Welcome to Grassroots Farm’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) information page! Here you can read about how, where and why to sign up for our 2012 vegetable or Boomerang Bakery bread share program.  Feel free to send us an email at farmer@grassrootsfarmllc.com with any additional questions.

Grassroots Farm’s CSA Share sign up for 2012 is now in progress! Select your preferred pick-up area to get started!

What is a CSA?

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, the idea that a family or household becomes a “member” of the farm for that growing season. A share of the farm is purchased at the start of the season to help the farmer buy supplies like seed, greenhouse heat, irrigation equipment and pre-season labor. Once the harvesting begins, the share member/family is then paid back weekly with a box of fresh, seasonal, and local produce of our choosing, harvested rarely much more than the day before you pick-up. Weekly email newsletters containing recipes, farm news and photos will help our members stay connected. This model allows the farmer both flexibility and much needed pre-season support.

How much does it cost?

Grassroots Farm will be offering a variety of locations and sizes of shares, to find the price for what’s available at your nearest pick-up site, scroll down this page to view the link to a chart for your area. Keep in mind a share can also be split between members, but you’ll have to do your own divvying. We can accept one, two, or even three installments by making special arrangements with us.  Also, new this year for all locations EXCEPT Andersonville, try our local artisan Boomerang Bakery bread share for just $6/week.

Have health insurance or a FoodShare account in Wisconsin? Contact us for information about possible cost-sharing or using alternative resources for paying for your vegetable share. Live in Madison or near Monroe? See our Opportunities page to find out more about becoming a worker-share, where a member trades weekly on farm harvest help for an extra large share of produce.

How do I get it?

Members will pick up their produce sharebox each week at the location choice that fits best:

• Chicago-Andersonville Neighborhood (Berwyn Ave. at Clark St.)
• Chicago- downtown loop (to be determined)
• Northwest Suburbs of Chicago (to be determined)
• Madison, Wisconsin- Near East side (to be determined)
• Grassroots Farm-  Monroe, Wisconsin (N4596 Dutch Hollow rd.)

Each week your produce will be delivered on the day/time assigned to your pick up site (scroll to information chart links below).

Because we are a small, high quality producer, we must limit our membership for the 2012 season to a total of 65 members, including our worker-share members.

How much produce is it?

Each share box will be as full as possible, as our CSA members are our first priority. Anywhere from 7-10 crops will be selectively picked, washed, and packed into your sharebox each week.

Summer CSA Share

A typical Summer season share would provide enough produce for a vegetarian couple, with minimal supplementing. An omnivorous family of 4 would also be well stocked with vegetables for the week, with occasional supplementing. Although several varieties of staple crops like spinach, cucumbers, and tomatoes may be in your box two or more weeks in a row, the share will be noticeably different from week to week. If you are a household of  one, or two light vegetable consumers, consider splitting the share with a neighbor, co-worker, or friend. We respect vegan members’ preferences and handle all produce accordingly.

Spring CSA Share

Spring shares, where offered, will be similar in volume as what the Summer share is described as above. Spring shares will be a wonderful way to welcome in the fresh vegetable season with plenty of tender, sweet, and sometimes spicy salad crops as well as the much anticipated overwintered and perennial field crops.

Fall CSA Share

Grassroots Farm Fall shares will be the largest volume of produce per week, with many crops having a long storage life (we will provide storage tips along the way in our weekly newsletters).

Our CSA options links, listed below by pick-up site, reflect specific information related to share volume; pick-up location, day, and time; duration of share season and dates; price per week; and total price.

What happens if I miss a pick-up day or know I will be unable to make the pick-up?

If you know you will be unable to pick up your CSA share for the week, contact us to let us know a preferred 48 hrs or more before your regularly scheduled pick up day/time. We suggest gifting the share to a neighbor or friend, who can pick up in your place, or we can make other arrangements with enough notice. If you are often traveling through any of our CSA share seasons but still want a fresh box of local produce for the weeks you are home, consider splitting the share with a friend or neighbor and planning your pick-ups accordingly.

