2020 CSA Season Reflection: Our Best CSA Season…Possibly in the History of Harmony Valley Farm!

By Andrea Yoder

Pallets of Red Radishes heading to the cooler!

I think it’s safe to say that 2020 will go down in history as a year unlike any other.  But the aspect of 2020 that we’ll put in the forefront of our memories is that 2020 was one of our best CSA years in the history of Harmony Valley Farm!  Overall we have had a very successful and bountiful season.  Every crop wasn’t perfect, but week after week we’ve been able to pack beautiful boxes filled with seasonal goodness.  We’re also thrilled to have more than doubled our CSA membership this year!   What has this meant for our farm?  First and foremost, we’ve been able to feed people—a lot of people!  But not just that, we’ve been able to do so in a way that is economically sustainable for our farm and with added efficiency.  I’m not talking about corner-cutting, quality compromising efficiency as we often see in the industrial food system.  I’m talking about simple things like our trucks are running full!  Instead of traveling to a destination to drop off 8-10 boxes, we’re unloading 30-40 or more at a site!  On CSA pack days, it still takes us the same amount of time to set up and clean up the CSA line, but once it’s set up we’re able to pack 400-500 boxes instead of 200-300 per session.  These are just a few examples of efficiencies that, in our world, make all the difference and turn CSA into a sustainable part of our business that we are happy to offer to you.

We hope CSA has been a meaningful, sustainable part of your lives this year as well, and perhaps has even added a bit of efficiency to your food purchasing and meal preparation each week.  We’re preparing to roll out our 2021 CSA Sign Up form within the next month, but before we do so it’s important that we take pause to look back and reflect on the season.  What did we actually deliver this year?

CSA box from August 27, 2020,
our heftiest box of the season!

This week we are delivering box 28 of 30 boxes in our full CSA vegetable season.  If you purchased our Weekly Vegetable share, you will have received about 430# of produce by the time we’ve completed the season.  Over the course of this year we’ve delivered approximately 75 different vegetables!  Within this list there are some categories that are quite expansive.  For instance, you’ve received over 10 different varieties of potatoes and over 8 different varieties of head lettuce.  One of the fun parts of growing vegetables for CSA is that we are not bound by the limitations of traditional wholesale requirements.  Wholesale buyers are looking to stock store shelves with “normal” vegetables, not “weird” (we prefer the word “unique”) looking things that the average consumer will either not recognize or may not know what to do with them.  Instead, we get to grow cool things like purple napa cabbage, yellow cauliflower, black futsu pumpkins, chocolate sprinkles tomatoes, sun jewel and canary melons, Diana purple radishes, and strawberries grown for flavor instead of shelf life!

Look closely....a little crown
of Broccoli is emerging!

While it’s a lot of fun to introduce our members to different vegetables, we also understand that it’s important to deliver some of the staple, more traditional and well-loved selections.  Asparagus is always popular in the spring and we are grateful to Mother Nature for a 5-week delivery season this year!  We also had a very bountiful summer season complete with over 9 weeks of tomatoes, 8 weeks of sweet corn, 6 weeks of green beans, 10 weeks of broccoli, 13 weeks of carrots, 20 weeks of garlic (not including green garlic and garlic scapes early in the season) and we’ve included an onion selection in every single box!  Even as the season is coming to a close, we are still having problems fitting everything into the box!  This is a great problem to have!

Harmony Valley Farm Produce beautifully 
displayed by our Retail partners

We also like to look at the value of our CSA boxes.  Every year we have a “Secret Shopper” who goes to two different stores in our delivery area to price shop each week.  They go to a food co-op and a natural foods store.  They look at availability of products comparable to what they received in their CSA share that week as well as prices.  While we still have a few weeks to go in the season, the pricing data demonstrates that if you were to purchase the contents of this year’s boxes at the natural food store you would pay at least 5% more than the cost of our Weekly CSA Vegetable share, which is our most economical.  If you were to shop at a local food co-op you would pay as much as 19% more than our share price.  One important point I want to mention here is that items used in the secret shopper data are not always locally produced and may come from a distance.  Also, pricing data is based on items that are most similar to the box contents, but are not always the same items you receive.  When we figure the value of our box contents based on retail prices derived from what we are able to get when selling direct to a customer, our records consistently show that in most years we deliver as much as 15-20% more value than the cost of the share.  This is the difference between purchasing a CSA vegetable share and buying your food at a retail store.  When we have a bountiful harvest, we pass that bounty on to you!

Tomatillos hanging heavy on the vine

Undeniably, the CSA model for sourcing food is much different than purchasing food from a retail grocery store.  We believe CSA offers benefits to you that cannot be matched elsewhere.  Yes, there is the monetary value of the food you purchase and receive, but there are other values that may be harder to assign dollar values to, but nonetheless they are a benefit to you.  For example, consider the variety of produce you have consumed this year and the spectrum of nutrients they contained.  Would you have eaten such a wide variety of vegetables if you were purchasing your food from the store or even a farmers’ market, or are there items you’ve tried and included in your diet this year because they were in your box but you may not have otherwise selected them on your own?  We’ve had members tell us year after year that they’ve discovered they actually like a lot more vegetables than they even knew existed and in some case, they’ve discovered their “favorite” vegetable this way!  Some members have also told us they eat more vegetables when they get a CSA box simply because they are in their kitchen!  We also know that not all items included in your box this year would have even been available to you elsewhere.  In our secret shopper data, there are consistently 1-3 items in the box most weeks out of our season that are not available at the stores.  Vegetables such as Egyptian spinach, lemongrass, Korean chili peppers, fresh edamame, black futsu pumpkins, or fresh baby ginger!  While we’re relieved that most of the items that are available in our secret shopper stores are now available organic, many weeks there are still 1-2 items that are not organic.  This year tomatillos and sweet corn were two items that were consistently not available organic.

