Community Supported Agriculture Guide 2019
Find Community Supported Agriculture options in Louisville and the Bluegrass region offered in 2019.
CSAs Nourish Both Ways
Our CSA Farm Share program is the foundation of our family farm in Crestwood, KY. My husband, Ben, and I committed to farming as a way of life 10 years ago and we knew we wanted to grow food in a manner that respected the natural environment and made a positive impact in our community. As our business has grown and transformed over the years we have deepened our commitment to community-supported agriculture (CSA) harvest subscriptions as our primary focus at Rootbound Farm
For those of us who make our living by farming the land, each day brings many unknowns. Will that rain come in time to help my seeds germinate? Will the dropping temperatures damage my spinach crop? Will my sheep adapt to the fall grasses? We wake up each day ready to get to work on the land that we love, to build a resilient system in the face of the unknown and uncontrollable. I will tell you, one question we really don’t want to be asking at the end of the day is “Will anyone buy this stuff from me?”
There is a sinking feeling that many farmers know all too well when you work all week to harvest, wash, weed and pack, just to lose the week’s profits because the farmers’ market was rained out. Or to have a wholesale buyer decide that they are “shifting their focus” and turning to a cheaper supplier from out of state.
Ben and I feel like we can face many of the farm’s challenges on strong footing because our community of CSA Farm Share members have our backs. When CSA members commit to a full season of local eating, we know that our farm will have both the early season investment and a consistent market for our crops throughout the year and we can shift our attention to being the best farmers we can be.
On CSA harvest days we begin the day in the quiet darkness long before the daylight breaks. We fine-tune our harvest lists, packing order and delivery schedule. By the time we head to the fields the farm team is buzzing with energy as we prepare to bring in the harvest to be cleaned and sorted for our CSA. When we custom pack each member’s box, I often think about the journey the items might take. I hope that the funny-looking nose on that eggplant brings a smile to the face of the person who unpacks it. I imagine the conversations that will happen when kids see the purple carrots for the first time. I imagine, too, the work and commitment it takes from our members who take this annual journey of healthy, local eating with us.
Our CSA community is now made up of hundreds of families in three cities. It is this community of members that really does propel us forward. One of my favorite memories is of a phone call I got from a member who said that she ate the first tomato of the season standing over her kitchen sink while the juice poured down her chin and she remembered the taste of the tomatoes from her grandfather’s garden many years ago.
CSA members become a part of something bigger by connecting more deeply with the rhythms of the season, the place where their food is grown and the people who grow it! With CSA, we get more than just a customer, we get a community of partners and friends. The vast majority of the world’s food is consumed in homes and around dinner tables just like our own. Through CSA we have the capacity to revolutionize sustainable agriculture and solidify the role that small organic farms play in our modern food system.
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Community Supported Agriculture Guide 2019
Find Community Supported Agriculture options in Louisville and the Bluegrass region offered in 2019.
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