I first started to investigate Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in my search to source more locally produced foods last summer. My goal was to buy directly from farmers as much as possible. Outside of farmers markets, CSA is one of the only other avenues I found to accomplish this objective (which led me to think about how I go about acquiring to gardening skills...). CSA in the Seattle area has many formations as I came to observe with the overarching concept of directly supporting the farmer. CSA programs engage individuals directly into the risks and rewards of farming. Members are essentially up-front investors who receive proportionate shares of the harvest. For some CSAs, there is a labor requirement (i.e. 10 hours of farm work per month). There are also subscription CSAs popping up, which some might argue are antithetical to the spirit of the CSA. Members can start and stop any time and pay along the way (i.e. weekly). Both structures, however, support local, small-scale farming operations which typically use chemical-free methods. The King County's Puget Sound Fresh directory has thirteen CSA programs listed in King County alone.
My household signed up with Full Circle Farm, a subscription CSA program, and has reaped the delectable benefits. While the fall months have proven to be particularly challenging in using up all the produce with a hectic schedule, the experience is thoroughly satisfying. The produce is delicious and gorgeous (you will not find any torpedo carrots or waxed apples), and you can go visit the place that provided your daily nourishment. Here are a few photos from my visit to Full Circle last summer as a volunteer with Cascade Harvest Coalition. It was gratifying to break a sweat working on farm projects with others and to get dirty moving food to table.
Working within the confines of the capitalist agricultural system, CSA is an innovative effort to re-localize food production, connect alienated eaters with the land, revalue farms and farm workers, and create a more humane and sustainable food system—connections that have been lost in the rapid and violent transformation to industrial agriculture in the United States.
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