“You’d be hard pressed to find a better food investment than a CSA. I’m proud to support local organic farms and agriculture and can’t wait to cook with all the summer goodness!”- Jess, Vegetable CSA customer
CSA
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CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, a concerted effort between grower and consumer to make local food and farm products more sustainable for all involved. By purchasing a share at the beginning of the season, before crops are even planted, you are making an investment in future harvests of healthy fresh vegetables, and beautiful fresh flowers.
- Flower bouquet shares, mushroom shares and small vegetable shares are a privilege of Farmer ($50) Membership.
- Large vegetable shares are a privilege of Crofter ($125) membership.
We are delighted to be offering some Fall Vegetable and Meat Shares this year! As with purchasing any of our members-only products, please make sure you are logged into your member account before trying to purchase.
CSA Offerings for 2023
NCOF’s seasonal, certified-organic florist-quality cut flowers can’t be beat for freshness or beauty.
4 weeks of fresh bouquets is a perfect gift for yourself or a friend.
- Cost: $110
- Duration: 4 weeks, beginning on Tuesday September 26.
- Weekly pick ups from the NCOF flower workshop, Tuesdays only, anytime after 3PM
- Farmer membership ($50) or above required
- Proceeds support NCOF’s mission of providing productive open space, farm products, and hands-on education to all ages, year-round.
FALL VEGETABLE CSA IS SOLD OUT. PLEASE EMAIL [email protected] TO GET ON THE WAITLIST.
- Cost: 5 weeks of vegetables for $125
- Duration: Pickup weekly over 5 weeks from end of September through month of October.
- How it works: This CSA will line up with the Fall Meat share; vegetable shares will be available Tuesdays or Thursdays, and Meat shares can be picked up at the same time.
- What will I get in my share? This will vary week to week, but we expect to still have tomatoes, root veggies, peppers, and winter squashes.
Any questions? Feel free to contact us.
FALL MEAT CSA NOW AVAILABLE
- Cost: 1 package per week – $60, Medium – $125, Large – $250
- Duration: Pickup weekly over 5 weeks from end of September through month of October.
- How it works: This CSA will line up with the Fall Vegetable share; meat shares can be picked up in our root cellar Monday afternoons through Friday mornings, while vegetable shares will be available Tuesdays or Thursdays.
- What will I get in my share? This will vary week to week and depend on the size that you have chosen. We will also take into consideration if there are any types of meat that you cannot or will not eat.
Any questions? Feel free to contact us.
EARLY WINTER MEAT CSA NOW AVAILABLE
Cost: Small – $100, Medium – $200, Large – $400
Duration: Two pickups a month in November and December, the weeks of November 1, November 15, December 6 and December 20.
How it works: Pick ups may occur in the farm house or in the root cellar freezer, you will be informed vis email the week before pick up.
What will I get in my share? As this period of time falls over a bunch of holidays, we will be focusing on more roasts than our shares from other seasons. Depending on the size of the shares that week we will also be offering choices among our $12 cuts (ground meat, sausages, kebobs, etc.)
Share Sizes: Small shares are well suited for single person households, Medium shares for households of 2-3 and Large shares for larger families or folks who like to stock their freezers.
LATE WINTER MEAT CSA NOW AVAILABLE
Cost: Small – $175, Medium – $350, Large – $700
Duration: 7 Pickups during the months of January to March 2024. Weeks of Jan 1, Jan 15, Jan 29, Feb 12, Feb 26, Mar 11, Mar 25.
How it works: Pick up can happen at your convenience Monday-Friday during daylight hours. Pick ups may occur in the farm house or in the root cellar freezer.
What will I get in my share? A variety of cuts. We hope each week to offer folks some choice in what they take home, mainly within our $12 cuts (ground meat, kabobs, sausages, etc.)
Share Sizes: Small size is perfect for 1-2 folks, Medium sizes for 2-3, and Large sizes for larger families or folks who like to stock their freezers!
CSA FAQ
We actually don’t determine your share size by pounds, because leafy crops like lettuce weigh very little, while root crops like potatoes weigh a lot. Instead, we base share size on what we’re harvesting from the fields and the cumulative dollar-value of the vegetables that we put in your share every week. Our shares tend to start out on smaller size, with cool-season greens, and then increase in size as the weather warms, and more crops come in. On average, by the end of the season, NCOF’s CSA customers receive between 5% and 10% more dollars-worth of food than what they paid for their shares. This is our way of saying thank you for investing in our farm through our CSA program.
The variety of produce that we include in the shares will differ slightly from year to year, as the farmers plan for crops that will be most successful in our fields, but to give you an example:
2022 Summer Share Week 1 included Pac choi, endive, fresh herbs, lettuce, mesclun mix, radishes, a 4 pack of our organic veggie seedlings, and turnips
2022 Summer Share Week 8 (halfway through the season) had carrots, celery, endive, herbs, kale or collard greens, leeks, lettuce, onions, rutabaga, and tomatoes.
The last week of the 2022 season had popping corn, eggplant, garlic, herbs, lettuce, bell peppers, shishito peppers, summer squash, swiss chard, tomatoes, and winter squash.
This is one of our most frequently asked questions. The large shares are about 50% bigger than the small, but we like to say that the small shares feed 1-2 people and the large shares feed 3-4. In general, the small and large shares get the same variety of vegetables, although some weeks the large shares get one or two more types.
Our weekly e-newsletter will let you know what to expect in your share. You will get plenty of greens, but you will not get lettuce or salad every week, since they generally do not thrive during hot weather.
You can come on your pick up day until dusk, which is pretty late in the summer. We ask you not to come after dark because people live here to help with farm security and we need to respect their privacy.
We get that life sometimes gets busy. Please do your best to get here on your designated pick-up day, or to send a friend, because that’s when your food will be freshest and at its most nutritious. We will leave unclaimed shares in the root cellar until around 8 AM the next morning. After that, they will get unpacked and redistributed. Sorry, but we do not have make-up shares for missed pick ups.
We’re sorry that you missed out. 🙁 You can ask to be added to our waitlist by emailing us. There are many other excellent CSAs nearby run by very good farming friends of ours, like Vanguarden Farm in Dover and Silverwood Farm CSA in Sherborn.
