CSA/ Farm sharing anyone??

[Calista]

Smoke that salmon! That's the food of the gods! If your luck catching sucks, we've bought salmon directly from the Indians down at the Puyallup river. Can't get fresher bought that just hauled in.

Yes kale seems to be a heavy feature around this area. Which actually isn't good because you shouldn't eat it every day. Can cause thyroid issues and if I remember correctly that is because it prevents proper absorption of iodine. Cooking however does help with that. So like anything, some is good and too much is too much.

Ha, great minds think alike! We, too, have an Indian connection on the Nisqually River for our fresh-caught salmon, 20 to 30 pounds at a time for only $4 a pound. I could eat salmon every day.

And thank you so much for pointing out the thyroid connection with kale, as I am hypothyroid and my spidey sense must have realized that nasty stuff wouldn't be good for me.

 

[Beekissed]

In light of all the problems with establishing a CSA, maybe it's time to return to the old fashioned vegetable truck? Around these parts you can see people hawking veggies from the back of trucks all spring and summer, usually what's in season such as ramps, peaches, apples, sweet corn, etc. but I don't see why one couldn't have a variety truck, parked in a participating parking lot~bank, supermarket, fast food restaurant, senior center~ in which you offered whatever was in season, along with your eggs and honey.

I'm betting you could do quite a brisk business if you were faithful to be there on certain days and times. Don't know what kind of vendors license you'd have to have, if any, but it would get you a name in the area before you branched out further into a CSA type business.

If you live close to a town, you may even get to where you have your own greenhouse there and can sell right off your land, so the customers come to you.

 

[Hinotori]

There are sellers on the corner at intersections here fairly regularly. There are many spots that have a large public right of way big enough to fit several cars. Some talk to small businesses and set up in their parking lot by the road.

Usually people who only have one or two big harvests of something. Cherries are a big example. Also tree saplings.

 

[wyoDreamer]

When we were in Wyoming, we "belonged" to a service called Bountiful Baskets. Not really a CSA - You would go on-line and sign up for a basket (one family bought 4 baskets) and pay a set price per basket. They delivered every 2 weeks. If you were going on vacation and didn't need any fresh produce, you simply didn't order a basket for that week. Same thing if you had a conflict and couldn't pick up your basket on the distribution day. The company would use that money and use it to buy high quality "Local" produce in bulk.

A semi-truck would pull up to the distribution point and unload boxes and boxes of stuff to fill the orders - ours was the local auxillary fire station, they would move the trucks out front and set out rows of white laundry baskets. Volunteers (people who ordered baskets and were willing to help) would evenly split the produce into the baskets. Like 6 bananas per order, 2 heads of romaine, 8 tomatoes, a water melon, 2 bunches of spinach. Any extras were split by the volunteers.

You never knew what you were going to get until the truck showed up and we opened the boxes. DH and I split a box with the neighbors - it worked out well that way. We typically split everything down the middle, but things that they wouldn't use we got and vice-versa. I ended up with almost 6 pounds of plums once - so I made homemade canned plum sauce and gave them some of that. She felt it was a great exchange!

 

[tortoise]

DH built a cold room last year. Now we have space to keep produce refrigerated. CSA feels like too much commitment, but I think we could sell assorted produce boxes quickly through FB Marketplace or Craigslist. Trouble is finding time, energy, and good health to keep a garden going.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I think we could sell assorted produce boxes quickly through FB Marketplace or Craigslist. Trouble is finding time, energy, and good health to keep a garden going

That would be awesome! I'm sure hoping for a good garden this year. Do you mind me asking how big is your cold room? I'd love to have one. Somewhere I saw online directions for building one using a regular room air conditioner. I need to look that up again!

 

[tortoise]

That would be awesome! I'm sure hoping for a good garden this year. Do you mind me asking how big is your cold room? I'd love to have one. Somewhere I saw online directions for building one using a regular room air conditioner. I need to look that up again!

Its like 10×12 feet approximately? Maybe a bit larger. We used a mini-split so it can be used to raise the temperature when its below freezing here. An AC unit should work in your climate. The device to make the AC run colder is called CoolBot.

 

[tortoise]

I'm also toying around with the idea of a tulip bulb business. A cool room is necessary for storing and forcing bulbs. Tulips seem to have more potential ways to sell, and the physical work isnt during the months that are worst for me. Plus, theyre hardy in my zone so if worst case scenario and I cant dig the bulbs they will be alive and grow the next spring. Sell bulbs, divisions, bulbs, pre-chilled bulbs for forcing, or potted forced bulbs.

 

[wyoDreamer]

We have a "farmer" down the road that does CSA - he rents his fields out to the Mong for them to garden. They grow it, he buys it from them and then sells it in the CSA boxes. He said the hardest part is finding someone with enough of something to put in the boxes. Right now, he sells mainly to people in the city areas, most of his boxes end up in his neighborhood where he lives, which is about 20 miles away from his farmstead. I am not sure if he has relatives in the farmhouse or if he is renting that out.