With spring in the air, Geauga Family Farms (GFF) is gearing up for another season of its vegetable subscription program. GFF is a co-op of five farmers who grow certified-organic produce for members of its Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program in which members receive a box of fresh, locally grown, certified-organic vegetables each week during the growing season.
Members pay up front for a weekly box of produce, or share, they receive for 20 weeks from June to October. The CSA model allows the farmers to buy seeds and pay for any labor needed to get the crops in the ground. In return, members enjoy truly fresh, locally grown vegetables.
Members choose from two share sizes and options, medium or large, including one that is completely customizable and one that is akin to Christmas in a box, a surprise each week. Shares can be picked up all over Northeast Ohio, including pick-up sites in Aurora at the 1815 Tavern, the Goddard School in Macedonia and in Solon at Mustard Seed Market.
The farmers harvest the vegetables, pack them in boxes, and deliver them to pick-up sites within 24 hours. Simply choose a share size, and in early June, your veggies start arriving! Lettuces, green onions and radishes will start off the season. In mid-summer, members see tomatoes, sweet corn, peppers, beans, potatoes and melons in their shares, with cabbage and squash in the fall.
This region is able to produce an amazing array of vegetables. GFF farms grow more than 50 types of vegetables, and multiple varieties of many of them. Members talk about how participating in a CSA has taught them to eat new and different things and changed how they eat for the better.
All vegetables are non-GMO – plants whose genetic material has been altered to withstand direct application of herbicide – and no pesticides are used on the produce in your box.
GFF also offers eggs, maple syrup, cheeses, honey, baked goods and more. Members have access to chicken, turkey, pastured pork and grass-fed beef as well.
In addition to pick-up sites in Aurora, Macedonia and Solon, there are pick-up sites spread across Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Portage and Summit counties in areas such as Beachwood, Chardon, Cleveland Heights, downtown Cleveland, Lakewood, Lyndhurst, Mayfield Village, Mentor, Middlefield, Munson Township, Painesville, Shaker Heights, Willoughby Hills as well as at a GFF farm in Middlefield.
For more info, visit Geauga Family Farms or contact Laura Dalheim at 440-478-9849, LDalheim@geaugafamily-farms.org.