Stone Soup Farm CSA

This year we signed up with Stone Soup Farm to receive a produce and egg share. We’re interested in exploring and supporting the CSA model downtown, and it’s great to have another source for produce in the neighborhood. We pick up our share every week in the lobby of the Nonprofit Center near South Station. The produce has been excellent, and the pick-up process fun and well organized.

Here’s how the Stone Soup Farm describes the CSA concept on their web site:

CSA is a method of purchasing your produce on a pre-pay basis.  You sign up at the beginning of the growing season, and receive a weekly load of veggies for your family.  The quantity and variety varies throughout the season, giving you a full spectrum of seasonal produce that is grown at the farm.

In a way, buying a share is like buying stock in the farm.  You pay for a percentage of the farm’s output, and each week we distribute evenly to all CSA shareholders that which is available.  Like when buying stocks, you share in the ups and downs of the organization.  If Stone Soup has a very poor potato harvest, then you will not receive many potatoes.  On the other hand, if there is a bumper crop of  potatoes, then you will receive a heavy load of them.  Our planning is aimed at providing a balanced and steady supply of all the vegetables, but the reality of farming is that it is sometimes inconsistent, and CSA members will share in the ups and downs of the farm.