Imagine getting a big box of veggies every week, no shopping required. Skip the line at the grocery store and forget about checking calories. A CSA is a way to simplify eating and cooking, where the freshest local produce is at your fingertips each week.
Community Supported Agriculture – or a CSA – is like a seasonal subscription to a favorite farm. A family, neighbors, a group of friends, or an individual can sign up in the spring to receive a box of local food every week. The box could be full of beets and greens in the spring and maybe include fresh picked strawberries in June. By August expect tomatoes and peppers and other warm-season crops. Roots like carrots, sweet potatoes, and sometimes ginger can be found in shares that extend into the early fall. There are even CSAs for cut flowers, meat, cheese, eggs, and combinations of each from different farms.
Signing up for a CSA means an entire season of healthy food, not just for the community but also for farmers. When customers purchase a CSA share in the spring, farmers have the funds upfront to buy seeds, improve equipment, and plan for the rest of the season.
Want to learn more about CSAs? ASAP hosts a CSA Fair each spring in Asheville, where the community can get to know local farmers and find out which CSA might be right for them. Sign-ups are available on the spot, or just take home information from several farms to consider.
This year’s CSA Fair is just a few days away: Thursday March 10, from 3-6 p.m. Stop by the Jubilee! community church on Wall Street in Asheville for family-friendly activities, a local food tasting, and to meet the farmers that grow our food. Find out more about the CSA Fair at www.asapconnections.org Looking for options outside the Asheville area? Find more farms that offer CSAs at www.appalachiangrown.org
Aired 3/7/16