How can I afford a CSA share?

CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture subscriptions) carry the misconception of being expensive because the entire season is paid upfront. However, with a little saving up, they don’t have to break the bank, and they often end up providing greater value over the season than the initial cost.

Let’s take a look at how a CSA box can fit in the budget.

A small CSA box (5-6 items every week) for the 2024 season (20 weeks: June through mid-October) is $450.

Start now and save up $16 a week in order to put down the $100 deposit by the end of the year. This reserves your spot in the CSA.

Then plan to set aside $27 a week in order to pay the remaining cost by April 1st. You’re all paid up!

Then what? Starting with strawberries in June, and running clear through sweet potatoes in October, you’ll get a box of the freshest produce every week for 20 weeks without paying any more money all season! In a good year, you’ll even end up with more produce than the box was valued at (last year, our CSA members received $125 MORE product throughout the season than they paid for)!

A little saving up in the beginning can result in a lot of saving in the end! Find out more about the CSA here.

This post was originally published in November 2021, and has been updated.

CSA members are farm VIPs

Our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) members are the heroes of our farm, and we’re so thankful for them! Their support is what allows us to keep growing healthy food for our community.

CSA members are the VIP customers at West End Farm. We appreciate their investment in the farm (and the farm products, and the farmer), and we show that by giving them the first, best, biggest, and freshest produce.

Harvest happens on CSA pick up days (Mondays and Thursdays), so CSA customers get veggies that are only hours out of the field! When the first strawberries are ripe, they go in the CSA boxes before any extras go to the farmers market. When the broccoli is harvested, the CSA boxes get the nicest, biggest heads, and what’s left is posted for sale on the farm website. When people call the farm wanting to buy tomatoes, we tell them we’ll let them know what’s available after we pack the CSA boxes.

Every week during the CSA season, members get the exclusive weekly CSA email (see the photo for an example) with all kinds of tips and tricks for using their produce. At the top is an update on what’s happening at the farm: what’s being planted, which highly-anticipated crop will be ripe in the next week or two, and any important announcements about their CSA box. Next in the email is a section that lists every item in the CSA box that week, along with suggestions for how to store it and ideas for how to use it in recipes. The “Featured Item” section of the email goes in-depth on one of the veggies in the box, with nutritional information, fun facts, and additional tips on how to prepare it. A recipe is included every week that uses at least one (and sometimes all) of the items in the box. And at the end of the email is a section listing additional items for sale.

CSA members get first chance to buy any additional products from the farm, before we take them to the farmers market or advertise them elsewhere. That means when we’re about to harvest honey from the honeybees, the announcement goes out first in the CSA weekly email so CSA members can reserve their honey orders. When we make a fresh batch of jam from our berries, the CSA members are the first to know. And when we offer up canning tomatoes or other items for sale, the CSA members have the first chance at them.

CSA members have a standing invitation to come visit the farm for box pickup every week. When they come out to pick up their box of freshly-harvested veggies, they get a chance to chat with the farmer, see the produce growing, and watch the chickens run around. Kids can pet the baby kittens, pick a flower for their mom, or see if there are any ripe blackberries.

Does this sound like a community you’d like to be part of? We’d love to have you! You can join the farm here.