I was curious if any forum members are participating in CSAs. For those of you who do not know about CSAs, they are local farms that sell shares or memberships. The participants pay up-front. In return they receive a box of produce each week throughout the spring, summer, and fall. Depending on the farm, the produce could be organic. By buying up-front, however, the members assume the risks of farming.

At any rate, my wife and I signed up for one this year. My brother-in-law participates in one out in California and has really enjoyed it. We are receiving our first shipment this Tuesday and we are pretty excited. I was curious if other forum members have participated in one and if they have had good experiences.

We actually did this for 2 winters (In Florida, this is a winter thing, as that is when things grow here), and while the vegetables were good and we enjoy supporting locally grown stuff and the people that grow it, the whole thing was really disorganized and a big pain in the butt. We have not done it since, which I think is a shame. But I really can't until they can get their act together.

quote:

Originally posted by Keeno:
I was curious if any forum members are participating in CSAs. For those of you who do not know about CSAs, they are local farms that sell shares or memberships. The participants pay up-front. In return they receive a box of produce each week throughout the spring, summer, and fall. Depending on the farm, the produce could be organic. By buying up-front, however, the members assume the risks of farming.

At any rate, my wife and I signed up for one this year. My brother-in-law participates in one out in California and has really enjoyed it. We are receiving our first shipment this Tuesday and we are pretty excited. I was curious if other forum members have participated in one and if they have had good experiences.

Hippie scum. Don't you know that this kind of thing will make you healthier, and will cut down on the oil we use, and the waste we make. What the hell's the matter with you?

Keeno,

Can you email me any links and information you have?

There's a rural area just south of San Jose called 'Coyote Valley'. For years developers have spent almost 20 million dollars trying to have it zoned for housing and I've had this idea it would be better as an agricultural preserve.

We just installed one acre of what will be a twelve acre vineyard and the neighbors in the area are very interested in increasing the agricultural use of the area.

CSA's are really gaining in popularity here in the US. I manage a wine club for a large winery, and in addition to our vineyards onsite, we also grow about 30+ acres of organic produce, that we use in our onsite restaurant operation.

I will be incorporating the CSA concept into our wine club, by including CSA packages to those who are interested in obtaining the ingredients to the recipes that are designed by our culinary staff to pair with the included wines. This will allow our members to enjoy our wines, our recipes & our ingredients all at once, enhancing the overall experience.

CSA's are all about enhancing experiences, and taking in the bounty of what each individual part of the world has to offer.

quote:

Originally posted by Stefania Wine:
Keeno,

Can you email me any links and information you have?

There's a rural area just south of San Jose called 'Coyote Valley'. For years developers have spent almost 20 million dollars trying to have it zoned for housing and I've had this idea it would be better as an agricultural preserve.

We just installed one acre of what will be a twelve acre vineyard and the neighbors in the area are very interested in increasing the agricultural use of the area.

Is this in Morgan Hill?

Indy: Your post made me laugh. Funny stuff.

Stefania Wine: Unfortunately, I don't have too much info for you. My wife discovered the various North Carolina farms on this website. You can enter in a zip code and fin some info. Check out this link as well. Sorry I don't have more info. Thought I would post here in case others wanted to see it too.

Bosis: That sounds like a really cool idea. If I was in your area, I would be all over it.

Indybob,

quote:

Originally posted by cdr:
Indybob,

quote:

Hippie scum. Don't you know that this kind of thing will make you healthier, and will cut down on the oil we use, and the waste we make. What the hell's the matter with you?

-B

Indy,

You are so wrong philosophers weep at the sound of your voice. These farms were created by capitalists to make money! The local rednecks all got together a realized that there was more money in selling their farmed goods and herbs to the hippies than there was in beating them up and rolling them on Saturday nights. It’s amazing what people will pay for a chicken if you call it organic. Heck, have you ever seen a non-organic chicken?

But seriously – I grew up on a farm and still get many of my fresh veggies from my 87 yr old grandfathers garden and most of our beef from our own cattle (no steroids – too expensive all the ball players have been buying up the supply). I looked into a similar program to a CSA here locally that a friend was involved in and it did not make sense as most of what they supplied I already got for free (or a little backbreaking labor). Funny how food tastes better if you sweated to produce it.

