What Is CSA And Why Should I Care?

A common question I get is…

“How do I buy from you?”

No, we don’t attend the farmers market and don’t have a traditional farm stand…

"So what exactly do you do??" You may ask.

We feed over hundreds of local couples and families fresh vegetables grown on our small farm Dover Foxcroft all year round!

Intrigued? Read on…

Here’s what we do on our small family farm

Our farm’s primary and most important source of income is our CSA farm share program.

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.

Sounds like a bunch of jargon, right?

In a nutshell, we provide local families and couples an alternative to the wilted and boring produce at the grocery store with weekly beautiful organic veggies grown on our farm and seasonal recipes to inspire them to eat more veggie variety and love every bite!

How Ripley Farm's CSA works

When you buy a CSA you are essentially buying a farm share. A share in what is produced on the farm. (In our case, that’s organic veggies!)

Members pay in advance for a growing season so farmers like us have the necessary operating funds to get the season going.

During the growing season, members receive a box of produce from the farm on a regular schedule (once per week July through October and twice a month November through June).

Why should I care? (Your story)

The answer is another question, “Why shouldn’t you care?”

Have you ever been disappointed with the variety at the grocery store? Or with the fact that half of it rots in your fridge before you can eat it?

With the rates of cancer, disease, and now food safety threats in this country, who doesn’t want to eat healthier and cleaner? Get more vegetables into their diet AND love every bite?

If you are an adventurous person looking for inspiration to eat healthy, then joining a CSA might be a great option for you.

If you're looking for a connection to a farm and a like-minded community group that will change your life, then joining our CSA might be the best decision you can make.

Ripley Farm's CSA is good for YOU because:

You really support your local farmers—
You know who we are! You can greet us in person, call us, email us, Facebook us, whatever way you choose to be in touch with real live farmers! We write back!
CSA is THE BEST WAY to support your local farmers.
You really know where your food comes from—
It comes 100% from our farm! You can visit the farm and shake the hand of your farmers. We can show you exactly where our romaine lettuce grows!
You're choosing true food safety—
We’re MOFGA/USDA certified organic for your peace of mind AND our food is grown right here on our farm with love. No unanswered questions here.
You push yourself to eat more and different veggies—
Everyone likes a challenge, right? Because you make a commitment to the farm, you also make a commitment to yourself. You are GOING to eat better and it WILL be more interesting. By signing up, that’s what you promise yourself!
You try new recipes and experiment in the kitchen—
With our newsletter, cooking tips, and recipe ideas, you’ll never be at a loss for what to do with your veggies or forget to have fun doing it! Plus you get to share all of your successes with the private CSA member Facebook community group.
You learn new kitchen skills—
Like freezing extra veggies! Or fermenting! There’s always something to learn and try and you can be sure to want to do at least one new thing per season with your CSA veggies. We’ve got tons of free tutorials on our website to help you and free live classes you can come to and learn, too!
You get the freshest taste—
Your precious veggies aren’t sitting out at grocery stores or farmers market getting limp and wilted. Yours are harvested especially for you at their peak of flavor! CSA is what we do and our customers get the very best! Other CSA's give out market leftovers to their members– Not us!
You get produce that lasts a lot longer—
We pick out the best quality veggies for you, harvest them fresh, and package them in a way that keeps them fresh, resulting in produce that lasts way longer than what you can buy at the store.
You're a part of a like-minded food community—
Whether you pick up on the farm or at a drop site, you are part of our farm’s family. As a CSA member you’re always welcome here anytime to pick your own flowers and herbs, on Open Farm Day, for monthly classes, as well as in our private Facebook CSA member community group. It’s nice to be part of a like-minded group of people, don’t you think?
You may be saving money—
What? Isn’t a CSA a big chunk of change? Well, yes, but this is one that we hear from so many members! One is that you don’t go out to eat as much and save money that way (and eat better, to boot). The other is that you don’t have to go to the grocery store as much and save money from not making all those impulse purchases while you’re there. (You and I both know that’s true!!!)
You get garden fresh produce without having to do all that work gardening—
Ideally you would grow all your own veggies, right? But realistically that may not happen for you for whatever reason, so having a CSA takes the pressure off of you from having to do it all. You can trust that the veggies you get are grown just the way you would in your own garden!
You get a pile of veggies faster and easier than going to the farmers market—
No lines, no decisions, and lots of connection with your farmers, camaraderie with other members, and recipes and support to help you get motivated! Plus it frees up your weekends for fun with your family!
You feel more inspired than going to the grocery store—
With a CSA share you're guaranteed to get a selection of vibrant, interesting, beautiful vegetables that taste delicious and FRESH in each box. I know from experience that it’s hard to find that at the grocery store!

Why do we care? (Our story)

To cut to the chase, we care because the connection to the people who eat our food matters just as much to us as it does to those who eat our food.

Knowing that people care and get enjoyment out of the food that we grow with our hard work is what makes that hard work all worth it. Getting an email from you saying how much you love how sweet the kale or the spinach are that week provides us the motivation to keep going.

Farming is hard work. The relationships that we have made and continue to make through our CSA member family are what make farming sustainable for our farm. We wouldn't be here doing it after over 10 years without you.

CSA is good for the farmers because:

We are provided with the upfront money to get the season started off right
Your dollars help the farm buy seeds and supplies and hire the crew when the farm needs it, BEFORE the season starts! Having the veggies that we grow pre-sold is literally what keeps our farm in business.
We get to know whom we are feeding!
Believe it or not, it matters to us, too. We know from experience that knowing the people who eat our food makes us strive to be the best farmers we can! The connection is so important to us! We care about you!
We are to focus on farming!
Knowing that our veggies are presold gives us the needed time during the growing season to focus all of our energy on what’s important; growing and harvesting the best tasting veggies! We’re not off running in a million different directions with farmers markets and whatnot. We’re your farmers as our top priority.

We are open for registration for our flagship 2020 Summer CSA farm share program. We'd love to have you join us and know that you'll love the experience!

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