Conscious Choice: Bring a Little Country Into the City

May 1998

Bring a Little Country Into the City

Join a Community Supported Agriculture Farm

by Catharine Bell

Cucumbers, green beans, yellow beans, eggplant. Strawberries, raspberries, Arava tropical melons. Flatleaf parsley, basil, red oak leaf lettuce, Victoria lettuce. Purslane, salad greens, beet greens, carrots, white beets. All organic, all locally grown, all fresh-picked. All available for easy pick-up or even delivery. And just a sample of one week’s worth of produce during the Midwest’s approximate four-month long growing season.

Sound like a country-dweller’s dream come true?

Well, thanks to several area Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms, it can be a city-dweller’s dream come true, too.

CSA farms are a concept whose time is ripe: link food-producing farmers with consumer shareholders who buy in on a growing season, and in turn, receive a portion of the harvest. Together, the farmers and consumers create and support a sustainable food system for all involved.

So just because you’re a city dweller who doesn’t have a few acres of farmland or the space to grow a seasonal crop in your backyard, back deck, or balcony, you can still have your own locally grown, farm-fresh, organic produce every week, June through October or November — even delivered right to your neighborhood. For anywhere from about $200 to about $450, you can buy in on the approximate 20-week growing season on a local CSA farm. You can either enjoy the fresh produce without ever setting foot near soil — your job is simply to eat and enjoy — or you can even help grow your own food. Because, if you’re really longing for the country life, some CSAs will let you help seed, weed, water, and harvest the crops.

"The key word in defining CSA is‘support,’" says Denise Peterson, who along with her husband Tom, is farm manager at the eight-acre Prairie Crossing Farm, located in the Prairie Crossing Conservation Community in Grayslake, Illinois. "The very nature of CSA is a reciprocal support system which benefits farmers, consumers, and even the earth itself."

By buying in on a season at the farm, consumers are supporting area farmers and a rural lifestyle that is quickly disappearing. They are financing a crop before it is grown (maybe it wouldn’t even be grown without their support) and helping to offset the farmer’s risks such as pest infestations or severe weather. Consumers become partners with the farmer in the growing process, and reap lasting, tangible — and tasty — rewards.

"In the CSA relationship, you are eating local produce and getting to know your farm and farmer," says Peterson. "You know the food is fresh because it was picked the day before you select it or get it. You know where the food is coming from, who planted it, who grew it and how it was handled. Not only does the food taste good, it’s good for you and good for the earth itself — you can count on the fact that someone is carefully taking care of the soil when growing organically."

There is no shortage of care — or creativity — with CSA. Prairie Crossing, for instance, functions like a farm stand. Members pay $200, $300, or $400 before the growing season begins — unlimited numbers accepted up until April 1 — and this amount becomes a credit which consumers can buy against and use throughout the growing season at Prairie Crossing’s Grayslake Farm Stand, or one of several "sister" farmers markets including an Evanston location. To sweeten the deal, Prairie Crossing also adds on an extra ten percent to the credit balance. People can come to the farm stand as often as they like and choose whatever they want. Standard farmer’s market prices get lodged against their account — $1 for a bunch of onions; $1.50 for a head of lettuce.

"It’s what you want, when you want it," explains Peterson, noting also that a flower credit is available as a separate account. From mixed wildflower bouquets to individual varieties such as gladiolas or sunflowers, a $50, $75 or $100 flower account can be charged against as well.

Most CSA farms pre-pack your share on a weekly basis and have it available for pick-up at the farm itself or at delivery sites. Angelic Organics, the Midwest’s largest CSA farm — a 22-acre parcel located in Caledonia, near Rockford, Illinois — is the only local CSA that delivers a weekly three-fourths bushel share right to Chicago and suburban neighborhoods. You can’t pick the contents, but you get great seasonal variety and quantity. And for harried city dwellers who want to eat healthy, delivery is the ultimate convenience.

An Angelic Organics weekly share usually contains some ten to fourteen different items such as tomatoes, melons, onions, radishes, cucumbers, shallots, mesclun mix, cooking greens, broccoli and herbs. Consistent with the Midwest’s growing cycle, the weight of each sharebox increases as the growing season progresses: shares are lighter early in the summer and heavier later on. To help you prepare your healthy bounty, Angelic Organics, like other CSA farms, includes a lively newsletter with each delivery that lists the three-fourths bushel’s contents, helpful cooking hints, recipes, as well as updates on farm news.

