is a CSA share right for you, pt. 2
This is a continuation of the questions posed by Cassie, a fellow farmer, in the previous post “Is a CSA Share Right for You, Pt. 1.” We’re starting this section out with perhaps the most important question of all…
Do you value high-quality, nutrient-dense vegetables with rEAL flavor?
Since food is so often an emotional and habitual phenomenon, we get asked a lot about the specific varieties of the crops that we grow. An incoming CSA member once needed to know about our kale, for example, as they had discovered they were partial to the flavor of Winterbor, but could not suffer the Lacinato. Variety does have some influence on flavor, and certainly affects the growth habit, nutrient density, and harvest time. Truth be told though, it’s the relationship with the land that a crop is grown on that has the greatest effect of all. When food is grown in collaboration with the soil, the quality AND the taste increase. At Woven Roots Farm, we recognize the interconnectedness of all life: soil, plants, fungi, microbes, insects, and animals. Given that we seek to only enhance these connections, and not to disturb them, our crops are cultivated using the permanent bed, no-till farming system. At no point has there ever been any use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides or fungicides here. Taste buds are still taste buds, and we never discount personal preference, but it is our belief that regardless of variety, you will taste the health of our veggies in every bite you take.
does having a relationship with the farmers that grow your food matter to you?
As a member of our CSA, you can walk the fields nestled in the hillside of the present-day Tyringham Valley where your food is grown. You can meet us. You can take a workshop with us. You can share a meal with us. You can connect with the individuals and the landscape that make your meals possible. It’ll be the same individuals picking your food on Friday that hand it to you on Saturday morning. If you are craving intimacy with your food and the hands that grow it, our CSA can do that.
Does a CSA share have to be a deal?
Not a season goes by that at least one of our members does not remark on the financial benefits of joining the CSA. Often if you compare the value of what you receive in your weekly share to what those same items would cost in a grocery store, the savings are significant. We grow quality produce, herbs, and flowers using the highest ecological and regenerative practices, and we like to reward you with great value in exchange for your support of our farm and our farming practices. That being said, joining us just for the deal may not be the best idea. There is an inherent risk in farming, and it’s been said before that farmers may be the biggest gamblers among us. We are at the mercy of the Earth and her ever-changing moods. There is always the risk of crop failure or diminished crop production. And this is the case across the board for farmers, but the community at large doesn’t usually feel the effects of such risk with the grocery store as a buffer. Like we mentioned before, grocery stores source their produce from far and wide but here at the CSA, you’re putting your eggs (dollars) in Woven Roots Farm’s basket. We couldn’t have said it better than Cassie herself when she said, "To be a member of our CSA means to join us for the bounty AND the risk.” At Woven Roots Farm, to become a member of our CSA is to enter into a relationship with us and the land on which we farm. When you support us with your membership, you support the health of the land, the community, and ultimately you!