January 2012 full share: garlic, onions, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, parsnips, leeks, daikon radish, spinach, cornmeal.
Share sizes & prices
Full share: Suitable for a family of four that uses some produce or a single/couple household that cooks regularly. $1,100 (not including sales tax) for a full year, payable upfront or in three installments (January, March, May).
Partial share: Intended for one-person households. $700 (not including sales tax) for a full year, payable upfront or in three installments (January, March, May). Limited quantity offered because the work of administration, packing, delivery, etc. is the same for a full share as a partial share, and so it is less efficient overall.
All shares can be reserved by a deposit in late fall of the preceding year. There are no refunds on payments made; this is standard for CSA programs. The 2012 CSA is currently full; please contact us if you wish to be placed on a waiting list for 2013.
Distributions
Members receive weekly shares on Monday or Thursday afternoons, as assigned in advance. Deliveries should be weekly from roughly May to October/November, with off-season shares when possible. Most members live in the central Columbia area and receive home deliveries. Members who will not be at home leave a cooler in a known location, with ice if necessary, to allow proper storage conditions for the share. Alternate share distribution options are also available, including workplace delivery.
Limited share customization
We use an online system that allows members make limited requests to customize their shares. A day or two before each share distribution, we send out a survey (using the open source software LimeSurvey) stating the expected share contents. Members have the option to opt out of given items, and when available, request extras (often seconds-quality). This is a compromise between full customization, which is not practical on our end, and complete inflexibility in share content. A CSA should encourage members to try unusual produce, but some folks simply don’t like certain products; if these won’t be used or appreciated in one household, we’d rather be able to free those items up for a household that really likes them. Similarly, we want to share the bounty when it is available, but we don’t want to overwhelm a member’s kitchen with lots of extra product unless they are prepared to use it. Those who request a lot will get the best overall deal, but this allows others to take lesser amounts when desired. It also gives us immediate feedback regarding what’s popular and what’s not.
Special benefits
In addition to produce deliveries, members have access to seasonal on-farm events such as bird & nature walks, tasting events, kids’ activities, newsletter with cooking/preservation advice & ideas, etc.
Animal products
Limited quantities of fresh eggs and raw goat milk may be offered for sale to members, depending on production and circumstances. These are not part of the CSA, but are available primarily to CSA members. Our raw milk is sold on the strict understanding that it will not be consumed raw, but used as an ingredient in cheese/yogurt-making, baking, or in some other way heated to the pasteurization point before consumption (sufficiently aged raw milk cheese is also acceptable). This rule is for reasons of liability given the food safety concerns surrounding raw milk consumption; this is not worth the risk to our farm. We sell the milk raw because under Missouri law it is the only way to sell any form of dairy product from our farm without expensive infrastructure and licensing requirements which are impractical for a small, diversified farm.
Share splitting
We request that shares not be split among more than one household for several reasons. Customization of shares (described above) would be neither fair nor effective with multiple households drawing on one share. Membership also includes benefits such as on-farm events, and we cannot provide these benefits to multiple households for a single share price. Finally, we feel strongly that a core strength of CSA is the members’ personal connection to the farm and their understanding of the farm’s methods, and this is diluted by share-splitting. In effect, we ask that a share be used within members’ households.
Work shares
We do not require or offer work-shares (working for a partial discount). While this is ideally a way to involve members more directly in the farm, we don’t feel the extra management requirements are worth it. Members will have access to the farm through many organized events, and may still be given the opportunity to help out on special occasions.