– CSA Member Information

Do you know where your fruits and veggies come from? 

How about right down the road!

Avoid disappointment – Sign up NOW! (In the event we are sold out, you will be placed on the waiting list and you will be notified of future availability.)

CSA signups are managed through Farmigo, an online farm enrollment system. You will be asked to create your own secure account to manage your membership.

Got more questions? Contact us!

  ANNOUNCING….BOX SHARES FOR PICKUP IN WEST HARTFORD AND GLASTONBURY! (Click here for more info…)

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Membership Details:

The Holcomb Farm CSA is one of the oldest and most established CSAs in Connecticut.

The CSA concept is simple: crop “shareholders” join the farm and the fee, paid up front, helps to cover the cost of running the farm for the whole season. In return, members receive a share of the fresh produce every week. Yummm!

The Holcomb Farm CSA includes two seasons: Summer and Winter shares. Each season is purchased separately.

CSA shareholders receive a large seasonal variety of produce each week. We grow approximately 3 dozen crops and about 200 crop varieties, including vegetables, berries, flowers, and herbs during the twenty week growing season from June through October.  We generally have 6-10 items each week. What shareholders receive in any given week depends upon the season and the weather.   Produce will be fresh – usually picked the morning of distribution – and grown without chemicals.

Share Price and Size

2013 Summer Share – $550 per share ($27.50/week) – provides one bag of produce (roughly equivalent to a paper grocery bag) each week, plus the Pick-Your Own crops, for 20 weeks. One share is adequate for most households. If your household is large, you may want two shares.

2012/13 Winter Share – $325 for the winter season. A few shares for the remaining distributions are still available (price will be prorated.) Click here to enroll for the remainder of the winter season.

Season

Summer – 20 weeks from early June through October. The exact start date depends on the development of the spring crops and will be announced in May.

Winter – Monthly pickup from November into February.

Pick-up Days

We offer on-farm pick up at our barn in West Granby, CT (or remote location pickup in West Hartford and Glastonbury – click here for details). Pick up times in Granby are Tuesday 2pm – 6pm, Thursday 3pm – 7pm, and Saturday 9am -1pm (Wednesdays only in West Hartford and Glastonbury.) You may come once a week anytime during those hours. You do NOT need to come at the same time each week. Many members enjoy pick-up day as a highlight of their week! Children are welcome and seem to especially enjoy the Pick-Your-Own experience. Please keep an eye on your children and remain in the designated areas, as we are a working farm with active farm equipment.

CSA pick up is at 111 Simsbury Rd, the big red barn at the north end of the property.  (The other Holcomb Farm buildings are located at 113 Simsbury Rd, where Day Street South intersects with Simsbury Road.)

How Distribution Works

  • Please park in the designated parking area by the road. There is very limited parking next to the barn for those who are unable to walk from the parking area to the barn.
  • Upon arriving at the barn, check off your name on the sign in sheet under the appropriate week.
  • The produce will be displayed market style in our distribution area. Members will be given reusable share bags at the beginning of the season, and can use plastic grocery bags if necessary. (Please consider not using separate plastic bags and simply placing all the produce in the share bag.)
  • Some items in short supply may be limited in quantity. Watch for signs next to each item. If an item is not limited, you may take as much or as little as you like, while limiting the overall amount to your share size (1 bag per share).
  • Pick-Your-Own Crops: Most weeks during the season, there will be something in the Pick-Your-Own area ready for harvesting. Watch for signage in the field indicating what is available, where it is, and how to pick it.
  • The farm store: We sell selected items from other local farms on a cash basis. These include sweet corn, apples, peaches, honey, maple syrup, beef, ice cream, goat cheese, milk, yogurt, and cookbooks.
  • There will always be a staff member on duty during distribution to answer questions.

Pick-Your-Own Crops

Most weeks of the summer season, we will have something for CSA shareholders to harvest in easily accessible fields. The PYO crops include strawberries, basil, cilantro, other herbs, cherry tomatoes, tomatillos, hot peppers, cut flowers, green beans, edamame soybeans, snap peas, and raspberries. We have signage outside the barn in the “Pick-Your-Own Kiosk” and in the fields announcing what’s ready to pick and where it is.

