Can’t Wait for Our CSA Share

Can we just put a CSA share on our wedding registry? Is that not normal?

Either way, I am beyond excited to purchase our first CSA share for this summer.

For those of you that don’t know, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is:

…a food subscription service that allows you to purchase locally and seasonally as part of a farm share. It is a great way to support local farmers. –FamilyFarmed.org

Basically each week (or every other week depending on your share), you pick up your CSA box (or you can have it delivered) that is filled with in-season produce from a local farm.

Whatever you get in your box depends on what is ripe and ready on the farm.

We already know that I am a nerd for maps, but I am also a nerd for Excel spreadsheets. So much so that I set up a spreadsheet to help decide which CSA we should pick for this summer.

The factors that are going to go into our decision include:

• Price
• Time frame (how many weeks?)
• Add-ons (can we add fruit or eggs?)
• Pick up location (can we walk there?)

While there are many CSA options throughout the city, we are limiting our scope to ones that we can pick up from the nearby Green City Market.

A CSA may seem expensive up front, but when you spread it out over the course of 22 weeks, it is really not that bad. Plus, you know exactly where your food is coming from and create a connection with that farmer.

CSA Resources:

• http://www.familyfarmed.org/find-a-chicago-area-csa/
• http://www.findmycsafarm.com/chicago
• http://chicago.cbslocal.com/top-lists/best-farm-shares-in-the-chicago-area/