tomatoes and corn. Our favorite new find last year was Kale and we look forward to several new vegetables this year. I'm still learning how to deal with turnips and beets, but the Sippels are great about including recipes or offering advice with the produce each week. Each week is a challenge to reconnect to what the season has brought us... to use the current vegetables without waste in a manner that is delicious. I think its probably pretty healthy too!

Best of all, each time it rains or storms, each time we sit down to eat, each and every Saturday morning, we are reminded of how our food found its way to our table and thank Heavenly Father for the bounty of this earth, the miracle of the weather, and the hard work of our friends the Sippels...

And that is the way we think it should be.


To find a CSA near you, google "Community Supported Agriculture" and/or search a database like this http://wsare.usu.edu/pub/index.cfm?sub=csa