A community of food starts with you.
Thanks to all the 2024 CSA members for your support.
Sign up and pay for CSA shares on our Merch page.
First baskets begin in early May and are expected to continue for about 28 weeks, they start small but build to amazing boxes mid-season!
You may pickup boxes Friday morning through early evening at either at the Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture. (moves to Mondays in October)
The OSU Organic Growers Club CSA is a all student managed subscription based farm to family service. This is its 24th year in operation. In 2020 it took a leap and expanded the project. In 2021, we got more students back again and had improved coordination and planning to take better advantage of what each of our farms has to offer. We continue to seek improvement, hope to expand student leadership opportunities, and look forward to 2024!
The CSA is co-managed by James Cassidy of Oregon State University and student leadership. James runs credited hands-on courses and internships where students get to grow the food for the CSA. Most of this happens at “The Student Farm” located across the Willamette River and part of the OSU “East Farm” complex, and at the Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture on the main campus off 35th near Western Blvd.
Our goal is to provide each share with enough plant foods to cover the fruit and vegetable needs for about four people, and other odds-and-ends now and then like herbs and flowers. Many tell us this is a lot for a single family and so they share their box with others. During the main season for fresh produce that will mean a weekly pick up of CSA baskets. As we enter the Fall we will switch to a biweekly schedule and deliver more food that stores well. That may include items we have frozen during Summer peak harvest, such as berries and tomatoes. However, we ask that if you don’t do this already to set up your own household systems for keeping extra frozen and canned foods, as well as spaces for storage vegetables like potatoes, onions, and winter squash. We will share this burden with you by having on-farm storage, but are going to be delivering in bulk so need you to be able to handle that. Plus, while we will normally strive to give you just the right amount of food for a household of four, during some weeks you will get extra for you to process. Certain crops are being grown for this purpose, like sauce tomatoes.
We feel the need to do all this for a number of reasons. Food security is on our minds. The food system has evolved into a hyper complex beast that demands extreme inputs of energy, a labyrinth supply chain, the free mobility of a worker underclass, and a blind eye to environmental damage, including topsoil loss. This is also true of just about every aspect of our economy and we know that many of you support the CSA because you understand this and aim to build a better food system. We are asking you to help us take the next steps, together, to make strides in that direction.
One of the best things you can do for the health of you and those you love is eat fresh, wholesome food. The grocery stores, full of cheap convenience foods, tempt us away from what we know we should do. Over-processed and packaged goods may save us time in the kitchen, but they cost more and so we need to work more hours to afford them. Might we strive to become expert cooks that can easily convert a diversity of local crops and turn them into delicious, life-affirming nourishment?
And last but not least, we are educators of the upcoming generation. So many students want to be skilled in ways the modern educational system hasn’t provided. They want to be outside, using their body and senses, connecting to the soil, plants, and living creatures, while doing obviously useful work with people they enjoy being around. We can honestly say working with the CSA farms is a transformative experience for many amazing young people.
We have partnerships with other farms in the area to get you some other foods. For 2024 will will offer additional subscription services for OSU Beaver Classic cheese, and OSU Clark Meat Center meats. We don’t expect to provide you everything you’ll desire, but we certainly can go a long way towards that goal as we are blessed with rich soil, a benign climate, and some fantastic farms.
To make this all run smoothly, the Soil Forward website will be used for orders and payments. The first thing we ask is for everyone to sign up and pay $1100 March and April or contact James for alternative payment.
But let’s not focus too much on the money, for price is a metric nearly unrelated to value. Here’s the value of this CSA: feeling true food security, connecting with the land and the people who work with it, supporting young farmers, challenging yourself to be even more skilled in the kitchen, and eating incredibly healthy food that makes your body feel great.
We hope you will join us on this farm and food journey. We continue to improve and are dedicated to growing a beautiful food system we know stands a chance to persevere and bring health and joy. Sign up and pay for CSA shares here.