We’ve also delivered value in areas that are less tangible, but very meaningful.  Many of you chose to purchase a CSA share this year because you were looking for a safe and reliable way to source your food in the midst of a pandemic!  We believe CSA can be one of the safest ways to procure food.  We have spent a lot of time this year setting up safe protocols and procedures both at our delivery sites, but also on the farm and with our delivery teams with the goal that all of us will be able to minimize our risk of any possible exposure to COVID-19 related to CSA.  No, we don’t like the added plastic liner bag we’ve used in all of our CSA boxes, but it has helped us facilitate a quick, easy, safe CSA pick up system while keeping everyone’s food contained and safe from any potential exposure.

Our weekly "What's in the Box Email"

We have also worked very hard this year to provide you with a lot of valuable resources to help you find success and joy with each CSA box you receive.  Every week you’ve received a delivery, you’ve also received our “What’s In the Box” email that is packed full of important information about the contents of your box as well as updates to keep you informed about what’s happening on the farm.  We hope you find the weekly picture of the box contents with labels helpful for identifying all the items in your box.  We also hope you are utilizing our “What’s in the Box” newsletter and/or content that we post on our blog each week.  Thus far we’ve provided 54 vegetable feature recipes in our weekly newsletter/vegetable feature blog.  Plus, all members have access to our weekly Cooking with the Box article we post on our blog where I provide additional suggestions for ways you might use the contents of your box including providing links to more recipes.  Thus far this season I’ve shared links to 501 different recipes!  (yes, we counted!) I really hope you find this article helpful.  I realize you may not care for all of the recipes each week, but hopefully you’re able to find a few from the article from time to time that are appealing to you and possibly even earn a spot on your “lets make this again” list.  One member recently sent me an email with the following comment about the Cooking With the Box article:  “I actually haven’t been using my cookbooks all that much this year, and I blame you and the Cooking with the Box section! I swear, I make at least two of those recipes each time. It’s a goldmine!”

We use the cards and pictures you send
to decorate our office!

We can’t talk about the value of CSA without talking about the value of connection.  This is one of the unique aspects of CSA that we truly value—the ability to communicate directly with our members every week and offer transparency.  No, I’m not just writing an article right now, I’m actually talking directly to you.  We can be honest with each other, communicate details about crops and growing conditions, share tidbits of information each week about the items in your box and offer support so you know what to do with new and unusual vegetables!  We also value your feedback, notes of encouragement, and other ways in which you engage in communication with us.

Beauty Heart Radishes as far as you can see!

We hope you feel that you have received a value from your experience with our CSA this year that supersedes the actual value of the dollars you paid for the share.  Some of you have been with us for many years and understand the positive impact CSA has had on your personal health and well-being, the impact CSA has had on the lives and health of your children, and the connection you’ve formed with us over the years as well as the land where your food is grown.  For those of you who joined us for the first time this year, you may have turned to CSA out of uncertainty or simply because you were looking for a way to secure food safely as none of us knew the future this year would deliver as we watched elements of our food system start to buckle and crumble under the stress of the pandemic.  Based on the influx of last minute orders we received back in April, this is likely the case for many of you.  But now that you’re here, stop and reflect on what your CSA experience has meant to you this year.  How have your habits changed?  Are you cooking more at home?  Are you spending less food dollars eating out?  Are you sharing more meals together with your family and household?  What impact has CSA had on your health and well-being?  What will your choices be going forward?

Guests from our 2019 Harvest Party getting ready
for the wagon tour

While we’re grateful to see such an increase in CSA membership this year, we are still concerned about our future.  Who are we growing for in 2021?  In 2022?  The results from our recent short survey are very promising.  Of 1,448 respondents, 1216 individuals (83.98%) said “Yes,” they are planning to join our CSA again for the 2021 season.  13% of respondents indicated they are undecided and only 2.69% said they will not be joining us in 2021.  We know we still need to recruit members as some have or will be moving, others may choose to retire and do more gardening, etc.  We also know, from experience over the years, that it takes most new CSA members about 3 years to truly transition to eating out of a CSA box.  We certainly hope our new members will come to appreciate the value and benefits CSA can contribute to their lives and will choose to stay with us even after the pandemic has passed!

Stunning Diana Radishes!

As we all launch into a new year, we know this pandemic won’t last forever.  My hope is that we will all come out on the other side stronger, healthier, empowered, nourished, thriving and ready to achieve our individual and collective purpose and passions.  The world, our communities and society needs healthy individuals who are ready to make a difference.  

We hope you enjoy the final few boxes of this season and we look forward to growing for you again in 2021.  With gratitude in our hearts, we wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving.