Reserve Pre-Picked Blueberries
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Why a CSA?
Having worked on several vegetable CSA’s as a fledgling farmer, I’ve always been drawn to this model that recognized the intimate and life-sustaining connections between community, farmer, land, and nourishment. After all, these connections are what fuel so many of us who farm. Over the years, I’ve considered the CSA model for the Benson Place and have always been stumped by the logistics: how do you reliably distribute a single crop with wildly fluctuating yields to a community of farm members?
But I keep returning to the idea of a CSA because it seems to best represent what we are already doing here together. Most of you have been making the annual summer pilgrimage to pick or pick up Benson Place blueberries for years. Some of you have been coming to the farm for decades, long before I started working for previous owner Dave Gott in 2009 (Yay for Dave!). You have supported this farm through many transitions, through low years and high years, total crop loss and expansion. And we keep committing, year after year, to tending this land with our very best despite the unpredictability that comes with this wacky business of farming. In return, the land has provided high quality nourishment to sustain us all. To me, a system that acknowledges this type of ongoing dedication just feels right.
In addition, the devastating frost event of 2023 and the extreme rainfall and drought periods of 2024 and 2025 have opened my eyes to the necessity of building even greater farm and community resiliency as we swiftly move into a future likely to be shaped by a more erratic climate. The cash-up-front feature of CSA’s helps farmers maintain healthy cash flow and provides a greater sense of financial security which, in turn, frees up time and energy that can to invest in projects that build ecological and financial stability and resiliency. For customers, the CSA model provides the opportunity to become true stakeholders in the enterprises that provide nourishment for the community and to help ensure their future viability.