Our Market CSA works a little bit differently from what you might think of as a "traditional" CSA - many CSA's only have sign-up at the beginning of the season and give members pre-selected shares each week, not allowing them to choose what produce they want, or how much of it.

With our Market CSA you can sign-up any time during the year, and upon signup you are given a CSA Account with the value of your share plus an extra 10%. Market CSA Members can then spend their CSA credit on any of the produce we have available at our home farmstand or any of the Farmers' Markets we attend. You're free to spend it on any produce we offer, with no limits to how much or now little of a particular vegetable or fruit you can take at once. You can use your credit all at once or over a period of weeks, months or even years, as a Market CSA Share never expires.

What does it include?

Your CSA share can be used to purchase any produce; fruit, vegetables, herbs, plants, and flowers that we have available at our farmstand or markets can all be bought with CSA credit. It includes produce that we bring in from other local farms, and farms in other regions during the cold months. What is not inculuded in a share is prepared foods such as baked goods, cheeses, honey, eggs and milk.

Delivery CSA

Gather your friends & family and we'll bring you fresh Vegetables every week.

Groups as small as 10 people Season length from 10-30 weeks Start any time before September

How does this type of CSA work?

Our delivery CSA programs vary widly in their implementation, and we're happy to work with you to make a program that fits your group's needs.

Some CSA's want to manage themselves, and the farm will simply provide vegetables, some groups want the farm to manage everything from signup to drop-off, and some groups share management responsibilities with the farm.

We're open to most managment styles, and can work with you to come up with something that works for your group.

Season Span & Length Our normal CSA season spans from late May until late November, with the final drop-off usually falling on the week of Thanksgiving. Seasons can range anywhere from 10 to 30 weeks.
We will work with you to come up with a schedule that fits your needs

• flexible start dates •

• vacation break weeks •

• winter & storage-crop shares •

Distribution Type Bring Your Own Bag Produce is dropped off in reusable bulk crates, one type of vegetable to a crate, and members take the allotted amount of each item, preferably into their own reusable bag.

Shares are Pre-bagged Produce is dropped off in pre-sorted shares packed into a cardboard box, paper bag or another type of vessel chosen by you. This type of distribution will cost a little bit more per share/per week due to the farm having to buy all the bags/boxes for the season, and the extra time taken to bag each member's individual share.

Split & Half Shares
Your program can include options for members who won't be able to use or can't afford a full share.

•'share-a-share'•

•half-size shares•

•every-other-week delivery•

Educational CSA

The farm can work with your school or PTA/PTO to develop an Educational CSA Program that can include vegetable shares for families, teachers & school food programs, farm education for kids and adults, and much more

How does this type of CSA work?

At the core of a School-based CSA, like any traditional CSA, is a weekly share of vegetables for it's members. As with any CSA the season's span needs to be set, along with a share price.

Season Span & Length Seasons can range from 10 to 30+ weeks. As most schools are off during the summer months, a school CSA season fits in a few different spans:

• May -> School year's end •

• May -> break for Summer -> September-Thanksgiving •

• School's opening in September -> Thanksgiving •

Split & Half Shares

We are glad to accommodate anybody who may want to 'share-a-share' or only get delivery every other week. Please let us know if this is an an option you'd like to have when signing up.

School & Student Activites In addition to the farm always being open for you to come for a visit & brunch on the weekends, we offer the opportunity for classes to have their own field trips to the fields and more.
Farm, food and Agricultural education is important and fun for kids of all ages, and we are always excited to share our knowledge with your students.
Take a look below to see some of the things we've done with school trips in the past, and we're always excited to try new ideas if you've got anything in mind.

Farm Trips

Farm trips are a great way for kids to get an idea of where and how food is actually produced. With farmer and teacher supervision students are given real, meaningful farm work to do. They will get their hands dirty in the field planting or picking vegetables, in the greehouse starting seeds or transplanting seedlings, or in the barn preparing vegetables for delivery to the people who will eat them. Trips can include a farm-cooked lunch in the field or the barn depending on weather. Activites on the farm can be aligned with any curriculum topics that might be relevant, and we can work with teachers to develop lesson plans that include topics on farming and agriculture.

Vegetables for School Lunch

Blooming Hill has been bringing wholesale vegetables to some of the NY Metro area's finest restaurants for over thirty years, and we can work with your food-service provider to integrate our vegetables into your School Lunch program.

In-school Education

We can also work with interested teachers who would like to include farming & agriculture topics in their in-class curriculum. Time can be scheduled so that on a CSA Share drop off day one of the farmers can come to speak in class or lead a hands-on activity inside or outside on the school grounds.

What is Community Suported Agriculture?

Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, represents a unique relationship between a farm and the local community of people who eat the food it produces. To explain it simply - CSA members choose to support a local farm by purchasing a CSA Share, and the farm then provides them with fresh local produce throughout the CSA Season.

When the farm has a successful season members benifit from a great selection of fresh produce, and if disaster strikes the farm is protected from financial ruin by the support of its members. A CSA share also gives members an intimate attachment to their food; they know where it comes from, how it was produced and by whom, and that they are making an investment in their local economy.

What's more, when implemented correctly CSA is a model of sustainable agriculture that works to cure many of the ills of modern agriculture; dependence on enormous scale to remain profitable - risks stemming from the unpredictability of a changing climate - dependence on government subsidies and taxpayer-funded crop insurances - tolerance towards environmentally, ecologically or morally unsound farming practices - unaccaountability to customers many links down an opaque supply chain. Community Supported Agriculture helps both the consumer of food and the farmer free themselves of all these harmful things and many more.

Much of the risks involved in farming stem from the fact that a farm is vulnerable to the increasingly extreme weather nature chooses to throw at us each season, and now more than ever it is important for farms to be protected from these extremes. The capital which a CSA program provides helps the farm avoid assuming large amounts of debt going into each season, which is unfortunately very common for the modern farm. CSA farms can pay for many of the big up-front costs at the beginning of the season such as buying seeds, paying labor to plant and start crops, run machinery, etc. with the funds from the CSA program.

As a CSA Member you can choose directly what agricultural practices you want to support through choosing which farm you get your food from. By selling directly to the people who will eat their food, with no middlemen involved, both farmers and customers get a fair price. Instead of being just a name on a label, the farm is an actual place - where people can see and take part in the production of their own food, where people can gather and eat, where a community can grow together. The farmers are actual people, whom you can meet and learn from, and who will in turn listen to what you have to say about the food that will feed you and your family.