Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Organic-Friendly CSA & Delivery Services

CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) programs are a way to get affordable, organic produce delivered to your home, or to a drop-off point in your neighborhood. Each delivery contains a selection of produce from one or more farms.



Find a local CSA or delivery service


(Find a CSA program in other parts of California or the U.S.)

Direct from farms

You can choose a CSA for a particular farm (or sometimes a few farms working together), where your delivery contains produce from those farms only. Your delivery "subscription" helps fund the farms' operations for that period of time.

Many people choose this type of CSA when they are familiar with a specific farm and know they like their crop variety and quality. These CSAs often have a more personal touch, such as including farm newsletters and recipes.

Through consolidators

You can also choose a CSA or delivery service that delivers produce from a variety of farms over the course of the year, depending on what’s in season and what's available. This type of CSA is also popular in that there's more variety. The main drawback is that you don't know exactly which farms' produce you're getting or where it's from.

Delivery options

Regardless of the CSA, prices are relatively inexpensive, and you can choose to have delivery weekly, semi-weekly, monthly, or seasonally. The quantity varies, but usually should last you a week. Options depend on the program.