Farm Goods All Winter

Winter CSAs promote small businesses and healthful eating

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

If you enjoy frequenting farm stands, consider purchasing a community supported agriculture (CSA) share for the winter season.

Typically, CSAs provide local buyers with a pre-determined amount of farm goods for a set price. Farmers receive cash flow and an established market for their goods. Customers receive regular portions of the freshest food around while supporting a local business.

The reasons for buying CSA shares are obvious to Stephanie Varley, market manager for Kirby’s Farm Market in Brockport.

“When you have fresh produce, it’s a big difference in quality,” she said.

The farm stores its apples in a climate-controlled environment all winter so “they go in fresh and come out as fresh,” she said. “They taste a lot better than what you get in the store.

In addition to picking up their share of apples each month, members can also purchase onions, potatoes, honey and frozen sour cherries at the market.

At time of publication, the farm is still deciding on the cost for winter CSA apples; however, last year, it ranged from $49.50 to $216.

At Fellenz Family Farm in Phelps, Erik Fellenz, owner, operates a winter CSA from mid-October through the end of December. His CSA provides storage crops like potatoes and onions, along with shallots, greens, kale, Swiss chard, bok choy, and arugula as part of its shares.

As to why people buy CSA shares, “I think the big driver is that finding good, fresh local food has become more difficult,” Fellenz said. “A lot of farms of my scale will primarily run from early June-maybe early October. Then for the most part, they’re just closed until spring.”

His winter CSA shares are about $18-45 weekly for 10 weeks. Members can pick up shares at sites in Rochester, Geneva, Canandaigua and at the farm in Phelps.

Fellenz likes to keep the CSA open-ended for the subscribers. He provides a free choice of the items available in a particular week and customers can choose a certain number of items based upon what they like.

“We try to set it up so people who don’t like kale or tomatoes or can’t use things, are not forced to take something they can’t use,” Fellenz said. “In addition to the CSA, we sell at one farmer’s market a week and occasionally have a farm stand on the farm. We can afford to be flexible like that. The CSA members have first choice and whatever’s left goes to the market.”

Most CSAs offer pick-up from the farm or from other locations each week. Farms that offer summer shares usually sell items as they come in season. Customers have a good idea of the types of fruits and vegetables they’ll enjoy, but most CSAs warn that customers will need to remain flexible if the harvest isn’t what the farm expects. For instance, that Swiss chard may replace the endive if the Swiss chard didn’t do well this year.

Some CSAs may supply goods from other farms along with their own. Some include meat, dairy, eggs, cheese, baked goods, jams and jellies and other value-added goods.

Winter CSAs tend to focus on “root crops” like potatoes, turnips, carrots and sweet potatoes. They may also offer storage crops like squash, pumpkins, onions and apples. Some use greenhouses to extend the growing season for a few weeks, offering greens into the fall.

Cornell lists CSAs at https://monroe.cce.cornell.edu/agriculture/local-food-guide/csa-farm-listing; however, not all of these offer winter CSAs.