Our CSA Farm

We're still on the mend around here. (To keep things interesting Sage has shifted from the flu to an infection in his mouth. Fun!) Truly, we're all hoping we're back full-speed before tomorrow. To tide you over, I've reposed an entry from last year about CSA farms. (Originally posted on April 21, 2009 titled E-I-E-I-O.) Have a beautiful Monday! xo ~ Rachel

We spent a day at Our Farm last week, exploring the greenhouses and meeting the goats. (Yes, Our Farm.) Ah, but you thought we lived in town?

We do.

It's our CSA farm. And CSA Season is almost upon us. CSA, you ask? Community Supported Agriculture.

It works like this: each year we buy a "share" in our favorite farm. In exchange for our financial support our farm grows produce just for us. Beets. Chives. Spinach. Kohlrabi. Watermelon. Strawberries. Celariac. The list goes on. Each week (May through October) we get a box of amazing produce, grown just down the road by Farmer Richard and his crew.

CSA farms exist around the country and around the world. We've been members of Harmony Valley Farm since we moved to the Viroqua in 2006. Our previous CSA (WormFarm in Reedsburg, WI) was a special place for us as well. Connections to the farm run deep. Sage grew up correcting us when we'd sing Old MacDonald Had a Farm. "No, no," He would say. "It's Jay and Donna had a farm, E-I-E-I-O."

Our current CSA is exponentially larger than "Jay and Donna's" farm, but both provided our family with a sense of community, knowledge of where our food comes from, and connection to the land. We visit the farm several times a year and watch the fields transform from brown to green to a rainbow of produce. With Harmony Valley we get huge boxes of produce, great varieties, and some seriously professional organic farming techniques. This food is out of control and some of the best I have ever eaten.

At WormFarm we got friendship, we bartered for our share, and we felt at home on the farm. We even took care of the animals while Jay and Donna were away. (Which was always an amazing experience for Sage - and for us... Well, except the time that their goat died. That sucked. You don't want your farmer's animals to dye on your watch. Trust me. Oh yeah, and there was the time that the sheep got out and scared Sage worse than I've ever seen him scared before and we hid in the greenhouse until he stopped crying sobbing hysterically. That wasn't so fun either. But really. It was usually amazing. Seriously.)

To find your a CSA farm in your neighborhood, go here. You'll be glad you did. (But if you're asked to animal-sit some questionable animals, go with your gut on that one.)

Edited 2010: This year we are again bartering for our share, shuttling veggies from the farm to the pick-up site in exchange for our produce. It's a great deal for us and get the kids on the farm once a week. CSA's exist in every state in the US and in countries around the globe. Have you found your farm? What keeps you coming back?