Spending Money to Save Money (and Health): My CSA

It's springtime, which means that along with opening my windows and pumping up my bike tires, I have once again written a $320 dollar check for--well, I'm not exactly sure.

I know in general terms. It's my CSA, which is short for "community supported agriculture." It's a program that lets consumers buy a subscription to a local farm for a growing season. The farm uses those up-front payments for its seasonal startup costs, and then as crops are harvested, all the CSA members get a regular portion of the harvest. The idea is that by running the program on a subscription model, the members are not only supporting local, sustainable farming, but they share some of the risk and benefit of farming--if there are droughts or floods or infestations, the members get less produce, and if growing conditions are ideal, they get much more. But this means I don't know exactly what I'll get for my $320. Will the peppers fail this year? Will slugs destroy the tomatoes? Will I be eating butternut squash into the winter (I hope so)? Will they plant those delicious raspberries again? WIll I ever figure out what to do with burdock? It's an exciting world of possibilities.

This is my fourth year as a CSA member, and my third as a member with this farm. There are a number of reasons I love my CSA. Some of them are hippy-dippy and not at all financial. I like that I am supporting a local business, I like that I get vegetables and fruit that three years ago I couldn't have identified on the grocery shelf, I like that it helps me eat "in season" because the CSA harvest changes weekly as growing conditions change.

But there are financial reasons, as well. Shiner and I split our share with another couple because in the peak season, there is simply too much produce for either of our families to eat before the next shipment arrives. So for $320 we get fresh, organic, local produce for twenty weeks. I may occasionally buy additional produce at the farmer's market if I'm doing something special like canning a large batch of tomato sauce, but otherwise this provides all our summertime produce for $16 per week. That's all the produce we would normally eat, plus more. Our veggie intake definitely increases during the CSA subscription because it seems like such a sin to let beautiful, delicious food we've already paid for go to waste. I might be able to go to the grocery store and buy the same amount of produce at the same price or slightly cheaper, but not the picked-yesterday fresh, organically grown, locally produced, super-flavorful heirloom varieties I get through the CSA. Very frequently, I'd spend closer to $20 or $25 per week on produce during peak season. And with food expenses going up as quickly as they have been lately, the CSA is not just delicious, it's a twenty-week hedge against inflation. Since Shiner and I don't eat much meat, this makes up a large portion of our grocery expenses.

It's very convenient for us to get the food. The boxes are delivered to various drop sites around the metro area. My friend bikes right past our drop site on her way home from work, and later that day I stop by their house to collect our share. A coworker is in a CSA that delivers his share to his home--that beats s trip to the grocery store for sure.

$320 is not a small cost to front, but at this point it's not an unexpected one for me. During the darkest part of winter, when I most miss the warm weather and my fresh produce, I start setting aside money for my share of the subscription. My farm also allows monthly autodebits for households on tighter budgets, and accepts food stamps. It might not be too late for you to find a CSA program near you. Local Harvest lets you search by zip code or state. Maybe a CSA makes sense for youe household, too.

This post was featured in the Carnival of Personal Finance #150, hosted by Lazy Man And Money.