COLOGNE—In the middle of a cold winter, it’s difficult to imagine eating fresh summer produce.
But if you want to enjoy a bounty of fruits and vegetables as a member of a community-supported agriculture system, or CSA, now’s the time to sign up.
Membership in a CSA is based on shares of the harvest, and members help underwrite the crops in advance.
"We start taking applications at the end of the fall season and are usually full by the beginning of March," said Miriam Maloney, one of the owners of Day Spring Farm in King and Queen County just outside West Point. "So if you’re interested, now’s the time to sign up."
Day Spring and many other CSAs sell both full and half memberships. Prices can range from $300 to $900 for a season’s worth of fruits and vegetables. Members typically sign up by the end of February, and the first harvest is available in May.
Some CSAs provide produce through October. Day Spring sells a 20-week summer CSA membership, which runs from mid-May through early September, and a five-week fall CSA from mid-October to Thanksgiving.
The advantages of belonging to a CSA are that "you know the person who’s growing your food and you know how they are growing it," said Maloney, a member of the King & Queen County Farm Bureau. "And you don’t have to worry about picking out fresh vegetables, because there’s a bag waiting for you each week."
Summer CSA members get everything from strawberries to beans, summer squash and tomatoes. Fall CSA members typically receive fall squash, greens, sweet potatoes and turnips.
"CSA members get whatever is growing that week, and we split it equally among the members," Maloney said.
She also invites CSA members to visit the farm and see how their food is being raised. Some CSAs require members to work on the farm for a specified amount of time.
In addition to fruit and vegetable CSAs, there are community-supported farms from which members can purchase fresh meat, eggs, flowers and herbs.
To find a CSA near you, check the Fresh Food Locator feature at SaveOurFood.org, a directory compiled by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services at vdacs.virginia.gov/vagrown or the Local Harvest site at localharvest.org.
Contact Maloney at 804-785-9401.