Calvert's Gift Farm CSA

We are now accepting members for our 2012 season. To become a member please contact us at giftcal@aol.com. Please include your address. Please Note: We offer a limited number of shares.
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Calvert's Gift Farm offers members 24 weeks of our own locally grown, certified organic produce for $500, $475 if you pay by January 31, 2012. This equates to approximately $20.00 worth of vegetables each week.

We begin the third week of May and run to the end of October. Members may choose to pick up their share boxes at the farm on either Tuesdays or Thursdays.

In addition to the weekly share of vegetables, each shareholder receives our collection of recipes. Each week, a "trade box" will be available. Members can exchange less appreciated produce for their particular favorites. We strongly suggest shareholders make arrangements to have shares picked up when on vacation. The farm will not be responsible for missed pick-ups.

We provide many added benefits to our shareholders. Surplus produce from the week's harvest are frequently offered to our members. Bulk items such as potatoes, tomatoes, or garlic, are available for purchase on a seasonal basis. Blackberries and flowers are offered as pick-your-own and are free to share-holders. Other pick-your-own opportunities frequently arise throughout the growing season.

In addition to the vegetable CSA, fresh, cage free, brown eggs can be purchased through the farm. We have a small flock of laying hens, however they cannot meet the demands of the CSA. The egg shares are offered as an additional benefit and come from the Warns Farm in Freeland, Maryland. Eggs are available for $84 for the season ($3.50 per dozen for 24 weeks) and are picked up with your share box. 1/2 shares (every other week) of eggs are also available.

A work option is available for those who would like to participate in farm activities. We offer a $50 rebate upon completion of a 15 hour work commitment. The entire 15 hours must be completed in order to receive the rebate. If you would like to participate, please indicate so on the membership form. Click here to get our membership form. (Adobe Acrobat required. New window will open.)

What You Should Know About Our CSA

There is no one formula for operating a CSA. The concept is that the consumer helps the farmer with the up front costs of production and is later rewarded with the harvest from the farm.

CSA’s are meant to bring local food and local economy together, to exchange your payment for the farmers labors. As the popularity of the CSA movement has increased, perhaps the original meaning has become clouded.

To us, first and foremost, CSA means that our customers are buying produce directly from us. It also means that they are prepaying for their produce.

This is quite a business model, to have your product sold before it is even produced. We greatly appreciate that, otherwise we wouldn’t have an income stream before mid-April each year.

All of the produce that is in your share comes from our farm. There was a time when we traded for produce that we don’t grow here. We now feel that our farm has evolved enough so that we provide our shareholders with a great variety of food that has been grown only by us.

Some farms operate as a CSA only. We choose to combine the CSA with off-farm sales at area farmers markets. It makes better economic sense for our small farm. We do, however, always give the CSA our first priority.

With respect to farming, Mother Nature always bats last. The weather is unpredictable from one year to the next. Weather cycles aid in the production of some crops and hinder others. For this reason, we grow a diversity of crops.

You will always get a fair value in your CSA share. We hope you understand that conditions outside of our control may dictate what goes into your box. Some CSA’s lay out the produce available for the week’s share and let their customers choose from the array. We have found it is less labor intensive for us to pre-box the shares and it gives our customers a larger window of time in which to pick up their produce.

We charge fair prices for the food in your share. We are not a cooperative, we are a small farm working hard to produce high quality fruits and vegetables.

We want you to join our CSA because you want local, organically raised produce. We want you to join our CSA to get fresh, nutritious food for your family. We want you to join because you want to support a local farm and keep farming as a viable business option in Baltimore County. We are spoiled, we get to enjoy great food everyday and appreciate the seasons and the bounty of the earth. We want to share the bounty with you.