Community Supported Agriculture will drop vegetables weekly at BASE
By Jack Reaney STAFF WRITER
Vegetables! Get your farm fresh vegetables, here!
Between now and June 1, locals between Big Sky and greater Bozeman can register for a community supported agriculture program that boxes weekly shares of organic, Bozeman-grown vegetables. The program supports Chance Farm in Bozeman, which expanded from 1 to 3 acres this year and launched its first ever CSA program.
Every Wednesday, BASE will host a vegetable pickup station in Big Sky. Bozeman residents can pick up their shares at Red Tractor Pizza, Root Cellar Foods in Belgrade, or direct at the farm off Gooch Hill Road. For an extra fee, Chance Farm will also deliver to Bozeman-area homes.
CSA programs help small farms manage costs at the beginning of the season, including seeds and labor. This CSA brings money upfront from shareholders in exchange for goods all summer, according to Chance Farm harvest manager Valerie Niederer, who recently joined the farm and is heading sales, marketing and this pilot program.
Starting June 7 and lasting 18 weeks through early October, the farm will distribute full- and half-share boxes to registered shareholders. A full share costs $648 and packs eight to 12 vegetables, and a half share costs $398 with four to seven veggies.
Niederer said the Bozeman farmers’ markets have become so popular that finding local vegetables can be a hit-or-miss endeavor. Participating in the CSA is a stable way to buy local.
“[Vegetables] are not being shipped from California or wherever they’re coming from,” she said. “And it keeps our dollars inside the community.”
Niederer said she loves doing CSA because the variety opens people up to new vegetables. Each box contains an assortment that might extend beyond what someone normally grabs at a grocery store, she said.
Those who register for the Chance Farm CSA will receive a weekly newsletter including recipes that reflect that week’s box, plus stories from the farm, written by Niederer.
Eggs and English muffins can be added on to either Chance Farm share, she added.
For $144, CSA shareholders can add eggs from Black Dog Farm in Livingston. Also for $144, shareholders can add English muffins from Furrow & Fly—plain, rosemary, sourdough, everything, cinnamon golden raisin and gluten free options are available.
“They are a hot commodity,” Niederer said. “Those muffins sell out every week.”
Niederer expressed her gratitude to BASE for providing a pickup location, adding that the Big Sky community center was “stoked” to help.