It’s only natural that more and more people are signing on to a CSA way of life.

"The idea of CSA started in the United States about 12 years ago when a Swiss man named Jan Van Der Tuin came to the east coast area," says Steven McFadden, co-author of the book, Farms of Tomorrow Revisited, a comprehensive overview of the philosophy of CSA and the renewal of the human relationship to the earth through farms. "He was involved with CSA in Switzerland and here, he became a vocal proponent of CSA farms. His idea caught on and in 1986, one CSA farm started in New Hampshire and another did in Massachusetts. By 1990, there were about 60 CSA farms on the east coast and the idea was spreading across the country. By conservative estimates today, there are more than 1000 CSA farms in the United States."

In gauging the increasing popularity of CSA, McFadden points out that the Midwest is a particularly big growth area for individual CSA farms as well as coalitions of farms. These coalitions are one of the emerging features of the CSA movement and build on the familiar adage: strength in numbers.

"Farmers cooperating with each other is an age-old tradition," says McFadden. "And cooperation and support — whether between farmers or between farmers and consumers — are strongholds of CSA."

In both the Midwest and across the country, McFadden notes other factors affecting the "big buzz" he sees surrounding CSA.

"People understand intuitively that they have lost touch with the land and are increasingly recognizing the authentic wholesomeness of having a direct connection with it," he says. "For those of us who work in offices and factories, farmers are our ambassadors to the earth. They touch it for us."

"Additionally, there is an increasing desire for fresh, clean food. CSA food is of remarkable quality and people taste the difference immediately. Part of the buzz about CSA today can be attributed to all of these things and possibly one more: the USDA’s recently proposed, not yet finalized standards for organic foods, which would allow genetically engineered plants and animals, irradiation of all foods and the use of municipal sludge as fertilizer."

For those intent on a healthy life and life style, CSA seems more appetizing by the moment.

Another healthy CSA benefit — especially for soil-deprived city slickers — is that shareholders are welcome to pitch in at the farm one or two days a month, visit their veggies and help them grow.

"All CSA farms I know of encourage families to come out and participate in any way possible," says Denise Peterson. "When children become involved in knowing food and knowing where their food comes from, they seem more likely to enjoy eating it.

"Many people have come out to this farm for the first time not knowing about CSA. They all leave having been touched in some way. They’ve never really thought about the whole process of putting a plant in the ground, watering it, weeding it, washing it, eating it — and having it taste so good. They feel connected to their food for the very first time."

To wet your appetite, here’s a sampling of CSA farms in the Chicago and Wisconsin area. All listed except Prairie Crossing had shareholder spots at the time of publication, but spaces are limited and filling fast.

Angelic Organics, 1547 Rockton Road, Caledonia, IL 61011. 312-409-2746. Cost: $440 for 20-week season, approximately mid-June through late October. Delivery sites: eight in Chicago and eight in suburbs.

Neu Erth Wormfarm, E7904 Briar Bluff Road, Reedsburg, WI 53959. 608-524-8672. Cost: $430 for 20-week season, approximately first week of June through late October. Chicago deliveries available with shareholder participation. Call for details.

Prairie Crossing Community Supported Garden, 32400 North Harris Road, Grayslake, IL 60030. 847-548-4030. Although no more CSA shares are available this season, you can still purchase produce from the Grayslake Farm Stand and other participating farmer’s markets. Call for locations.

Springdale Farm, W7065 Silver Springs Lane, Plymouth, WI 53073. 920-892-4856. Cost: full share $425; half share $280 for weekly share approximately early June through late-October, then every other week through mid-January. Delivery sites: Milwaukee (six areas), Sheboygan, and Plymouth.

Wildwood Farm, 1693 Wildwood Rd., Sister Bay, WI 54234; 920-854-9611. Cost: $300 for 16-week season, approximately late June through early October. Delivery sites ($30 extra): Door County, Kewaunee County, and Brown County.

For more information on other area and national CSA farms and how to start your own CSA farm: The Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association, 800-516-7797.

Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition (MACSAC), c/o Wisconsin Rural Development Center, 608-437-5971.

Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, 414-642-3303.

Farms of Tomorrow Revisited, by Trauger Groh and Steven McFadden, The Biodynamic Association, 1998. Call 800-516-7797 to order.

Catharine Bell is a Chicago-based free-lance writer specializing in nature and the environment.

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