SAF’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

We are going to be offering personalized shares from our farm stand.  Easy as shopping at the market, but with perks!

Check out our brochure! (web version)

About Our Farm

Sweet Acre Farm (SAF), started in February 2011, is one acre of land in Mansfield, CT farmed by Charlotte Ross and Jonathan Janeway (us).  We produce diversified vegetables, chicken (for meat) and Maple Syrup.  We have taken the Farmers Pledge (offered through the CT Northeast Organic Farmers Association (CT-NOFA)), and implement farming practices focused on building soil-health and high nutrient value in our crops.  To that aim, we do not use pesticides or herbicides, neither chemical nor organically approved.  We are constantly learning from our mistakes and successes as we come to know our piece of land.  Aside from the organically fed free range eggs we sell on behalf of our landlord who generously lets us farm his land for free, we sell only SAF-grown products, so you never have to guess where your food is coming from!

What is a CSA?

Community Supported Agriculture is an alternative food network bringing together consumers who value high quality sustainably grown food and local farmers who can provide it.  A share of the season’s produce is purchased by each member in the early spring.  This infusion of funding comes at a critical time, and enables the farmers (us) to better plan, produce and deliver ecologically sound and healthy food. While there are a variety of models, CSAs should support good farming practices and offer a closer connection to the source of one’s food in an otherwise globalized and over-industrialized food system.

SAF’s CSA: It’s as easy as shopping at the Farmer’s Market!

In return for your investment, each CSA member will have a credit at our farmer’s market stands of equal value to what you paid in the spring  – plus a 10% bouns!  For example, $250 would entitle you to $275 worth of product. We will simply keep track of what you purchase at our stand all summer and deduct each purchase from your account declining balance. No mandatory pick-up times or inundations of turnips – just shop at market as you normally would.  But this time with additional benefits!

Additional Benefits

• -Fun Farm Days:  Maple day in March and Harvest Festival in October.
• -Working Farm Days: Monthly open farm days to get your hands dirty ending with a potluck!

Some helpful calculations:

There are ~20 weeks of market.  If you spend an average of $20/week, then you may spend $400 over the course of the season.

Checks payable to Sweet Acre Farm will be accepted in January and February of 2012.  CSA shares start at $100.

Products (by order of appearance)

100% Pure Maple Syrup
Lettuce- Head/Mix
Arugula
Spinach
Pac Choi
Turnips
Radish
Kale
Swiss Chard
Collard Greens
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Kohlrabi
Fennel
Cabbage
Peas
Beets
Carrots
Scallions
Beans
Summer Squash/Zucchini
Celery
Cucumbers
Basil
CilantroParsley
Tomatoes
Eggplant
Peppers
Potatoes
Melons/Watermelon
Onions
Shallots
Winter Squash
Chicken + more!

Market Week 9/20/11

• Lettuce Mix
• Spicy Green Mix
• Swiss Chard
• Kale (winterbor (curly), red russian, and lacinato)
• Leeks
• Tomatoes
• Eggplant (Italian, Japanese)
• Pepper (Sweets and Hots)
• Red Onions
• Shallots
• Winter Squash
• Flower Bunches
• Parsley
• Basil
• Eggs

Lots more greens coming out of the ground, but for now they are still selling out fast!

Hey Hartford! Come get your veggies!

Beginning this week, Sweet Acre Farm will now be bringing our fresh-picked vegetables and home-boiled maple syrup to the West End Market twice a week! Tuesdays and Fridays, 4-7pm. We are very excited to see our Hartford customers on a more regular basis. Come stop by the stand to see what’s new this week, or pick up some of your old favorites.

Our eggplant harvest has begun! We will have Italian and Oriental Charm varieties at Storrs market today, and more at Hartford’s West End market on Tuesday.

Oriental Charm and Traviata Eggplant varieties

Our Sun Gold and Washington cherry tomatoes are still holding out on us…..our harvest last night yielded only enough for a couple of hungry farmers. But, don’t worry, the plants are covered in fruit and blushing like a prom date so we should be bringing them to market by Friday at the latest. Man are they sweet!

In other news, our first batch of chickens has been processed and packed into our brand-new freezer. We had no trouble finding each of the delicious birds a home and we will have 50 more for sale in about a month. Let us know if you’d like to try out a heritage chicken raised on fresh pasture and organic grain – I bet you’ve never tasted one like it before.

Alabama Greys in their chicken tractor

Hope to see you at market soon, and in the mean time, keep shaking that rain stick!!