CSA membership | Yellow Stonehouse Farm CSA

Farming Matters March 11, 2017 Looking forward to Spring

A blog by Connie Adams – co-owner, with husband John, of Yellow Stonehouse Farm, an USDA Certified Organic Vegetable CSA located in Westfield, MA.

I hope this picture of our farm from last May helps ward off the persistant winter chill we are experiencing in New England this March. It’s unsatisfactory after the warm weather teased in February. It’s true what they say about New England weather – the only thing you can count on is it’s unpredicatability.

Thankfully, most farm activities this time of year happen in-doors. We’re getting ready for the growing season, deciding what to plant, laying out the rows and deciding where we are going to grow the different crops, figuring out how much of any one thing to grow, and studying dozens of catalogs to pick new and different, as well as tried and true, varieties of vegetables, flowers and herbs. We are even starting seeds for plants that have a long propogation time – like leeks and kohlrabi.

This is also the time of year for members to sign up for our Spring/Summer CSA. CSA members are the ones we are planting for, and we try very hard to make sure that we have enough variety to satisfy the most adventuresome of eaters. If there is a vegetable (or flower or herb) you would like us to grow for you as part of your membership, please email us to let us know.

Regarding Yellow Stonehouse Farm CSA memberships – we are delighted to welcome a number of new CSA members! Welcome all, we are very happy to have your join our farm family. We look forward to sharing the bounty of our harvest and the beauty of our farm with you and yours.

Many of these new CSA shareholders were referred to us by our present members – thanks to all for being so supportive. Providing the best experience possible to our members is our primary mission – and your recommendations validate our efforts.

For those considering 2017 CSA membership in our farm, we urge you to sign up soon. Some popular pick-up days (Wednesday and Saturday) are fast becoming fully subscribed, and we only have a fixed number of shares available.

Providing fresh, local, and USDA certified organic vegetables to the local community is something that John and I are both committed to – but it’s the CSA community that we’ve become a part of that makes the work so rewarding for us and our members. We look forward to expanding our farm family to include many more neighbors and friends from Westfield, Southampton, the Hill Towns and surrounding area during the upcoming 2017 season.

For more information call the farm at 413-562-2164 or email us at yellowstonehousefarmcsa@gmail.com. You can also get membership information and applciations at our website at www.yellowstonehousefarmcsa.com/

CSA or Consumer Supported Agriculture, a model for connecting consumers to local farms, originally started in nearby Great Barrington, MA in the 1980’s. CSAs invite consumers to share the risks and rewards of their local farm who in turn provides fresh, and in our case, organically grown vegetables in exchange for an upfront membership pledge & payment.

CSAs are truly a win-win arrangement for both consumers and farmers! Consumers conveniently obtain a wide variety of freshly picked vegetables over an extended season (June – October) at an affordable price, know where their produce is coming from and how it was raised; while the farmer knows how much to grow to deliver the right amount directly to her customers, while cutting out the middleman to make a reasonable profit! This allows the farm to continue being a farm – rather than becoming just another tract of houses!

Today, there are over 13,000 CSAs nationwide which has led to a resurgence of small family owned farms throughout North America, reversing a decades long trend of decreasing farm ownership. CSAs also lead as producers of more nutritious, organic and sustainably raised food, as opposed to industrially raised food lower in nutrients and laden with pesticides and insecticides.

Yellow Stonehouse Farm CSA members not only receive an abundant share of many types of vegetables (we may have over 15 different items in a share) they also get access to the farms Pick Your Own (PYO) vegetable, flower and herb gardens. This includes vegetables such as peas, cherry tomatoes, beans, flowers, and herbs such as basil and parsley! We also grow garlic, ginger, turmeric & horseradish as part of our healthy food activities.

Some CSAs provide additional benefits. At Yellow Stonehouse Farm, for example, we find that connecting families & children with the land, demonstrating how food is grown and how delicious it is when it’s really fresh, is an important part of our mission. We host school groups for on-farm learning and lead nature walks to our certified Vernal Pool and Turtle Nesting area. We also make sure our members know what to do with all the different vegetables they receive by providing weekly recipes.

We still have a few Every Other Week Shares available for most pick-up days – but the sign-up period is closing soon. Please call us or stop by the farm Tuesday through Saturday. We also are selling fresh organic Asparagus!

Yellow Stonehouse Farm CSA

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