Sample Share from Fall 2014
The Details at a Glance
Produce Grown Right Here on Our Organic Farm
Options: Weekly Full Season, Every-Other-Week Full Season, or Weekly Summer
Pricing: In order to be inclusive of everyone, we offer payment on a sliding scale.. See suggested payments below.
Dates: June 6- November 7th
Pickup Location: Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center- 116 Johnson Rd Falls Village, CT
Pickup Time: Anytime between Thursday at 3:30pm and Saturdays at noon
Produce Grown Right Here on Our Organic Farm
Options: Weekly Full Season, Every-Other-Week Full Season, or Weekly Summer
Pricing: In order to be inclusive of everyone, we offer payment on a sliding scale.. See suggested payments below.
Dates: June 6- November 7th
Pickup Location: Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center- 116 Johnson Rd Falls Village, CT
Pickup Time: Anytime between Thursday at 3:30pm and Saturdays at noon
What is a CSA?
Community Supported Agriculture shortens the distance from farm to table.
CSA members pay in full before the season begins. From June - November they pick up an abundance of fresh food right on the farm where it grew. With a secure market for the harvest, farmers get to focus on growing the healthiest, most delicious food while caring for the land. CSA shares offer a balance of different types of veggies including roots, greens, alliums, and fruiting crops.. The contents vary some from season to season. Members always get extra of whatever veggies respond best to the season's weather and may get less of those that responded poorly. |
Why Join?
TASTE Fresh is more delicious and local marketing allows us to choose varieties based on flavor rather than shipping durability.
HEALTH A share represents a colorful dose of vitamins and minerals. COMMUNITY Get to know your farmer and fellow veggie-lovers.. SUSTAINABILITY We use compost, cover crops and diversity rather than chemicals. ACCOUNTABILITY Quality, ecology, and labor issues are all transparent.. LEARNING Receive harvest notes with ideas for how to store and enjoy your fresh veggies as well as updates on how the food was grown. PICK YOUR OWN Members are invited to come pick certain crops. VALUE Most weeks members receive at least 10% more organic produce than the same money could buy at a farmers market or whole foods. |
The Details in Depth
You Have Three Options
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Weekly Full Season Shares provide enough fresh, seasonal vegetables to feed a family of four or two vegetable lovers each week for twenty-three weeks.
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Every-Other-Week Full Season Shares (EOW) are a good choice if a weekly share offers more veggies than you want or if you find it difficult to get to the pickup site every week. Members pick up the same eight to ten items that weekly members receive, but only twelve times over the course of the season.
A-Week Dates 6/6, 6/20, 7/4, 7/18, 8/1, 8/15, 8/29, 9/12, 9/26, 10/10, 10/24, 11/7 B-Week Dates 6/13, 6/27, 7/11, 7/25, 8/8, 8/22, 9/5, 9/19, 10/3, 10/17, 10/31, 11/7 |
Weekly Summer Shares are best for those who are only in the Berkshires for the summer, or who want to try out the CSA lifestyle without the full season commitment. Members pickup for eight weeks from July 4 - August 22nd.
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*If the quantity of a weekly share is too much but you prefer to pickup every week or don't want to miss any items over the season, find a friend to share with. Register together but divide the produce however you like..
Share Pricing - Sliding Scale
In order to accommodate all community members, we offer payment options on a sliding scale..
If your family is not experiencing financial hardship, please pay at least $680 for a weekly share, $360 for an every other week, or $240 for a summer share.. These are the average prices that we need to receive per member to keep the farm afloat. These prices work out to $29.57 per week for weekly shares and $30 per week for every other week and summer shares.
In order for the sliding scale to work, we need some members to pay in at a higher rate. If your financial situation affords you the capacity, please pay closer to a suggested $780 for a weekly share, $410 for an every other week, $275 for a summer share.
If you cannot afford to pay in full, please join our CSA anyway! Pay as close as you can to the average price of $680 for for a weekly share, $310 for an every other week share, or $240 for a weekly summer share.. There is no stigma attached to paying in at a lower rate and no one but our financial team will know who paid what.
We also offer monthly payment plans if the up-front payment is a burden.
If you have any questions about pricing, the sliding scale, or setting up a payment plan please get in touch with Janna Siller at janna.siller@hazon.org or 860-824-3003 ext 3.
In order for the sliding scale to work, we need some members to pay in at a higher rate. If your financial situation affords you the capacity, please pay closer to a suggested $780 for a weekly share, $410 for an every other week, $275 for a summer share.
If you cannot afford to pay in full, please join our CSA anyway! Pay as close as you can to the average price of $680 for for a weekly share, $310 for an every other week share, or $240 for a weekly summer share.. There is no stigma attached to paying in at a lower rate and no one but our financial team will know who paid what.
We also offer monthly payment plans if the up-front payment is a burden.
If you have any questions about pricing, the sliding scale, or setting up a payment plan please get in touch with Janna Siller at janna.siller@hazon.org or 860-824-3003 ext 3.
Some Reflections on Pricing
We know that the price of a CSA share can seem intimidating. This is often because we are used to thinking about our food bills on a weekly basis rather than seeing the cost of a six month season in one price.
The CSA ends up being an extremely good value. In 2015, members of our West Hartford CSA received 5-20% more organic produce each week than they could have bought with what they paid for their share at a farmers market or whole foods and of course got all the perks to boot- freshness, cooking tips, and community. As for our CSA in particular, UCONN's extension service publishes data on CSA pricing and our 2016 standard prices are a little lower than the state average for organic CSAs.
The up-front nature of CSA payments is what allows us to offer this significant value. It is like CSA members offer an operating loan to the farmers and we, in turn, pay you back in the form of vegetable interest.
We are also used to the deceivingly low price of industrial food which does not account for its' true cost.
In the past, people spent a much higher percentage of their monthly income on food than we do in America today, and that is still the case in most other countries. De-prioritizing good food in our personal budgets has had devastating consequences that are expensive to address including chronic diet related health problems, the food insecurity that results from disappearing local farm economies, loss of soil and bio-diversity, pollution, and the mistreatment of the farm workers who grow our very sustenance. By purchasing a CSA share you invest in your health and the health of our community without the expensive cleanup costs that result from de-valuing food.
We could clearly go on and on about this subject, but we'll leave it there and let you move on to register for the CSA!
The CSA ends up being an extremely good value. In 2015, members of our West Hartford CSA received 5-20% more organic produce each week than they could have bought with what they paid for their share at a farmers market or whole foods and of course got all the perks to boot- freshness, cooking tips, and community. As for our CSA in particular, UCONN's extension service publishes data on CSA pricing and our 2016 standard prices are a little lower than the state average for organic CSAs.
The up-front nature of CSA payments is what allows us to offer this significant value. It is like CSA members offer an operating loan to the farmers and we, in turn, pay you back in the form of vegetable interest.
We are also used to the deceivingly low price of industrial food which does not account for its' true cost.
In the past, people spent a much higher percentage of their monthly income on food than we do in America today, and that is still the case in most other countries. De-prioritizing good food in our personal budgets has had devastating consequences that are expensive to address including chronic diet related health problems, the food insecurity that results from disappearing local farm economies, loss of soil and bio-diversity, pollution, and the mistreatment of the farm workers who grow our very sustenance. By purchasing a CSA share you invest in your health and the health of our community without the expensive cleanup costs that result from de-valuing food.
We could clearly go on and on about this subject, but we'll leave it there and let you move on to register for the CSA!
Pickup Details
This season we will be packing up all of the shares into boxes and leaving them in our refrigerated shed for you to pick up anytime between Thursdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at noon each week.
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