Farm Share
“When you join a CSA, you agree to share in both the risks and the rewards of farming.”
Practice
Join a CSA. Find a local CSA or farm share and try it for a season.
Choose relationship. Learn your farmer’s and host’s names; introduce yourself in person at pickup.
Share the bounty. Share your vegetables with neighbors, or use the produce to cook a meal for a neighbor.
Adopt a slower pace. Plan time to allow for the CSA pick-up and cooking at an unhurried pace.
My family and I joined Monroe Organic Farms’ CSA this past year. Each week, Monroe would drop off a handful of shares at a neighbor’s home, and everyone would come by to pick up their vegetables. Along with getting big bags of beautiful produce each week, I got to know the Monroe family more deeply, along with Mary Ann, my neighbor, who sat in her garage for two hours every week distributing the farm shares.
CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It’s a mutually beneficial partnership between farmers and consumers. By purchasing a share of the farmer’s harvest in advance, members support the farm upfront and, in return, receive regular portions of fresh, seasonal produce throughout the season.
When you join a CSA, you agree to share in both the risks and the rewards of farming. A challenging season may bring smaller yields, while a flourishing year overflows with abundance. At its core, a CSA is about joining the journey with a local farm. Advanced payment gives farmers the stability they need to plan, plant, and nurture the season ahead of time. It is an embodied way of saying, we value your work, while choosing local, nutrient-dense food. It’s a beautiful rejection of the fast-paced food world we’ve come to accept and become addicted to. And it's surrendering to the good design of nature’s pace.
A farm share is a beautiful way to connect with the individuals who grow our food, the seasons we live within, and the land we live on. As farmers ride the whims of the growing season, we get to ride alongside them—choosing people in our community and the shared purpose of supporting local food. When we eat carrots harvested by someone whose name and story we know, those carrots take on greater purpose. Sitting down to a meal made from the hands of farmers we’re in relationship with transforms the table itself. The food becomes more than fuel—it becomes connection, gratitude, and community.
Part of the joy of a CSA is the lovely mystery of the vegetables that show up in my box each week! Sure, I can only eat so many potatoes and squash at a time, but the abundance invites me to be creative. And sometimes, creativity looks like giving. When there’s more than my family can eat, I love cooking up the extra produce and blessing neighbors with warm meals from our kitchen. In a way, both giving and receiving a meal can feel vulnerable. Cooking for someone else means exposing your food, your style, your skill (or lack thereof). Receiving a meal means opening yourself to eat something you didn’t plan, shop for, or prepare yourself. Yet, that exchange is where the beauty lies—food as a bridge that is both humbling and connecting us in ways nothing else quite can.
Over the time frame of the CSA, the pickup host, Mary Ann, ended up learning my kids’ names and asking about them, providing advice about my job, and getting updates on the many house projects I had going on. I learned about her grown children, her travels, and her passion for CSAs. Picking up food from her home each week wasn’t just about the produce; it was about fostering a new relationship with a neighbor, all while receiving stunning, seasonal food from farmers I was learning to love. Practicing being a part of a CSA with a farm share is entering into a food ecosystem with a deeper connection to the people, the seasons, and the land.
Margo Wanberg is the co-founder of the City Park Farmers Market and the newly launched Lafayette Farmers Market. Born and raised in Denver and a CU Boulder alumna, she is passionate about sustainable living, beekeeping, and being rooted in community. She finds joy in connecting people with their local food systems and supporting small-scale farmers and producers. Margo and her husband, Peter, reside in Lafayette, where they enjoy raising their three children.
