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Birdsong Farm Ohio: CSA Information

CSA Shares

In Birdsong Farm will offer a 20 week C.S.A. season, which will begin the week of May 22nd, and will run through the end of October. There will be a three week hiatus to the CSA season during the first three weeks of July. In addition there will be a 7 week "post season" C.S.A. offering to run weekly in November and December, until Christmas. A limited number of these shares are available.

Birdsong Farm is USDA certified organic through OEFFA, certification #1754. Birdsong Farm is owned and farmed by Matt Herbruck.

Small Share ($400)--The family share is designed for an individual or a family of two or three and will include approximately $18-$20 worth of fresh, seasonal organic produce each week.

Large Share ($600)--The standard share is designed for families of three or more, and will include approximately $28-$30 of fresh, seasonal organic produce each week.

Post Season C.S.A. ($125)--In the post season your share is likely to include such cool weather and storage crops as kale, chard, spinach, broccoli, brussels sprouts, potatoes, onions, garlic, winter squash, turnips, carrots, dry beans, and others. You are, of course, invited to sign up for both an in season share and the post season. However, there will be fewer post season shares available overall.

Discount-–Members who agree to receive their shares at either Hudson or the farm for the entire season (see pick up options) will receive a $25 discount on the price of their shares. A small share then becomes $375 and a large $575. Post season shares are not part of this discount as there is only the weekend option for pick up of those.

The dollar value examples for the weekly shares are simply meant to give you a rough idea of how much produce you get. During times of bounty in the season the shares are considerably larger than these estimates. However, in farming there are risks, and inevitably there will be a very few slim weeks. I am confident that you will find at the end of the season that your share was money well spent.

Picking Up Your Shares

There are four ways to receive your weekly C.S.A. share. Part of the fun of a C.S.A. is getting to know the farm and the farmer that produces your food pickup. For this reason, we encourage you to pick up your weekly share at our farm in Hiram Twp on Wednesdays from 1:00pm - 6:00 PM. However, many people have busy schedules that might prohibit an on farm pickup. To accommodate for this, you may choose to pick your share up at the Haymaker Market, a farmer's market in Kent on Saturdays from 9:00 A.M.--1:00 P.M., at the Birdsong Farm produce booth.

Also, you may pick up at the Chagrin Falls Farmer's Market on Sundays from 10:00 A.M.--1:00 P.M. at the Birdsong Farm booth.

In addition we will provide a delivery service to Hudson on Wednesdays at 5:00 PM. This pick up will be at the parking lot of Christ Church Episcopal on Aurora St.

Please understand that you'll need to choose just one of these options.

The pick up options for the post season C.S.A. are here at the farm on Saturday afternoons or at the Kent Winter Market at the Junction, 211 Cherry St. in Kent, on Saturday mornings from 10:00 A.M.- 1:00 P.M.

How to Reserve a CSA Share

Starting February 16, registration is open to all (members and non-members) for our CSA season. We look forward to another year of growing food for your family.

Please complete and mail this form to reserve your share soon as you can. I will contact you to confirm your membership and the receipt of your payment. In the event all C.S.A. shares are booked by the time you sign up, I will let you know and return your check post haste with regrets and many thanks.

Membership spots will be filled on a first come, first serve basis, so sign up early by returning the registration form.

CSA Produce List

The following is a partial list of produce which might be included in your share, as well approximate seasonal dates.

	Lettuce (four varieties)                    May-Nov.
	Salad Mix                                   May-Dec. 
	Greens (arugula, kale, chard, etc)          May-Dec.
	Peas (shell, snap and snow)                 May, June
	Potatoes (four varieties)                   June-Dec.
	Misc root crops (radish, beets, turnip)     June-Dec.
	Spinach                                     May, June, Oct-Dec.  
	Tomatoes(heirloom, hybrid, cherry)          July-Oct
	Peppers (hot and sweet)                     July-Oct
	Eggplant                                    July-Sept.
	Cucumbers                                   June-Sept   
	Zucchini and summer squash                  July-Oct  
	Beans                                       July, Aug, Sept 
	dry beans                                   Sept-Dec.
	Herbs (Basil, Parsley, Cilantro, Dill)	    July-Nov.   
	Herbs (thyme, oregano, rosemary, sage)	    July-Oct   
	Onions (green and storage)                  July-Dec.   
	Garlic (six varieties)                      July-Dec.
	Cabbage                                     Sept-Nov.
	Winter Squash				    Oct-Dec.
	Cut Flowers                                 July-Oct.

This is not meant to be a complete list of produce, only the ones that come to mind. You may likely find some other more exotic things in your weekly shares, possibly including shiitake mushrooms, escarole, radicchio, specialty eggplants, melons, and more. Absolutely 100% of the items in your share are grown by me and my small crew on my farm In Hiram Twp. It is all USDA certified organic. We buy nothing from other farms to supplement our shares.

A Note about the Hiatus

The warming of the planet is affecting many aspects of our lives. I have found over the last few seasons that reliable production of a wide variety of food crops is very difficult in midsummer at this latitude. In an effort to keep your weekly shares interesting and bountiful I feel the need to begin to shift away from midsummer production. Thus we'll begin a few weeks earlier than usual, in May, which has become a very nice month for growing. And we'll take a break for three weeks in July, resuming again the week of July 21st and continuing weekly until the last week of October.

Weekly Contact

Last season due to the tremendous assistance of a CSA member, we began weekly e-mail contacts for the membership. These were simply brief farming updates and information about what might be in the shares that week, some nice recipes, and the occasional photo. We will be doing more of that this year, and I encourage your participation in the exchange of recipes and other food-related ideas. Much of the weekly updates will be on our new website, birdsongfarmohio.com.

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