Vicki’s Veggies CSA
Community Shared Agriculture Program for 2008
History of Community Shared Agriculture
Community Supported Agriculture or Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) is a concept that began in the 1960’s in Europe and Japan, when communities were losing valuable farmland and control of their food supply. It ensured the success of small farms though economic security, and it gave consumers a guaranteed food supply close to home that they could participate in. This concept spread and compared to the early eighties when there were just two CSA’s in North America there are now thousands, ranging from small neighbourhood groups of two or three families, to large groups of 900 city-dwellers buying membership shares in a rural farm.
CSA relies on a relationship of mutual commitment between the farmer and the people. The farmer feeds the community, and in turn is supported, through membership fees and sometimes volunteer help. Members support the economic viability of a local farm and share in the inherent risks and potential bounty - and the farmers can concentrate on growing the food. Today’s industrial influences on agriculture and corporate distribution systems realize more profits for everyone but the farmer. CSA provides an alternative for the farmers and the consumers.
The CSA model helps reconnect people with the land that sustains them and gives shareholders the benefit of knowing how and where the food they eat is grown. Since most CSAs practice some sort of organic or ecological agriculture, people can participate in sustainable ventures in their communities and at the same time guarantee themselves a safe and familiar food supply.
How Vicki’s Veggies works
Members commit and purchase a share of the upcoming season’s harvest in the spring. In turn, Vicki’s Veggies provides a variety of healthy locally grown food throughout the growing season. Once a week members receive a share of fresh produce from the garden delivered to their doorstep along with a weekly email to tell them what’s in their box. Members then leave their empty box out to be replaced by a new fresh box for 20 weeks in a row. Using a wide spectrum of heirloom seeds, we are able to offer a selection of vegetables hard to find in most stores. A website with photo albums and recipes can help identify what each vegetable is and how to use it.
Ecological & organic farming practices give us the opportunity to produce and provide food that is free from all chemical herbicides, pesticides and genetic manipulation. CSA supports a healthy community and environment in a fundamentally sustainable way. By becoming a shareholder in Vicki’s Veggies you are supporting the local economy, community and environment, while at the same time ensuring healthy and safe food for yourself and the people you love!
20 Week summer season
Regular Share for one or two people - $500.00
Large Share for two or more - $750.00
Discount for volunteering - $100.00/25 hrs. season
Please contact us if you’re interested in becoming a member.