The Pick-Your-Own crops are available anytime during daylight hours, but please be aware that this is a production farm and there are tractors, trucks and other serious equipment in use.  Please be watchful of your small children!  Also, if you find the deer fence closed when you come, please make sure it is closed when you leave.

What’s in a share?

Your weekly share will usually consist of a bountiful bag of 6-10 crops. Most weeks, you may select the items you prefer from the crops available, as much as will fit in your share bag. Items in short supply may be individually limited.  As an example, for a week in July, a share may include carrots, beets, lettuce, summer squash, cucumbers, cabbage, broccoli, scallions and new potatoes, with green beans, hot peppers, basil, nasturtiums, and cutting flowers in the Pick-Your-Own fields. Later in the season, early fall crops might include arugula, squash, watermelon, brussels sprouts, and pumpkins.

What we grow

“Staple” crops that we try to have a consistent supply of in their season include lettuce, summer squash and zucchini, cucumbers, watermelon, carrots, beets, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potatoes, onions, winter squash, and a variety of cooking greens. Other crops that we grow in lesser amounts to round out the shares include fennel, brussel sprouts, leeks, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, rutabaga, kohlrabi, arugula, parsnips, radishes, and sweet potatoes.

Growing Methods

Each year, we sign the Northeast Organic Farming Association’s Farmer’s Pledge (ctnofa.org) verifying that we do not use synthetic chemicals in our farming, and that we employ management methods that protect and build soil health, provide a good environment for our workers, and have little impact on the surrounding ecology. We are dedicated to providing outstanding nutrition through our farming. Read more about our growing methods here.

What’s the Risk?

Technically, members share the risks and rewards of the growing season. In reality, we’ve gotten pretty good at ensuring plenty of good produce for all members. In the last few years we’ve been through both extremely wet years and extremely dry years, and we still had abundant harvests and plentiful variety. Of course, major weather related catastrophes could cause a setback. Each year, certain crops do better than others, but we hedge our bets in many ways: with multiple plantings, 200 plus varieties, dozens of crops, seven different fields with soils that behave differently in different conditions, a thirty week growing season, greenhouse crops, good irrigation, and more lessons learned every year about how to manage crops for abundant, healthy yields.

The spirit of Community Supported Agriculture is that consumers and farmers work together to contribute to a resilient and healthy local food system. The understanding is that CSA shareholders provide consistent support to the farm, and the farmers do our best to provide a plentiful, consistent, and varied supply of farm-fresh produce. Please recognize that farming incurs much of its cost early in the season for seeds and plants and fertilizer and labor and fuel and equipment. Farming skill is involved to produce a bountiful weekly harvest, but so is rain, sun and a dose of luck. CSA shareholders can expect that some weeks will be leaner than others (particularly early in the season). Although cancellation of a weekly distribution is possible, it is rare that there would be a confluence of factors that would prevent a steady flow of produce each week.

What if I miss a week?

If you are out of town one week, or know that you will not be able to pick up your share, you are welcome to have a friend or neighbor pick up your share and enjoy the produce themselves!  Any excess produce not picked up is donated to various food banks and food distribution systems. We cannot provide a credit for missed produce throughout the season.

Farm Store

We stock a Farm Store with products from other local farms, including apples, peaches, grass-fed beef, honey, maple syrup, goat cheese, and more. The Farm Store is open to all members of the community, not just CSA shareholders. Farm Store hours are the same as pick-up hours. The Farm Store accepts cash and checks only.

Do I have to Work on the Farm?

No, we do not require shareholders to work on the farm. We do, however, have a few work days each season when we ask CSA members to come help out with a big harvest or other task on the farm.  This happens only a few times a year, and it’s great to get many hands together, working and having fun in the fields while accomplishing a culminating yearly task (like of the haying scene in Anna Karenina, but less physically intense!)

Workshares

A few workshares are available each season.  A workshare requires a 50 hour commitment over the course of the season, in exchange for a CSA share. Work will include helping with greenhouse seeding, transplanting, weeding, and harvesting. You must be available for 7am – 12pm shifts during the week. We are very selective about who we choose for workshares since we depend on them the way we depend on our regular paid staff. For more information, please Contact us.