Community Supported Agriculture
***2012 CSA Registration is OPEN***
2012 Weekly Box Form
2012 Flex Box Form
Looking to invest in local, organic agriculture? Community Supported Agriculture is a great way to encourage a vibrant, stable and equitable food system in your community. It encourages Ottawa farmers to grow crops for human consumption in a sustainable manner. It allows young entrepreneurs to focus all their energy and resources in this difficult-to-enter business sector. This is a perfect example of Food Sovereignty, Occupy Wall Street, Food activism, etc.
It’s also a great way to provide excellent, top quality, invigorating food to your family, your loved ones, and your own precious body. It is becoming increasingly evident that we absorb much more than just carbs, fat and protein from the food we eat. We also absorb essential vitamins and minerals, disease fighting antioxidants, emotions (in the form of hormones) and information (in the form of Micro RNA). Your health, mood and energy level are all directly impacted by your eating habits. We make sure that all living organisms on our biodynamic farm live full, meaningful lives in order to reach their maximum potential.
We would like to pass this on to you through our Weekly Box and Flex Box programs:
Weekly Produce Box
Signing up for our weekly box program entitles you to a bounty of fresh garden produce for 20 weeks or 10 weeks. Over time, this program gives you the best deal. The group is intentionally kept smaller in order to provide you with the best quality and variety of our garden produce. Certain speciality crops are grown specifically for the weekly box, and members are eligible for discount pricing on some other products we sell. It is the only program with delivery options and for which we ”reserve” your vegetables. As long as someone picks up your food at the appropriate time, you can be sure to have a good selection of produce, no matter who’s turn it is to do the shopping. We make the vegetable selection for you, but we are experimenting with a new ‘’swap bin” system this year. The swap bin allows you to exchange one or two items in your weekly box for the same number of items in the swap bin.
Weekly boxes must be paid in advance, before March 1st. The basic cost of a weekly box is $600 and $300 for a biweekly box. Returning members earn early-bird discounts! To make it easier on your wallet, you may reserve your weekly box with a deposit and pay the balance later. Your weekly box will contain $25 to $35 worth of fresh garden produce, depending on the season. One weekly produce box can satisfy one to four people, depending on your lifestyle and eating habits.
Collecting your Weekly Box
Food is ready for distribution on June 12th, and the season ends on October 23rd. Riverglen Farm is easily accessible from Ottawa’s Downtown and West-end neighbourhoods. Many people enjoy picking up their weekly box at the farm.
There are also pickup locations around town, hosted by CSA members. A distribution system like this saves a good deal of driving time and resources. We are pleased to take your weekly box within cycling or walking distance of your home or workplace.
If you choose to pickup your weekly box at one of our pickup locations, please add $60 to your weekly box total, or $30 to your biweekly box total. That works out to $3 per week.
Pickup Locations: **Pickup hours may change slightly – stay tuned**
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Britannia – Richmond & Carling – Tuesday 3:30pm to 7:30pm
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Wellington – Island Park & Wellington – Tuesday 3:45pm to 7:15pm
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Centertown – James & Bay – Tuesday 4pm to 7pm
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Shirley’s Bay – Riverglen Farm – Thursday 3pm to 7pm (No delivery charge)
It does take some effort to add another weekly task to any busy schedule, but please try to pickup your veggies every week. If you can’t make it one week simply offer your veggies to a friend or colleague, or we’ll just take them back to the farm and do something else with them.
Flex Box
Our Flex Box is another great way for you to enjoy fresh garden produce while supporting local, organic agriculture in your community. Our most flexible program, the flex box allows you to prepay a tab(minimum $250) at the farm which can be used anytime the store is open and for whatever item is available for sale that day.
A clipboard will be on hand for you to easily keep track of your remaining balance when you shop. Simply give the contact name to our store attendant and we’ll make note of your purchase.
A couple, or any group of individuals, can split a Flex Box. This can help make household food planning easier. No need to worry about carrying enough cash or trying to calculate who’s turn it is to pay for the carrots, etc. The program also helps us purchase infrastructure, machinery, tools, utilities and seed in anticipation for the growing season.
Flex box members earn 5% in exchange for paying in advance for produce. Members are also eligible for any special pricing that may be offered to members of other CSA programs. This program allows CSA members that vacation out of town over long periods of the summer to participate in CSA. Your financial contribution, minimum $250, can be any amount you wish. It also makes it easier for members who have dietary restrictions or who simply hope to fill the gaps of their own vegetable garden. In short, we greatly appreciate your continuing support and we want to make it easier for you to stick with the group.
Supporting local, organic and biodynamic agriculture
Ordering our weekly box of vegetables has several advantages. It cuts down on shopping time, assures a variety of tasty vegetables in your diet, stimulates your imagination and puts you in contact with others who share similar interests. It can be the perfect way to introduce organic, local whole-foods to your family’s diet. All the while, you are providing a significant and very direct level of support to a farmer in your area. Prepaid vegetables in the form of a CSA allow farmers to dedicate their energy to the farm 12 months a year, rather than working off-farm winter jobs and buying high-interest credit. Planning, record keeping, soil preparation, animal care, property maintenance, human relations, marketing, continuing education, as well as the health and well-being of the farmers become significantly increased.
