It’s one thing to visit the New Albany Farmers Market every now and then and pick up a zucchini here and a tomato or two there. You can also make a serious commitment to supporting local agriculture – and to eating your vegetables every week – by signing up for a CSA.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs offer weekly “subscriptions” to particular farms. Sign-ups typically occur in winter or early spring (though sometimes they’re offered later) and farms often cap the number of memberships to ensure there will be enough produce to go around.
At least two of the vendors at the New Albany Farmers Market currently offer CSAs. VanScoy Farms, just outside Ridgeway, Ohio, and Bird’s Haven Farms in the Granville area provide set portions of fresh produce from their farms to their subscribers each week. The memberships also allow for add-ons that can include other fruits, meats, cheeses and eggs produced by other Ohio f
arms to round out the selection.
Items in the subscription vary based on what’s in season and the size of the farm’s harvest. Typically, it’s the same produce that’s available to the public.
“If they (want, they) can buy the exact same thing off the market stands, they can come and go as they please, and do whatever they want,” says Bill VanScoy, owner of VanScoy Farms. “Some people really like that, and they come every week to the Farmers Market and buy what they want and that’s great. Other people like to have the uniqueness of the CSA.”
One benefit of the membership is that your items are set aside; your dinner plans won’t be derailed if someone bought out the eggplant before you could get from work to the market. Sometimes there are exclusive perks, too.
“CSA gets first pick, so the add-ons like the sweet corn and the fruits, those are not available at the farmers market,” VanScoy says. “We have some specialty items that we never have enough to sell at the market.”
VanScoy Farms cooperates with Hurley Farms in Huntsville for sweet corn, Hirsch Fruit Farm in Chillicothe for seasonal fruits and SaraBee Honey in Hocking Hills for honey.
Bird’s Haven Farms adopts a more “market-style” approach with its CSA, offering options of small (“Just Right”) or large (“A Little More”) and 21-week or 11-week subscriptions.
“We do not pre-package our bags, so when you get there, you pick from certain bins,” says Bryn Bird, CSA manager of Bird’s Haven Farms. Signs nearby explain how many items subscribers should take. For example, those with small subscriptions can pick out three tomatoes, while those with large subscriptions can choose five.
Both farmers established the program to sustain their farms’ infrastructure. VanScoy was farming for almost 30 years when he realized mass-producing his products and selling them at a reduced price was causing his farm to lose out.
“We started taking orders for produce, and we started switching a percentage of our farm to that direction, so we knew how much was going to be sold at the start of the season,” VanScoy says.
The growing season is the most expensive time of the year for Bird’s Haven Farms. Money spent on labor and cultivating plants wasn’t being earned back because they weren’t selling enough produce.
“Action is not expected (at) the farm in August and September when we’re just harvesting and selling, so it’s really great to have our CSA customers, and they’re paying now when it’s the most expensive,” Bird says. “Without the CSA, we wouldn’t have been able to build up our business the way we have. We now sell to schools, hospitals and restaurants.”
Diana Herman, manager of last season’s New Albany Farmers Market, has been committed to Green Edge Organic Gardens’ Athens Hills CSA, which does not participate in the New Albany Farmers Market, for seven years.
“I love the idea that I’m helping the farmer directly and I know exactly the quality of the vegetables I’m getting,” Herman says. “The CSA I belong to is organic, so I know I’m getting locally-grown, organic vegetables.”
VanScoy notes that it is important for farmers with CSA pick-ups to inform their customers of alterations in the CSA subscriptions throughout the season if extreme weather conditions occur.
“We had some issues where there was some really dry weather, and we had some flooding, but it worked out because our cooperating partners are fine where they live, and we just substitute their products in and keep the bags full,” VanScoy says.
Some crops are also likely to grow better than others each season, and subscribers and farmers alike are expected to make the best out of the situation.
“The year before, pickles were just absolutely rampant,” VanScoy says. “One guy sent me an email and said that he thought he was going to turn into a pickle.”
Market Basics
A slew of new and returning merchants are lined up for the fourth season of the New Albany Summer Farmers Market. With approximately 30 waitlisted vendors, market organizers foresee space for the vendors to be completely filled this year.
The outdoor market, held from 4-7 p.m. every Thursday from June 26 through Sept. 4 in Market Square, features more than 60 farmers, bakers, ice cream makers and others, which organizers say add to the market’s unique mix.
“We are conscientious about not having too many bakers or salsa people or anything else,” says Kristina Jenny, one of the managers of the New Albany Farmers Market. “We don’t want to saturate the market too much of one thing and people don’t know quite where to go.”
Among the returning vendors are Unkle Timz Gourmet Salsa, Charlotte & Olivia’s Sublime Ice Creams and Simple Gourmet Syrups. Also planned for this year’s market are live shows from the New Albany High School band and the New Albany Chorus and visits from a variety of food trucks.
Organizers recommend bringing cash and reusable bags.
Recipe
Vegetable Tian
From VanScoy Farms
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium yellow onion
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 medium zucchini
1 medium yellow squash
1 medium potato
1 medium tomato
1 tsp. dried thyme
salt and pepper
1 cup shredded Italian cheese blend
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic. Sauté both in a skillet with olive oil until softened, about 5 minutes. While the onion and garlic are sautéing, thinly slice the rest of the vegetables. Spray the inside of an 8-inch by 8-inch square baking dish with non-stick spray. Spread the softened onion and garlic in the bottom of the dish. Place the thinly sliced vegetables in the baking dish, vertically, in an alternating pattern. Sprinkle generously with thyme and add salt and pepper to taste. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, top with cheese and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.
What’s in the Box?
CSAs from Bird’s Haven Farms come in two sizes: “Just Right,” good for one to two people, and “A Little More,” which feeds a family of three to four.
This chart shows an example of what one week’s box would include for each type of membership:
By Lisa Aurand and Nen Lin Soo
