The 2009 CSA Program

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture where a household subscribes to a local farm for the growing season and picks up a weekly basket of fresh, organic produce at the farm. The basic idea of CSA farming is a cooperative relationship between the small farmer and his/her customers. With a preseason payment, you purchase a share of our season's harvest. You then receive a weekly basket of our fresh produce during the course of our 16 week harvest season, from June to September. By subscribing to our farm, you are providing us with a very welcome measure of certainty, and we in turn dedicate ourselves to being your farmers and providing you with varied, nutritious vegetables.

Weekly Basket of Organic Vegetables

Your membership fee entitles you to a share of the weekly harvest – a bushel basket containing 5-15 lbs of 5-12 different fresh items per week. Your basket will reflect the growing season on the farm – the contents will always be changing, and we will work to provide as much variety as possible. The seasons dictate that shares will be lighter in the Spring (mostly greens and other early season stuff), but this will soon become a bountiful and heavy basket in the summer (when tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers are growing like crazy). Please keep in mind that Nature has the last word and occasionally we may experience crop failure or shortened season of one or more varieties. If we cannot fill the basket one week, we will do our best to make up for it in later weeks. We will try to provide options when possible. We will also have a swap basket available at pick ups this year!

Example of a week’s share in June – Salad greens, turnips, radishes, parsley, anise hyssop, dandelion greens, head of escarole, and lamb’s quarters greens. Example of a week’s share in August – Salad greens, leeks, tomatoes, peppers, various summer squash, cucumbers, basil, fennel, shallots, and assorted eggplants.

As a member, you will receive recipes and veggie descriptions reflecting that week's produce as well as a short newsletter keeping you in touch with what's happening on the farm. We will also include health and nutrition literature in the weekly baskets.

About Midsummer Farm — Producing Healthy and Pure Food

We are a small, sustainably-run, USDA-certified Organic, Certified Naturally Grown, and Biodynamic farm. We grow a wide diversity of heirloom vegetables, herbs, and flowers. As a CSA member, you will pick up your baskets of produce at the peak of freshness – usually picked the same day! The Midsummer Farm baskets include items that you can’t get at a grocery store – such as anise hyssop, parsley roots, shiso, burdock roots, garlic scapes, big lumpy heirloom tomatoes, and more... We grow an ever-widening range of salad greens – along with the most tender lettuces you’ll ever taste! And you get recipes and demos on how to best use and store the more unusual items. Participation

We want you to be a part of the growing of your food – to renew and deepen your relationship with local farming. We always love chatting with our CSA members, and you and your family are always welcome to walk around the farm on pickup days. There will also be regular demos on cooking and harvesting where members can meet one another and socialize with other like-minded people. Although we don't have an official work requirement, we certainly would appreciate it if you want to spend some time doing some farm chores with us! Give us a call or email, and we can arrange a time and date. Children are always welcome. You will be encouraged to help yourself to what is growing at the time!

Healthy Living Mini-Workshops

Our main farmer, Barbara Laino, is also a certified Holistic Health Counsellor. As a new feature this year, she will focus on the health benefits of the produce in your baskets and how to prepare it to attain as much of the available nutrients as possible.

Special Additional Shares

This year, we are also offering a variety of Special Shares in response to suggestions by our past members:

Herb Share – add heaps of delicious fresh herbs to your basket! This share is a addition that can be added to the vegetable share for $55.00–includes 5-10 fresh bunches of herbs with each basket as well as dried herbal tea blends, potted herb plants, and herbal salves. We started out as an herb farm and herbs are a special love of ours – We grow over 100 varieties of herbs – culinary as well as tea and medicinal herbs. Although herbs such as parsley and basil are included as part of the regular vegetable share, this herb share adds all sorts of wonderful culinary herbs such as tarragon, marjoram, chives, cilantro, shiso, mitsuba, chervil, rosemary, and many more.