If you completely miss a pick-up window, please notify us ASAP so we can contact our site host and track down your produce. Because our fresh veggies eagerly await your arrival (often temporarily out of refrigeration) we cannot guarantee the condition of your produce after the designated weekly pick-up window. We also recommend getting to your box as close to the beginning of  your site’s time window as possible, especially in extreme hot weather, where we do our best to cover and insulate waiting shareboxes. Site hosts will be instructed to eat or donate produce/bread when left without contacting us 12 hours after end of pick up window. Consider setting a computer or cell phone alarm to help you remember your weekly box pick-up routine.
Unfortunately, for our Summer Andersonville Farmer’s Market CSA customers, we cannot leave produce shares behind after the close of the market. Please try to make other arrangements with us or a friend/neighbor etc.  (to pick up for you) if you think you can’t make the time window.

Why wouldn’t I just shop the Farmers’ Market?

Do Both! Grassroots Farm shareboxes will have first of the season and exclusive to CSA produce, and the occasional fresh farm product from our producer friends, providing a unique selection of fresh food. It’s a great way to try new veggies! Expect the same superior quality you find at our market stand inside your sharebox. CSA membership is an important and crucial way to support healthy farms, healthy eating habits, and to support area small business.

What else comes with my Vegetable CSA membership?

In addition to your choice of weekly vegetable share options,  you are welcome to visit the farm and…call it your own. “Our farm is your farm”. Without the continued support our customers, it would be impossible to have this amazing place to share. See our Opportunites page for more info about coming to the farm. Also, every year since 2010, we have held the annual Grassroots Farm late Summer harvest party. Don’t be fooled by the name, no work required! Just show up in your farm-lounging/softball bat wielding clothes, bring your camping equipment, prepare to eat and drink a VERY local farm-fresh dinner, and enjoy a bonfire on us.

As a member of our CSA you will always receive first “dibs” on our small-batch organically fed whole chickens, turkeys, pork cuts/halves, and pasture-raised beef, hand raised right here at our farm. Click Here to see more about the way we raise our high quality meats.

Sign up with our CSA and be sure to let us know if you need a larger quantity of any of our farm products throughout the season. Receive wholesale price on our high quality veggies, meats, eggs, or cut flowers for your special event or bulk canning/preserving needs. Contact us by email or phone (608)938-1550 with as much notice as possible (pre-season start is always best), or chat with us at the Andersonville Farmers’ Market to see what we can do for you.

New in 2012:

Share Sizes and CSA Cartons Change

New this year will be the volume of produce offered each week throughout the Summer share. We decided to switch our CSA carton from the recyclable, completely reusable white folding plastic box (3/4 bushel) to the standard waxed cardboard produce box(5/9 bushel). This created a very slight shift in veggie volume that we can fit in the boxes each week. The switch will be made due to several years of plastic carton attrition. We will again be asking for these folding waxed boxes to be returned in as good condition as possible, so we can try to prolong the life of these sadly un-recyclable but economic cartons. However, the new boxes will not be as sturdy, and do understand they only have so many uses.  Similar to last year, Andersonville Summer share customers will still be asked to bring bags to load their veggies into or they will be gladly provided. We are still happily accepting our plastic CSA boxes from years past! Your understanding is greatly appreciated.

The perfect 5/9 bushel box of 2012 Summer share produce will still feed two vegetarian people or a family of four ominvores for much of the week, with minimal additional veggie purchases needed. Returning customers will see 1-2 less items per week in comparison to the 2011.  Take a look at our charts below to study what is offered at the pick-up site closest to you.  Our Fall share volume will stay at 3/4 bushel, thanks to the relatively reliable bounty of our favorite season.

A Fall Vegetable Share Option

Coming in 2012 will be a 5 or 6 week season extended Fall fresh veggie share from Grassroots Farm, depending on your pick-up location. Crops will include both salad and cooking greens, as well as fresh harvested and storage roots, tubers, cabbages, winter squash, and when the time comes,  a few necessities for a traditional Thanksgiving meal. See our CSA option links at the very bottom of this page for more information on what’s offered at your pick-up site.

