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Spring has (almost) sprung — ‘tis the season for a refresher course on Community Supported Agriculture!
By nicole barley
I consider a CSA box to be a pretty magical thing. We’re talking about a handpicked assortment of locally grown fruit and vegetables, arriving at the peak of their freshness. It’s pretty much my foodie fantasy, a mini farmers’ market stand just for me, stocked with superb — and sometimes, never-before-eaten — foods. A subscription to one of the many Community Supported Agriculture programs available in Western Pennsylvania ensures a spring and summer full of local food. Depending on the CSA, that aforementioned bin — crammed with lots of locavore goodness — might be delivered right to your doorstop. Some CSAs are organized with pick-up locations throughout the community, while others take place right at the farm, where participants choose a set number of items, finding that just-right size of apple and bartering for the produce they’d most like to have that week. Of course, price, duration, and the amount of food included varies greatly from program to program. This month we’re encouraging you to renew that subscription, or, if you’ve never had the pleasure of opening an earthy, adventure-filled CSA delivery box, now’s your chance! Here, we highlight one of the region’s CSAs along with a bounty of resources for finding the one for you.
Penn’s Corner Farm Alliance is an association of 30 farms.
Now in its third year of subscriptions, the organization pulls its CSA products from more than half of those farms. This year, PCFA is featuring three subscription options, an eight-week Cabin Fever share, a 24-week Harvest share, starting in June, and the 32-week Farmer’s Friend Share, beginning in April, which CSA Manager Neil Stauffer cites as their most popular. For CSA first-timers, “the spring, eight-week share is a great way to start, and you can always add on the rest of the season. Obviously, there are only certain things available in Pennsylvania come April, so you have to be a little bit more adventurous because it’s not going to be the tomatoes and sweet corn and melons. It’s going to be salad greens, cooking greens, and radishes. But we do add in some of the extra stuff in the spring, such as cheese [from Hidden Hills Dairy and Riverview Farm], eggs, and honey.”
Pick-up Locations: 28. “The number is always changing as we’re looking for new locations all the time. Hopefully by this summer it will be higher than that.” The locations range from Cranberry to Indiana County, “and everywhere in between,” says Stauffer.
What’s Growing: “We’ve not only grown with the Opp osite page: Photos courtesy Penn’s Corner Farm Alliance, Dillner Family Farms, Cherry Valley Organics. number of CSA members, but we’ve also grown with the number of farmers that contribute to our CSA. It’s part of the reason that we can expand our season to be a little longer than when we first started [from 30 to 32 weeks]
— because we have more farms and more diversity of product to pull from. I feel like the quality of what goes into our CSA boxes is improving every year, and more and more people are getting to experience that.”
The Best Part: “There’s the obvious difference of knowing where your food comes from, there’s the obvious difference of eating fresh, healthy food, but one of the things I think actually excites people and gets them to come back is they realize that they started cooking differently than they used to. People like the adventure and the challenge of taking a preset number of items and saying, ‘What am I going to make with this?’ Of course, we give recipes to try and help.”
When: Sign up now to ensure your subscription.
“The sooner the better,” says Stauffer.
How: Call or register online.
Price: $210-$770.
Penn’s Corner Farm Alliance,
412-586-7577. pennscorner.com.
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CSA Directory
Learn more about CSA programs in Western Pennsylvania with our sampling of 25+ farms around the region.
Blackberry Meadows
Natrona Heights
724.226.3939
blackberrymeadows.com
Brenckle’s Farm and Greenhouse
Zelienople
724.774.2239
brencklesfarm.com
Cherry Valley Organics
Burgettstown
724.777.0790
cherryvalleyorganics.com
Crighton Farm
Prospect
724.822.7644
Christoff Farm & Greenhouses
Bridgeville
412.221.9275 or
412.477.7511
Churchview Farm
South Hills
churchviewfarmpgh.com
Dillner Family Farm
Gibsonia
724.444.6594
dillnerfamilyfarm.com
Food From the Earth
Emlenton
814.797.1808
Golden Harvest Farm
Leechburg
724.337.3023
Harvest Valley Farms
Valencia
724.443.5869
harvestvalleyfarms.com
Harvest View Farm & Market
Butler
724.282.8038
Kretschmann Farm
Rochester
724.452.7189
kretschmannfarm.com
Lockwood Farm
Darlington
724.336.0065
lockwoodfarm.com
Meadow Rock Farm
Butler
724.360.3276
meadowrockfarmandgardens.com
Nature’s Bounty Organic Herbs and Vegetables
Volant
724.946.8393
Northwest PA Growers Co-op
Harrisville
724.794.8804
nwpagrowers.com
Nu-Way Farm
Fredonia, Mercer County
724.558.3376
One Woman Farm
Gibsonia
412.913.7709
Penn’s Corner Farm
Alliance
Shelocta
412.363.1971
pennscorner.com
Reeger’s Farm
Shelocta
724.463.0440
reegersfarm.com
Robinson Family Farm
Stahlstown
724.244.6718
robinsonfamilyfarm.com
Sarver’s Hill Organic Farm
Greensburg
724.834.2334
Shared Acres
Clinton
866.512.1452
sharedacres.com
Three Sisters Farm & Nursery
Sandy Lake
724.376.2797
bioshelter.com
Turner Dairy Farms
Penn Hills
412.372.2211
turnerdairy.net
Wil-Den Family Farms
Mercer County
814.786.7438
wildenfamilyfarms.com
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