A share from Sound Pine Farm supports your family’s health, that of the environment, and of the local community. At Sound Pine, we don’t just farm, we strive to steward the land that supports us. For us, this means improving levels of soil nutrients and microbiota, increasing habitat for beneficial organisms, keeping synthetic chemicals out of our crops and soils, and maintaining functioning ecosystem services, all while growing abundant and nutritious fruits and vegetables.
What is a CSA?
CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, is essentially a partnership between us (the farmers) and you! This partnership provides you with all the delicious and nutritious food we can grow for you between June and October, at a much lower price than retail markets. In return, you promise us your commitment to our vegetables by paying for part or all of your share before the season starts. This allows us to have capital at a time when it can otherwise be challenging for farmers to buy seeds and potting soil, and essentially “contracts” us to grow for you!
Our CSA specifically aims to give you what you want. We’d like to limit you as little as possible with regards to choice and quantity. Our free-choice model means that you can take whatever amount of produce you feel your household needs in a given week. We may put certain limits on specific crops in order to make sure they are available for everyone that week, but overall you choose how much you want to take. We also ask that you take a large variety of crops, rather than a lot of just a few things, in order to allow us to offer a large variety to all of our members. We grow based on the model that everyone will take almost everything!
This model relies on trust! While you are welcome to take extra for a dinner party, we hope that you generally take just what your family needs for the week. Your honesty is what allows us to offer a free-choice share with enough bounty and diversity for all of our members, at a very reasonable price.
What does “free-choice” mean?
Here at Sound Pine Farm, we deeply value the commitment you are taking when you become a member of our CSA. In return, we want to give you as much flexibility, convenience, and produce as we can! Instead of boxed shares or strict limits, we have a market-style stand where you can choose exactly which veggies you want for the week. Hate lettuce? Don’t take any! Love lettuce? Take three heads! It’s essentially like going to a farmers’ market stand and choosing whatever you want. There will be some restrictions on a few crops as they are getting started- for example, we might limit the number of tomatoes when they are first available, but once the plants take off, you’ll be able to take as many as you want! Our Free-Choice system is designed so that you should not need to supplement your CSA share with any vegetables from the store.
This model relies on trust! The price of your share is based on the number of adults living in your household. While you are welcome to take extra produce for a dinner party, we hope that you generally take just what your family needs for the week. Your honesty is what allows us to offer a free-choice share with enough bounty and diversity for all of our members, at a very reasonable price.
How much does it cost?
We strive to make our CSA affordable, while providing your household with an abundance of produce, and allowing us to make a living wage. We feel that when you buy a Sound Pine Farm CSA share, you should not have to buy any vegetables to supplement your share. Our pricing model reflects our free-choice system- the larger your household, the more produce we want you to take!
Our pricing works as follows. We define a “household” as a group of people living together at the same address, such as a family or group of roommates who regularly eat meals together. The 1-adult share is intended for single-adult households. Because our free-choice model allows members to take all the produce they need for their household, we are not able to split any size share between two separate households. This enables us to provide abundant produce to our members, while allowing us to make a living. Keep in mind that an “adult” is any household member over the age of 14. Children under 14 are included free.
1 adult household – $475 = $23/week
2 adult household – $590 = $29/week (14.75/adult)
3 adult household – $705 = $35/week (11.75/adult)
4 adult household – $820 = $41/week (10.25/adult)
Payments can be made either: in full upon signing up for a share, or in three installments, with the first third due at signing, the second due June 1st, and the third due September 1st.
At Sound Pine Farm, we aim to make our CSA accessible to everyone, and are developing a Financial Aid Fund. If paying for a share is a challenge for your family, please fill out our Financial Aid Application Form. If you would like to donate, please click here.
Where and when do I pick up my share?
Our CSA runs from mid-June through October. As the season approaches, we will announce our exact start date in our newsletter.
To make it convenient for our busy customers, we have two share pick-up options. Both are market-style, free-choice pickups:
Mondays, 3-6pm at Sound Pine Farm (53 Pennellville Rd).
Thursdays, 4-7pm at Moderation Brewing Company (103 Maine St).
What is in the share?
Choosing a CSA share is all about embracing a variety of seasonal produce and trying new things! The vegetables available in the share will vary each week, due to seasonality and changing growing conditions, but here’s what you can expect to see over the course of the season:
tomatoes • peppers • carrots • lettuce • green beans • zucchini • eggplant • winter squash • hot peppers • arugula • radishes • scallions • cabbage • rutabaga • collards • onions • melons • snow peas • radicchio • leeks • basil • chard • celeriac • fennel • kohlrabi • brussels sprouts • napa cabbage • greens • beets • cucumbers • spinach • cilantro • turnips • potatoes • broccoli • bok choi • kale • cherry tomatoes • dill • broccoli raab • turnips
tomatoes • peppers • carrots • lettuce • green beans • zucchini • eggplant • winter squash • hot peppers • arugula • radishes • scallions • cabbage • rutabaga • collards • onions • melons • snow peas • radicchio • leeks • basil • chard • celeriac • fennel • kohlrabi • brussels sprouts • napa cabbage • greens • beets • cucumbers • spinach • cilantro • turnips • potatoes • broccoli • bok choi • kale • cherry tomatoes • dill • broccoli raab • turnips