A Boomerang Bakery Weekly Share Option

Late last year, we sat down with Joanne, the owner/baker of Boomerang Bakery, located in downtown Monroe, Wisconsin, just 7 miles south of our farm. After discussing with her the quality, passion, and mission behind Boomerang Bakery, we decided to offer this high-quality locally made artisan bread alongside our fresh vegetable CSA share. Unfortunately, we will not be offering the bread share option to our Andersonville customers, to respect our neighboring bread baking market vendors. A peek at some of 2012′s Boomerang Bread Share offerings:

2012′s Boomerang Bakery bread share will consist of one baker’s choice artisan loaf per week for only $6.00/week. Pre-purchased loaves will be available for pick-up alongside your Grassroots Farm fresh vegetable share.

Why choose a Fresh Bread Share with Boomerang Bakery?

A word from Joanne about Boomerang Bakery:

Using the freshest, highest quality products in a recipe results in food that looks great…and tastes even better!  We take the time to  start with only the best and healthiest ingredients to produce superior foods, without chemicals and preservatives. Whenever possible we use local sources for specialty ingredients such as cheese, herbs, eggs, dairy. Try this community supported bakery once and you will find yourself returning to the Boomerang over and over again for fresh baked goods daily in the European and Australian fare: breads, rolls, muffins, pastries, scones, pies, cakes, and cookies baked daily with care!

Boomerang Bakery is more than just a community bakery. We have a mission. The Boomerang offers quality baked goods at affordable prices. What products we are unable to recycle into other baked goods, we donate to local organizations such as Orion Girls Home, Crave Youth Program (Crossroads Community Church), United Way, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Green County EMS, and Monroe Police Department. All monetary tips are donated to Jeremiah’s Hope, an organization founded by my son, Andrew Kelly, to serve the orphans of Ukraine.

New Pick-Up Locations

In 2012 Grassroots Farm will be adding two new locations to pick up our fresh vegetable and bread CSA shares. A downtown Chicago “loop”  and Northwest Suburbs location will be both be established. We are still looking for a good site host for both of these locations, so please send ideas our way. All pick up site hosts receive $200 dollars off a whole season vegetable share and a free season-long bread share for their ideal location/site and minimal responsibilities. See above for more information on CSA share pick-up

Teaming Up With Other Local Earth-Respecting Farmers

We are excited to announce the opportunity to serve more customers with our Summer and Fall fresh vegetable shares by buying in certain space-hogging crops from Certified Naturally Grown farmer/owner Andrea Hazzard of Hazzard Free Farms. We will be picking up freshly harvested, extremely high quality produce from this woman-owned vegetable and small grain farm in Pecatonica, Illinois. More than 80% of the veggies we plan to distribute through our CSA will still be grown right here at Grassroots Farm. Spring produce shares will be almost entirely sourced from our farm.

Anticipated CSA crops to be acquired from Hazzard Free Farms include sweet corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, broccoli, beans, as well as a few additional nutritious and delicious veggies. Hazzard Free Farms is less than an hour from us, right on the road towards Chicago.

We will also be looking more actively for fresh, local, toxin-free strawberries and apples, and other seasonal treats (like the occasional block of Wisconsin Cheese or quart of mushrooms) as the season progresses.

Still on the fence?

Click here to view our 2011 weekly newsletters to share members, where you can get an excellent look at any week’s box contents (extras and surprises often added), the happenings on the farm, and answers to questions asked directly by customers.

More Information

For questions or information on our CSA not covered on this website or on the Agreement, please send us an e-mail: farmer@grassrootsfarmllc.com

We will reply promptly.

Grassroots Farm – CSA Options (2012)

Chicago – Andersonville CSA Options .PDF

Chicago – Downtown Loop CSA Options .PDF

Chicagoland – Northwest Suburbs CSA Options .PDF

Madison – Near East Side CSA Option .PDF

Monroe, Wisconsin – Farmside CSA Options .PDF