CSA stands for “Community Supported Agriculture.” It is a model to buy local food directly from a farmer. You purchase a “share” and become a farm “member.”

Members of a CSA sign up with their farm in advance of the growing season, which helps farms plan for the season ahead and cover the initial annual costs of farm operation.

Each week you will get cut flowers and a selection of in-season strawberries, raspberries, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, and beans.

We have several pick up locations throughout the week.

-Tuesday

-Friday - Seabright (Cayuga Street) from 3-7PM

Your share is harvested by our field crew and volunteers. We harvest the day before and the morning of your pick-up time to ensure the freshest possible harvest from our farm to your kitchen table!

While doing a quick Google search on the history of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) you can find countless articles of its origins being traced to Japan and Europe. Blogs, websites, and even the USDA redirect you to articles stating that CSA moved from the east to the west being brought in through Europe and starting in the United States in 1986. Like many contributions of BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) that are forgotten or erased in history, the introduction of CSA models to the United States actually began in Alabama in the 1960’s.

Booker T. Whatley, born in 1915, grew up on a farm with his twelve younger siblings. He grew up seeing the number of black farms declining and the remaining ones struggling to compete with industrialized agriculture. This led him to pursue a degree in agricultural studies at Alabama A&M University, gaining knowledge that helped him serve in the Korean War where he operated a 55-acre hydroponic farm to provide food for the troops. Upon his return from the war he got his doctorate degree in horticulture and became a professor at Tuskegee University.

Dr. Whatley’s focus was on regenerative agriculture and improving the livelihood of farmers through direct marketing. Movements such as “Pick-Your-Own” and “Farm-to-Table” are thanks to Dr. Whatley’s incredible innovation and intersection of organic agriculture and social justice. The principles of regenerative agriculture can also be traced back to another Tuskegee alum Dr. George Washington Carver. Many associate his name with peanuts but his focus on this legume originally came from his studies on soil chemistry. Carver discovered that years of growing cotton depleted vital nutrients from soil and growing nitrogen-fixing plants such as peanuts could restore soil health. Along with laying down the path for regenerative agriculture he was also an ardent environmentalist who believe we must take care of the earth and all of its inhabitants.

Building on these ideas of regenerative agriculture, Dr. Whatley created “clientele membership clubs” which can be seen as the beginning of CSA. These clientele membership clubs were, as stated in a 1982 interview, “the lifeblood of the whole setup. It enables the farmer to plan production, anticipate demand, and, of course, have a guaranteed market. However, that means the grower had better work just as diligently at establishing and maintaining the club as at producing the crops.” He advocated for planting clover to add organic matter and nitrogen to the soil to prevent soil erosion and in turn provide food for honeybees. He even promoted how small farms create a play area for children, making his clientele memberships a true family affair.

Dr. Whatley believed in the success of small farms and his clientele membership club and pick-your-own ideas have become the fundamentals of what small farms are today. Farmers like Leah Penniman from Soul Fire Farms draw inspiration from rediscovering the history of how African Americans, Africans, Native Americans and other indigenous peoples contributed to modern farming practices. Learning the BIPOC history of farming techniques and modern farm movements can inspire and reconnect severed ties to land and food. It is important not to forget these historical achievements and legacies that are still seen today. It serves as a reminder that BIPOC have always played a fundamental role in the history of food security.

Full article: https://www.oneearth.org/csas-and-regenerative-agricultures-ties-to-black-history/

We view our flowers as a critical piece of the biodiversity at our farm. They attract and provide food for our pollinators which in turn help us to have good harvests. For some folks, following food safety guidelines for harvesting food crops can be tricky (it’s tempting to eat strawberries as you pick…we get it!), so flower harvest and bouquet making are great ways for more people to get involved. Plus, we hope the weekly flower share brings some natural beauty and intrigue into your home as you watch them open and show their brilliance.

Additionally, local, seasonal blooms make up a very small part of the overall flower market. The majority of flowers are flown in from around the world. While you may be able to find them for “cheap”, there is a real environmental and human cost to their production and shipping. From using gnarly chemicals, having unfair and unsafe worker conditions to using fossil fuels (lots of them!) to fly them in from other continents, the “cheap” flowers are actually very destructive.

At our farm, we grow varieties of flowers that don’t ship well, meaning you might not have seen them before because larger flower suppliers don’t select to grow these due to their poor shipping capacity. We also take great care to harvest them at the right time to ensure a long vase life in your home. If you’re looking for a way to be more environmentally friendly while brightening up your space, always buy local, seasonal blooms!

Ooooh boy! The strawberries we grow are some of the best folks have tasted. We get it - you want them all season long. We give them earlier in the season when they are truly in season and are rocking it.

Strawberries carry the risk of getting some nasty soil born diseases, so we grow them during their peak season (April-June/July) and then pull them out of the ground before disease can set in.

You’re welcome to get a friend to pick it up for you. Just email us that you’re out of town and the name of the person picking up for you. If you’d like to just donate the share instead, let us know via email as well.

If you haven’t emailed us to arrange for someone else to pick it up or for us to donate your share, our default is to donate any leftover shares the next day.

Yes! Check out the volunteer page on our website for our volunteer application and more information.

We LOVE having our CSA members out as volunteers. We feel like this is what it is all about - getting connected with your farm and farmers.

Yes! Just put their contact information on the form during purchase and confirm with them that they are able to pick up at the location.

Yes - we truly appreciate each of you coming on board for the season to help support the farm in all that it takes to grow local, seasonal produce, fruit, and flowers.

Each week, in addition to your bag of goodies, you will get a CSA newsletter email from us featuring your crop list, farm updates, and farmer interviews

We also host an event or two at the farm for just our CSA members. In the past, this has included a CSA member appreciation event which was a morning on the farm with snacks, drinks, a scavenger hunt, music and good company.

You’ll also get first pick of our next season’s CSA shares.

Plus, you’ll get bragging rights to your friends that you support your local food and flower economy and help us to empower folks of all abilities to get growin’!

Yes - we offer a three payment plan.

Please email shop@commonrootsfarm.org with a request for a payment plan and we will get your sorted out.

At the moment, we do not but we are working on it for future years.