Not Missing the Boat: CSAs in Duluth

David Beard Jan 29, 2012 9 Comments

I always wait until too late. Not this year!

What Community Shared Agriculture projects would you recommend? I’m an old, fat man who isn’t willing to work on the farm to cut his costs, and who is deathly afraid of programs that mandate that I go to a specific place within a 45 minute window once a month or lose my food.

What would you recommend?

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9 Comments

Paul Lundgren

about 13 years ago 

Chelsea Morning Farm used to -- and might still, but I'm not sure -- make weekly home deliveries to Duluth on Fridays.

edgeways

about 13 years ago 

er.. if you mean "literal" 45 minutes then  The Food Farm  may work for you. Yes you gotta go get it from somebody's porch, but the timeline is in hours not minutes, and they have multiple drop off spots, (perhaps you could arrange it that your pouch is the pick up spot for people.

If you are using "45 minutes" to mean you just don't want to go to someone's porch... eh I dunno. If you live near Wrenshall I'm sure they'd let you pick the stuff up at the farm itself. Or perhaps you could pay someone to remember for you to pick up at the drop off site and bring it to you.

annied

about 13 years ago 

The Food Farm (foodfarm.us) has 9 sites in Duluth for vegetable pick up and does not require any working hours. We've also got one in Superior, one in Esko, one in Cloquet and, of course, folks are always welcome to come out to the Farm in Wrenshall. We won't make you weed and we may even push you on the rope swing. Pick up days are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 - 7pm. 

If you don't like the looks of the Food Farm, there are plenty of other CSAs in the area:
http://stonesthrowfarm.wordpress.com/
http://www.northernharvestfarm.com/

Here are some other helpful websites for folks looking to eat good food:
www.superiorgrown.org/
http://www.localharvest.org/

Carla

about 13 years ago 

I am part of a group called The Tomato Man Project that is trying to get gardens into all of the school yards.  This group has a high concentration of those types (CSA and other gardening folk) gathering together once per every coupla months.
Our next meeting:
March 8th 2012,  
4:30-6:00 p.m. at Chester Creek Cafe
Plenty of volunteer opportunities for anyone interested.
Or drop me a note (carla dot blumberg at astccc dot net and I will send you some info.

Adam S

about 13 years ago 

We belong to YKer Acres CSA in Wrenshall and love it. They have a great variety of veggies and we feel that it's a very cost-efficient way to get a ton of healthy food. Call Matt Weik at 218-839-1248 and he can tell you about his family's farm.

kerc

about 13 years ago 

Are going on almost 10 years with the Food Farm. Overall good experience, although I think my mother in law thinks it is absolutely crazy that we meet a guy in the dark parking lot behind the coop on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to pick up a turkey. The issue there for new people is always getting a share -- they offer them up to returning people first and then you have to jump quickly to be a new person. Worth it.

This winter we started buying meat and select produce (apples and squash thus far) from a Bayfield area CSA. 

http://lakesuperiorcsa.com

You order and pay online then can pick up in one of two places. One being the Thirsty Pagan. That turns out to be a nice place to pick up produce.


No matter what you do, I'll tell you the best darn thing we ever did:  we split a share with another family. Sure we don't get 100% of our produce that way but there's always someone to pick it up. Years ago before our children began eating us out of house and home we split with two other families. We picked up once a week and there was (and still is) a rotating happy hour. We'd gather at someone's house, have beer and cheese and crackers and enjoy the perfect Duluth summer evenings. As the kids have grown we no longer split with those families because we need more food. But we still get together.

wingsofjudas

about 13 years ago 

I would not recommend this instead of farm shares, but if working on a farm is too much, container gardening is a fun project and doesn't need to be too intensive.

davids

about 13 years ago 

Talk to me, rhetoric guy. 

I don't have a CSA up and running yet, but am expanding gardens this year and hoping to slowly build a community of people who want to pay me to be their food gardener. You can even give me input into what I plant for you. I'll catch you in the halls at work to talk about it.

Paul Lundgren

about 13 years ago 

This is a bit of a tangent, but I found this kind of interesting.

From the Journal of the American Medical Association: "Photographs in Lunch Tray Compartments and Vegetable Consumption Among Children in Elementary School Cafeterias"

How do you trick children into eating more vegetables? Apparently it's as easy as putting a picture of the vegetables on their plate/tray.

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