CSA week celebrates a model that strenthens local farms

When sheep broke loose and ate all the Swiss chard at one of Local Harvest CSA’s cooperating farms a couple of years ago, the other growers that make up the local collective provided a safety net of kale and other greens to fill customers’ shares.

In the absence of chard, the advantages of a cooperative model became clear to Erin Insley, the organization’s CSA site manager. So did the beauty of the Community Supported Agriculture model itself, which provides farms with capital that insulates them from some of the vulnerability of an unpredictable harvest.

“If one farm has a fail, when you buy into a CSA, you fail with them,” Insley explained. Conversely, when the farm succeeds, its shareholders succeed.

“It might be insect pressure, it might have been a fungus, whatever it is, but all our members are really understanding,” Insley said.

Saturday, Feb. 14 marks the start of CSA week across the country, celebrating a model that invites customers to invest in their local farms and embrace eating with the seasons.

At Local Harvest CSA, a cooperative of six capital-area farms founded in 2002, the three-week spring share begins in May, bringing an array of greens: lettuce, kale and spinach. From the start of spring to the end of fall, the cooperative offers members 26 weeks of fresh, organic produce, circumventing some of the concerns typically associated with buying food.

“There’s food that you’re not sure exactly where it came from, how far it traveled, or was it sprayed?” Insley said. “When you pick up a CSA, you know you’re picking up a bag of fresh veggies.”

Beyond supporting local farms, for customers, CSAs offer the a different experience than a trip to the grocery store or stroll through the farmer’s market. CSA’s are not à la carte; one week’s offerings might look different from the next because that’s the nature of farming.

“Digging though spinach and garlic to see what’s there” is part of the appeal of a CSA, too, said Insley.

Local Harvest offers rolling registration for new members. The cooperative operates out of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Concord, but members can pick up their shares at satellite locations across the capital area.

Below is a list of capital-area farms that offer CSAs:

Brookford Farm in Canterbury
Local Harvest CSA in Concord
Benedikt Dairy in Goffstown
Cora Hillside Micro-Farm LLC in Hooksett
Good Earth Farm in Weare
Little Red Hen Farm & Market LLC in Pittsfield
Yankee Farmer’s Market in Warner

For a comprehensive list of all the CSA farms in New Hampshire, view the Department of Agriculture’s directory at https://www.agriculture.nh.gov/farms-businesses/agricultural-development/find-nh-agriculture/csa-directory.

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