Ambrose Family Farm CSA

(Community Supported Agriculture)

Our CSA program provides members a weekly share of our freshly harvested, organically and/or sustainably grown produce during 2 seasons, Spring and Fall, each season lasting about 13 weeks. Produce is harvested daily, distributed to pick up points in the Charleston, North Charleston, Mt. Pleasant, Summerville, Goose Creek, West Ashley, Downtown, James Island, Wadmalaw Island, and Johns Island areas. Members visit their pre-chosen pick up point once a weekly, sign in, and take home their weekly allotment of produce.

Crops We Grow

Pre-Packed and Delivered Shares

The Pre-packed Shares are delivered to designated Pick up Points on specific days of the week. Pick Up Hosts (CSA Members) open their homes or businesses for Members to come during certain hours on certain days of the week to pick up their Boxed Share. Each member signs in, transfers the produce from the box to their own reuseable bag, and takes the fresh produce home to their families.

The following week, same day, same time, same place, members visit their pick up point, sign in, and take their veggies home again. This process takes place for the entire length of the Season.

There is an additional fee for Pre-boxed and Delivered shares - $23.40/season. This fee is less than $2/week, but helps cover the cost of the delivery vehicle, the driver, the fuel, and insurance.

CSA Membership is the perfect gift! Purchase a Fall 2010 Gift Certificate

On Farm Pick Up or Stono Market Pick Up

There is no additional fee for pick up at the Farm or Stono Market.

Pick Your Own Options

Risks & Rewards

Fall carries a higher risk factor for complete crop failure because of where we live - Hurricane Ally! In our farming career - since 1976 - we have successfully harvested 30 out of our 32 fall plantings. That seems pretty safe odds to me, but the risk still remains.

The term "crop failure" generally refers to a single crop, not the entire list of crops being grown. For example, we might plant 6 successions of tomatoes along with 20 other crops. From those 6 crops of tomatoes, we may loose a large portion of 1 planting due to inclement weather conditions or pest damage - crop failure - but continue to grow and harvest from all the other crops. The same could happen to any particular crop. We may loose all 6 crops of tomatoes, but still harvest the other 20 crops being grown.

If we should get a direct hit from a hurricane, nothing we planted would be harvestable - complete crop loss. Crops with short growing seasons - summer squashes, lettuces, turnips, radishes, kale, spinach, tat soy, mustard, arugula, cucucumbers, and herbs would be immediately replanted and be harvestable in a 30 to 45 day range. This would seriously shorten the CSA season for members, but not leave them empty handed. The basic CSA concept - partnership between Community and Farmer - shares the staggering financial loss that farmers have, in the past, suffered alone. Understanding and accepting the financial risk is important and Membership requires you, the member, to sign an agreement stating that you understand the risks and are willing to accept them should there be a disaster of ANY nature beyond the Farmer's control.

There are lots more rewards than risks. Members often receive nearly 5 pounds more produce each week than they had expected. They have ample to feed their families and left overs enough to share with friends and neighbors.

The biggest rewards are QUALITY, FRESHNESS, FLAVOR, and FUN. The comment from our CSA Members made most often is "I have learned to be a more adventuresome cook. I'm eating things I would never have tried, and loving them. My family has never eaten so good!"

Farming Facts for City Slickers

2) Produce is not grown indoors. It is grown outdoors where bugs live. There may be a bug stowaway in your box looking for a new home - yours. If we try to kill all the bugs, we would have to use chemicals. You see where this train is heading? Being able to supply you with the best organic produce means that we use organic control products first. If faced with 'complete crop failure due to a pesky creature' that we cannot control using organics, we have to make the choice of either loosing the crop or using as mild a non-organic product as possible. Ocassionally, but rarely, we choose to use rather than loose.

3) Beauty is only skin deep. It might be ugly, but it's still got character. This spring season, we harvested fresh garlic. It was ugly, stinky, and dirty (all the things that make great produce a real pleasure). It didn't look like garlic but it sure smelled like garlic. A lot of members threw it away and complained about the stinky ugly dirty 'thing' in their box. But those who surmized from the smell that it might be garlic and tried it, had one of the most pleasurable experiences in their lives - fresh garlic. If you have questions about an item and cannot figure out what in the heck it is, check the web site for possible answers or call! Don't just throw it away.

4) Veggie plants are really smart but really stubborn. They have the incredible ability to know when to sprout, how to grow, and how to produce offspring without having to be taught or trained. But, when they have done what they instinctively know how to do, no matter how hard one tries, one cannot get them to do any more! Food, water, threats, promises, a firm talking to - whatever - they just won't do any more. And it doesn't even matter to them what we NEED or WANT or have PROMISED. The point is, if you should see something on the "What may be in your box this week" list, and it's not in your box, not on the Farm, or not at Stono Market, don't blame us - it's the veggies fault.

5) Farmers are human just like you - just dirtier. Although a farmer is often idolized and placed on some pedestal, believe it or not, a farmer can - and ocassionally does - make a mistake. Although this doesn't seem possible, it happens. Please, if we make a mistake, let us know in the same manner you would like us to let you know if you made a mistake.

Crops We Grow

In the Spring, harvest begins about mid March with asparagus & often strawberries, Pete's Sweet onions, and rapidly expands to lettuces, salad mixes, spinach, arugula, summer squashes, egg plant, radishes, turnips, cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, potatoes, herbs, sweet corn, tomatoes, melons, blackberries, blueberries, etc. Delivered shares usually start near the 1st week in April. We progress throughout the season with other crops becoming available each week, so the variety stays diverse.

In the Fall Season, we grow almost everything we do in the Spring Season except for fruit, berries, melons, and Pete's Sweet onions.

Membership

Ambrose Family Farm CSA Fall 2010 Season

Download your copy of the Member's Handbook by CSA Member Handbook