BowFEAST in a box—call it the 10-mile-diet
*buy direct from a co-op of Bowen Island farmers & growers!
*get a weekly box of produce for 26 weeks during the growing season!
*support the local economy!
*eat fresh, seasonally and healthfully!
What is a CSA, anyway?
Community Shared Agriculture (also Community Supported Agriculture), or CSA, is essentially a co-op that delivers fresh, locally-grown produce and ag products direct from growers to consumers. It supports local agriculture and small family farms by connecting farmers with consumers.
How does it work?
Sign up and join the co-op. You buy a “share” in January—thereby sharing the risk of locusts or aphids or drought with the farmer—typically around $500. Then from May through October, you receive a weekly box of just-been-harvested, sustainably-grown, pesticide-free produce each week—for 26 weeks during the growing season.
What do I get?
The box will have a variety of fruit, veggies and greens, perhaps eggs, plus a recipe-of-the-week and newsletter with reports from the field about what your farmers are up to.
Who’s growing the food?
Five Bowen Island farmers and growers who are forming a co-op CSA.
What if I can’t eat all that produce?
The box will typically supply a family of four for its produce needs for the week. If you can’t eat that much, just split a share with a friend.
Will I just get a big ol’ box of kale?
No. We will work hard to ensure your box has a tasty array of goodies each week.
How do I sign up?
If you’re interested, just e-mail us for more details at elle.glave@BowenAgAlliance.ca.
When can I get started?
BowFEAST in a box is slated to launch in January 2011.
Here’s what Wikipedia says about CSAs:
Community-supported agriculture (in Canada Community Shared Agriculture) (CSA) is a socio-economic model of agriculture and food distribution. A CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farming operation where the growers and consumers share the risks and benefits of food production. CSAs usually consist of a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of vegetables and fruit, in a vegetable box scheme, and sometimes includes dairy products and meat.
Community-supported agriculture began in the early 1960s in Germany, Switzerland and Japan as a response to concerns about food safety and the urbanization of agricultural land. In the 1960s, groups of consumers and farmers in Europe formed cooperative partnerships to fund farming and pay the full costs of ecologically sound and socially equitable agriculture. In Europe many of the CSA style farms were inspired by the economic ideas of Rudolf Steiner and experiments with community agriculture took place on farms using biodynamic agriculture.
CSAs generally focus on the production of high quality foods for a local community, often using organic or biodynamic farming methods, and a shared risk membership-marketing structure. This kind of farming operates with a much greater degree of involvement of consumers and other stakeholders than usual—resulting in a stronger consumer-producer relationship. The core design includes developing a cohesive consumer group that is willing to fund a whole season’s budget in order to get quality foods. The system has many variations on how the farm budget is supported by the consumers and how the producers then deliver the foods. CSA theory purports that the more a farm embraces whole-farm, whole-budget support, the more it can focus on quality and reduce the risk of food waste or financial loss.
The Cates Hill Neighbourhood Association has for some time supported the idea of creating a community garden in the Cates Hill Neighbourhood Park–the open space immediately below Tir-na-nog’s parking lot. The CHNA is now seeking the support of BAA for this initiative.