CSA in PH!!! Meeting on 11/3

ah. of course. sorry.

a CSA works thus: a bunch of people purchase "shares" of a local farmer's harvest. Usually, one can buy a share (or sometimes a 1/2 share) of veggies, sometimes fruit, sometimes eggs - depends on the farm.

then, once a week, the farmer carts the goods to a nearby location, and you pick up your goods. the selection varies from week to week, and you don't get to shop in the usual sense, but in my experience, you pick up like this: check in to make sure you're a shareholder, then take your bag and follow the directions of the week (2 lbs potatoes, 1 bunch of chard, 6 tomatoes, etc.). You get to choose your produce, but you can only take up to the stated limit on each item. A full share is a very generous amount for 2, and the goods are usually what's in season, and what the farmer has in excess.

CSA members rotate staffing the enterprise.

The theory is that the farmer gets up front $ to maintain their business, and a guaranteed outlet for their crops, especially the super productive ones. I guess in theory one could get all chard all the time, but I've never seen that happen - for instance, at the last CSA I joined, I got lemon verbena, those little husk berries (look like tiny tomatillos, taste like melon), and all kinds of neato tomatoes in the summer. I'm not sure how share pricing works, but from what I've seen it's usually a few hundred dollars for early summer - late fall. some CSAs go year round - not sure what will happen here.

does that make sense? I'm feeling like I'm rambling..