G

quote:

It’s amazing what people will pay for a chicken if you call it organic. Heck, have you ever seen a non-organic chicken?

I would not mind being able to get free range ones grown locally. The foster farms one are said to have their own waste caked on their body and inhaling ammonia.

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Originally posted by spo:
The foster farms one are said to have their own waste caked on their body and inhaling ammonia.

Don't worry, they just rinse it off. The chickens don't care anyways, they're too stupid to realize it.

quote:

I would not mind being able to get free range ones grown locally. The foster farms one are said to have their own waste caked on their body and inhaling ammonia.

For non-chicken farmers - most chickens come from "foster farms" where they are delivered by a corporation like tyson as chicks to the farm and the farm raises them to a certain age and then they are picked up for slaughter. I can confirm that the conditions on these farms are deplorable. Last time I was on one I did not eat chicken for a long time afterwards. Many of these “farms” have huge environmental problems because of the ammonia and all the dead chickens. A couple of these farms (in South Carolina I think) have added alligator ponds so that they have an easier way of dealing with all the dead chickens every morning. It is sad how foster farm chickens live.

On the other hand if you are going to pay the premium for free range chicken – go and check out the farm and make sure they are actually free range. Some places set aside a small yard for a barn full of chickens and claim that is free range. The yard is generally inches deep in chicken S*&! and so nasty that even the chickens don't want to go there. Indy is right through - you can't find a dumber domesticated animal...

quote:

Originally posted by lizardking:


Is this in Morgan Hill?

Who knows.

It's technically San Jose, but it's served out of the Morgan Hill Post Office and currently admistered/ code enforced by the City of Morgan Hill. Then throw in that it's patroled by the county sheriff as unicorporated. So take your pick.

I'm not really sure but I'm guessing that San Jose is paying Morgan Hill to administer it and Morgan Hill is subing out the law enforecement to the sheriff.

http://www.sanjoseca.gov/coyotevalley/CVSP_Text_Initial_Draft/foldouts.pdf

The current plan has the vineyard site we're putting in as medium density housing. 10-20 houses per acre.

He're a wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote_Valley

and a photo

http://www.geocities.com/santateresapark/CoyPkVw2CoyVly.JPG

We're planting in the piedmont of the foothills at about 300 feet elevation. There are 7 layers of soil. A scree on the surface of clay and fine stones, then black clay, then fractured stone and gravel, then grey clay, then sandy loam, more black clay, then another gravel and franciscan stone layer. We hit the water table at about 18 feet.

Fantastic soil conditions and it slopes down about 4 feet from the top of the property to the bottom (302 feet to 298).

The lower section of the property is at about 285 feet and only 6-8 feet from the water table. I'd suggested that part of the property be turned into a demenstration farm or orchard as it's not good for grapes.

Thus the interest.

I usually hit up a local farmer's market when things are in season, but CSA's sound interesting. What is the usual buy-in cost?

mneeley: It is going to vary by farm. Check out Local Harvestfor specific info on farms in your area. For my wife and I to do a half share (3 to 6 lbs of veggies per week) it cost us $350. The program lasts for 30 weeks, so it is about $12.00 per week.

We use Full Belly Farm.

http://www.fullbellyfarm.com/

I love the name of the farm tanglenet. How do you like it?

I always buy Goldn Plump. Is this politically incorrect?

quote:

Originally posted by Keeno:
I love the name of the farm tanglenet. How do you like it?

We started around January. We never know what we are going to receive, so it's a surprise. The first couple of months were a lot of root vegetables and some oranges. So we made a lot of soups. Now that spring / summer has arrived, we getting more salad, beets, herbs etc...We like the diversity and the aspect of eating local seasonal food. We received some strawberries and bought some from Whole Foods and did a side by side comparison. You can tell the difference: the Fully Belly Farms strawberries were riper and juicier where the WFI strawberries were more green and unripe. We also enjoy supporting the local farmer / producers.

Our next project is to start our own "victory garden". We will start planting in the next week or so.