Dean's Greenhouse 2012 Community Supported Agriculture Garden
Community Supported Agriculture Gardens, or CSAs, are a way for area residents to purchase "shares" in a local farmer’s garden. Then, over the course of the summer and early fall months, shareholders receive their equal portion of the harvest. The produce shareholders receive every week during the peak of the harvest is consistently the freshest and ripest garden vegetables available because it didn’t have to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles to arrive at a grocery store. Instead, produce is picked, put into a box and picked up by shareholders within hours of being harvested. This provides some of the best vegetables ever tasted and also reduces the natural resources consumed in their production and delivery. In addition, locally grown produce relies more on natural methods of fertilization and pest control, reducing the chemicals that may end up in the vegetables. CSA’s also supports the local small business by keeping food dollars in the community.
Advantages of a CSA Garden
- Produce grown locally reducing harvest-to-table time to days or even hours!
- Locally grown produce also uses less natural resources and reduces pollution by not having to cart produce hundreds or even thousands of miles.
- Produce is grown as naturally as possible and when necessary, natural pest remedies are employed.
- Share holders can visit the CSA Garden as often as they like and can even participate in tending to the vegetables. This makes the CSA Garden a great family participation project.
- Average cost of shareholders vegetables is the same or lower than equivalent amount of produce purchased at the grocery store.
- Purchasing produce grown locally keeps money in the community and supports local small businesses
Vegetables planned for Dean's 2012 CSA Garden include:
- tomatoes
- peppers
- beans
- carrots
- broccoli
- potatoes
- and much more
The harvested period is expected to last approximately 17 weeks.
Click here to view some of the 2011 CSA Garden harvest.
Additional Dean's Community Supported Agriculture Information: