Westchester CSA

What is a CSA?

CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a cooperative effort between farmers and communities that want fresh, healthy produce. CSA members purchase "shares" of a farm's harvest at the beginning of a growing season; when crops are ready, the farmer brings them to a central location where members pick them up. The CSA concept was developed 30 years ago and introduced in the United States in 1985. There are now 1,000 CSA groups in North America that serve over 100,000 families.

The Westchester CSA is proud to be affiliated with Stoneledge Farm.

Advantages of CSA Membership

Quality

Freshness: Our food does not spend several days in transit.
Variety: We get vegetables that are too fragile to harvest or ship by regular means. These include heirlooms and specialty varieties.

Nutritional benefits

We get to eat local, in-season food - the freshest, healthiest food available.

Communication

We know our farmers.
We learn how our food is grown and how to cook and store our vegetables through newsletters, weekly notes, recipes, meetings, and farm visits.

Environmental impact

We help keep small organic farms in operation.
We use less packaging and less fuel to get our food.
Our produce is grown organically; we avoid adding pesticides and other chemicals to the air and to the watershed.

Community contact

We meet members at the pick-up site, at farm vistis, at pot luck dinners.

Educational benefits

We have close contact with nature and with our food source.
We learn the pleasure of eating seasonally, anticipating and enjoying nature's rhythm.
We can, if we choose, help out at the farm.