Farm fresh eggs

Subscribing to Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is easy, fun and a great way to try new food. But what is a CSA and how does it work? Essentially, local farms put together food baskets, or bags or boxes, each week and deliver these to a specified drop spot (although some deliver right to your door). In these baskets they’ve supplied an assortment of fruits and vegetables and sometimes flowers (depending on your service). The key here is that they will supply an assortment. You won’t receive a basket filled with twelve kinds of tomatoes. Additionally, most services provide information about the food in your basket, such as recipes, tips to preserving or cannning certain food, and which farm each item comes from, since many times one farm does not grow all of the produce themselves.

Not all CSAs are created equal, but most are a great value. There are three questions that you should know before you sign up for a basket.

1. Can you make changes? Some farms will provide a list of items that you can expect and will allow you to request changes. Or, you can let them know when you sign up if there are foods you’re allergic too to simply don’t like and they will customize around those needs.

Additionally, many farms will allow for you to add to your weekly basket. They might offer items such as locally made soap, honey or even meat and cheese, that is not typically available in your weekly delivery.

2. What is the cost? Think about what you get for the cost. When you research CSAs the farms should provide you with a sample list of what comes in your basket. One basket might be significantly less expensive than another, but the amount of food could be significantly less. If you are feeing a household of one that’s great, but if you’ve got a family of six, think again.

3. What’s the duration? Some CSAs run year around, many have a monthly subscription fee, or a seasonal fee, I’ve used services that only run from mid-Spring to mid-Fall, sign up was for the season and that was that.

Figure out what you want and then take a few moments and check your local farms and see what they offer. For a complete listing of both produce and meat CSAs, check the Buy Fresh, Buy Local , this is one of the best resources on the web.

For more CSAs, here is a great list. The city is where the farm is located. Most farms cover more than their city.

San Francisco & West Bay:
Blue House Farm (San Mateo); Eating with the Seasons (San Francisco); Live Earth Farm (Santa Cruz); Hidden Villa Farm (Santa Clara);

North Bay:
Canvas Ranch (Sonoma); Draper Farms (Marin); First Light Farm (Sonoma); Laguna Farm (Sonoma): Live Power Community Farm (Mendocino); Orchard Farms (Sonoma)

East Bay:
Eatwell Farm (Solano); Farm Fresh To You (Yolo); Full Belly Farm (Yolo); Good Humus Produce (Yolo); Grub Box (People’s Grocery) (Alameda); Riverdog Farm (Yolo)