Egg Share – Our eggs are our best selling item. And that is primarily because our hens are loved. They are treated respectfully and are truly pasture-raised. Because our eggs are from a variety of heritage breeds, the eggs come in a variety of colors from dark chocolate brown to turquoise-green! Because the hens live happy fulfilled lives, eating organic natural foods, the eggs are the tastiest and most yellow-yolked eggs you can find! They are high in Omega-3 oils and are always super-fresh. We are offering two egg shares this year. As a WINTER egg share member, you pick up 1 dozen eggs every Wednesday evening between 5:30-6:30 from February 25th through May 6th. The cost is $85.00 for the 11 weeks which is a discount from our regular price per dozen. As a SUMMER egg share member, you pick up 1 dozen eggs every Wednesday evening between 6:30-7:30 from June 3rd through September 16th. The cost is $125.00 for the 16 weeks which is also a discount from our regular price per dozen.

Cut Flowers – 5 week program – $60.00. There is nothing that brightens or freshens up a home more than a bouquet of colorful fresh cut flowers. This share will provide a bouquet of professionally-conditioned and super fresh flowers during the height of midsummer to help you celebrate the brightness and color of the season!

Organic Seeds and Nuts Share – 1/2 to 1 lb of fresh organic seeds or nuts each week for 16 weeks – $368.00. Seeds and nuts are essential additions to a fully balanced and healthy diet – full of protein, minerals, and good fats. They are essential additions to a vegan diet.

Pick Up Days - What to expect

We are planning regular demos with samples at the pickup times. Demos may be on cooking or preparing items from your basket, or they may involve harvesting or garden activities. They are weather permitting in general, although some may take place in the kitchen. When your time allows, please feel free to spend 30-60 minutes at your pickup time to chat, explore the garden, converse with the chickens, and participate in the preparing and cooking demos. This also makes the veggies fun for children. Members will also have access to our farm stand on pick up days. All in all we want each member to feel empowered to make use of all the vegetables and herbs in each basket in a delicious manner. There are a lot of veggies and many are quite unusual ... we want each member to find a way to truly enjoy them all, and reap the wonderful health benefits of each.

7 Reasons to Join:

1. You and your family’s health. The number one missing ingredient to a healthy disease-free lifestyle is a variety vegetables! If you have a big basket of fresh veggies on hand, you will use them! And we are here to fully support you in using them!

2. Living more sustainably – by joining a CSA, you are personally and directly addressing the flaws of our global food system. By paying attention to what you eat, you participate in a more environmentally and socially sustainable way of life.

3. Living more ethically – you are supporting a circular farm with animals, plants, and the soil itself being treated with respect and care.

4. Supporting Local Business and strengthening your community.

5. Supporting Organic Farmers. It is more than just supporting the particular farm you have a membership with – it is about showing policy makers that people want local, real, organic food, and it is about showing the local farming community that you appreciate their efforts.

6. Creative cooking – to be the ultimate ‘foodie’ you must cook! In your basket will come a huge variety of flavors, scents, textures, and all of these can be cooked up and presented in thousands of different ways!

7. Saving fossil fuels – Typical grocery store produce travels 1,500 miles to get to your table!

“A successful local food economy implies not only a new kind of food producer, but a new kind of eater as well, one who regards finding, preparing, and preserving food as one of the pleasures of life rather than a chore.” Wendell Berry

Frequently Asked Questions:

How much produce is in a share? On average, a weekly produce share fills about 1 paper grocery bag. It includes 5 to 12 different vegetables and salad greens. Quantity and type of produce vary weekly and seasonally. How many people a share can feed varies dramatically with the household. Some members eat a whole share by themselves, while others find a share to be a lot for four people. Many factors affect whether a share is too much or too little: Are you vegetarian? Do you use the CSA produce as your main source of food, or do you use it to supplement what you buy at the grocery store? What are the ages of your family members? Do you grow your own vegetables? How often do you eat out? How creative are your cooking habits?

