CSA Sign Up Season

CSA Sign up Season is in full swing with some interested parties getting more than a little antsy about both the prospect of first pick fresh produce, and the fear of not making the list for their favorite or most convenient CSA. Most of you know Amys Garden and Victory Farm, but for new, or new to you, CSA options check out the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services page dedicated to Virginia CSAs. Listed by County, the details, including contact info and area served, are included for each.
CSAs are definitely a great option for those who may only be able to get to a market towards it's close due to work, or who just want to get that box of food and are less interested in "The Market Experience." And they are definitely a benefit to the farmers themselves. The upfront money CSA members provide helps to guarantee a bountiful and varied harvest. I personally enjoy shopping around from vendor to vendor and market to market way too much, but I know I miss out on some great treats particularly those early season items that are often only abundant enough for CSA members and those harder to grow specialty items.

For those of you who like to go to the Byrd House Market on Tuesday Evenings, and were using Victory Farms as your CSA in past years, there will still be the Rural Virginia Market CSA, http://www.ruralvirginiamarket.com/and the
Fertile Crescent CSA ttp://www.localharvest.org/farms/M20988 .
Rural Virgina Market CSA offers food from a collection of small farms in Hanover and Goochland. The CSA Shares are divided so you can purchase an Early Spring, Summer, and Late Summer/ Fall Share to suit your needs. The Share prices seem higher than the CSA shares of farms like Victory Farms, but Rural Virgina Market CSA supplies eggs, poultry, honey, cheese, and produce from some of the areas best farms including Manakintowne Specialty Growers, Goats R Us, Homestead Traditionals, and 4 Season Farm. The Rural Virginia Market contains links to all of these farms plus more. They even include an assortment of Cavanna Pasta biweekly! If you are just looking for veggies, they have a veggie only share as well. You can view all of the items you could expect to receive, categorized by season, on their website. Even the veggie CSA may include a larger share of produce, but it is listed at the same price as the full share making it more costly than other area CSAs for produce.
The Rural Virginia Market CSA will also have pick up at Lakeside Farmers Market and The Whole Foods out in Short Pump.

Homestead Traditionals, by the way, is a great farm with a superior expert bee keeper and a wonderful place to visit if you get a chance.

Fertile Crescent farm is one of our favorite produce vendors. They have a blogsite as well. Although this link looks like it hasn't been updated since July it will give you a good feel for the owners of the farm, Adam and Darbi. The produce they offered all of last year was always incredibly fresh and clean. Unlike my purchases from some other very good vendors(or the grocery store), I never found anything from Fertile Crescent that was not perfectly fresh. Adam is always friendly and happy to help with suggestions for storage and preparation. If last year repeats, Fertile Crescent is also at the South of the James Market on Saturdays.

If your big on Fresh Fruit then don't forget Agriberry CSA http://www.agriberry.com/ . This link will provide you with contact information as well as a link to their local harvest page. I believe they will be at the Lakeside Market again this year and when I spoke with them this fall they were excited to start off the 2009 spring season with fresh Asparagus! It is my understanding that several of the items in this CSA, which come from a variety of area farms, are not organic so be sure to ask if this is a concern for you. None the less this is a great CSA to work with and if you don't join the CSA be sure to stop by their booth at market. I picked up all kinds of great treats ts from them last year.