CSA
By choosing to support a Community Supported Agriculture Program (CSA), sharemember participants not only get an avenue to enjoy fresh and wholesome produce, but are helping to create a more sustainable alternative for farmers and farming within an increasingly challenging and compromised occupation. They are also encouraging a stronger local economy, helping to increase awareness about good food, and contributing to the growth of vibrant and healthy communities.
CSA is founded on the cultivation of strong relationships between those in our communities who eat and the farmers who grow the food. CSA sharemembers pledge in advance to support a local grower for the full season, acknowledging the benefits and risks inherent in farming and gardening. This model is becoming more common throughout North America as well as many other parts of the world.
More and more people are valuing the enjoyment of fresh, locally-grown food, and realizing the connections between health and organic growing. People are recognizing that contributing to the vitality of both farmers and the food they grow will support the sustainability of the food system as a whole. While growing one’s own food is as local as it can get, for those who are unable or may not want to garden, the CSA model meaningfully addresses many issues in both socially and economically vitalizing ways.
By committing support before the seeds even go into the ground, sharemembers of a CSA help to ensure the availability of local food for themselves, but also help to create a framework for us as growers which provides a more predictable market structure and more balanced income that more closely reflects the timing of the costs incurred over the growing year. These benefits to farmers allow us more freedom and flexibility to focus on the quality of food grown, with less focus on the demands and compromises of marketing and competitive commodity market structures. In other words, we can do a better job of growing fresher, more flavourful and healthier food for you. In return, each week from early summer through mid to late fall, members receive a share of the harvest of the garden’s gifts. Our harvests at LoonSong vary according to weather, the particular characteristics of each growing season, and other variables, so while we offer predictions and let you know our plans, part of the uniqueness of this arrangement is that there will always be surprises (for you and for us!).
Every CSA program has its uniqueness; ideally with characteristics that match the needs of both the growers and sharemembers and the context of the community and location. With LoonSong Garden, our intention is to provide you with the most flavourful and life-giving food that we can grow – to nourish health and community, and to support the thriving of our ecosystem. Our focus is to not only cultivate meaningful connections between you and us as growers, but also between you and the garden process, the plants, and the life of the food itself. A weekly email newsletter brings updates about garden activity, projected harvest, recipes and other related community and/or global food-related news. Sharemember participation in such things as planting seedlings, weeding and watering, and especially harvesting & sorting, are important for the health and sustainability of the CSA garden and are encouraged in order to develop meaningful and experiential connections to the source of the food. With sharemember support and participation in return, we can continue to carry on this work.