We are just two people, Can we buy a half share? Because of the structuring of our CSA and the wide variety in each share, we cannot offer half shares – but the whole share works great for a couple who really want to eat healthier; the variety in our share makes it easier to consume more vegetables. We designed our garden program around what we want to eat. We knew we would have a hard time eating a pound of kale every week, so we grew a bunch of different greens - we can manage to eat a pound of various greens within a week - swiss chard in a frittata one day for breakfast, dandelion and escarole in chicken soup another day, a small side of collards sautéd with garlic and a bit of pancetta, and then you have a pound! You will also get a variety of great recipes for preparing the vegetables. It is just so important to get more vegetables in our diet, and variety is key. We think you’ll be surprised how fast the vegetables get eaten!

Can I pick up on another day? You must pick up your share during your scheduled pick-up time. We do not have the resources or refrigerator capacity to set your share aside for a later pick-up. If you are unable to have someone pick up your share, it will not be wasted - unclaimed produce is donated to a local charity or to the surplus basket. We cannot make up another basket for you. Consider asking a friend or neighbor to pick up for you, or partnering with another CSA member and trade off pick-up duties. Schedule your other food shopping routines around your basket pick up – make your CSA pick up the heart of your local food gathering for the week. (There are many wonderful bakers, cheese makers, and other farmers in Warwick – also visit the Warwick Farmer’s Market on Sunday morning.) Try to schedule your grocery store shopping for after you see what your share contains, and after you check out local sources for artisanal, hand-crafted foods.

When do we get tomatoes? Well, 2007 was an early tomato year – they started ripening in mid-July! But in 2006, we didn’t see a ripe tomato until the beginning of August! CSA membership ensures that you are eating seasonally according to what nature decides that year. The very idea that vegetables are only available during a particular season makes them all the more special. Once you have eaten produce at the height of its season, you will have a hard time eating out of season again. Understanding the subtle shifts as we move between seasons helps us develop intuition about, and connection with, our food. The choice that exists in the produce aisles of conventional grocery stores is the product of a centralized, global food system. As a CSA member, you participate in a local food system. This focus requires us to shift from a recipe-based cooking style to one based on available ingredients. There is simplicity and creativity in eating seasonally. You are getting vegetables at their peak of ripeness and flavor.

Can I get my share delivered? Although in previous years we have delivered, it is becoming more and more difficult for us. Please call us or email us, and we will try to work something out.

The ‘Summer of Vital Health’ Super Share

Pick up days are Tuesday evenings at 6:30 pm June 2nd – September 15th

This special share is another level of CSA subscription and includes both the vegetable and herb shares and then also adds additional gourmet and health-conscious ingredients. It is the ultimate program for the health-conscious ‘foodie.’

The additional basket contents will consist of organic and/or locally-produced items such as polenta, nuts, spices, cold-pressed oils, mushrooms, pancetta, honey, artisanal cheeses, rices, etc. as well as some traditional implements such as a mezza luna. We are striving to create a comprehensive nutritional program based around what is growing as well as traditional cooking methods and recipes.

This share was developed as a response to customer requests for more information on artisanal cooking and more nutritional information from a holistic, unconventional perspective. Our Monday evening gatherings will include demonstrations of artisanal recipes and discussions of nutritional elements. Our focus is on preparing foods in ways that retain their nutrients and enzymes. Examples include a Spring tonic of braised nettle, lambs quarters, and dandelion greens in June, delicious salad constructions, arugula and provolone focaccia in late June, a variety of pestos and risottos, paté made with fresh herbs, celery and garlic in July, zucchini sauce over gnocchi made with Swiss chard and lovage in late summer, and much more. We will be using 8 different cilantros, 15 different basils, as well as a full gamut of other fresh culinary herbs such as chervil, chives, sage, tarragon, shisu, mitsuba, savory, and more.

Each week will feature a special recipe, and the special ingredients needed for the recipes will be included in the basket. We are thinking of this as a sharing experience, where you can plan out your week’s food, try a recipe, and feel fully able to utilize the basket contents.

The Super Share is constantly evolving - 2007 and 2008 members can be assured that they will continue moving toward a healthier lifestyle and experience all new recipes, demos, foods, and health info.

We will harvest and cook and eat!

This share, which includes the traditional vegetable, egg, and herb shares is $1,195.00 for the 16 week season.