It’s CSA Signup Day, and We Have a Story for You
Today’s is CSA Signup Day, an annual event to encourage local food fans to go all in and enroll for a subscription with a Community Supported Agriculture farm.
To mark the occasion, the Buy Fresh Buy Local Illinois directory has published my latest article, and it focuses on Broadview Farm and Gardens in Marengo, Illinois. Broadview — launched in 2016 by Tim and Delicia Brown, both career-changing first-time farmers — started a CSA after first establishing a customer base at farmers markets in north-central Illinois.
Their decision was not without some risk. CSAs were in the vanguard of the rise of the local food movement a couple of decades ago, fueled by eaters who wanted to live out the slogan “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food.” But the CSA model slumped a few years back. Click the link below to learn how the Browns overcame the challenges by building their CSA boxes around popular “Salad Bowl” ingredients, and benefited during the pandemic from a CSA revival, as many consumers sought secure, local food supplies.
Thanks again to Tim Brown for participating in the interview for the article, and I look forward to visit Broadview Farm after it stops being winter.
Reminder to CSA Farms: Free Advertising Here
I also marked CSA Week in Tuesday’s issue with an offer to CSA farms: share some information about your farm and your CSA subscriptions, and I’ll share it with Local Food Forum’s audience. Free of charge. Public service. I got your back.
Just email me at bob@localfoodforum.com and I’ll take it from there.
And if that’s not enough free advertising, a reminder to all sustainability-minded farmers (CSA or not) that you should sign up for a free listing on the Buy Fresh Buy Local Illinois directory, mentioned above. The directory is centered on an interactive map that helps consumers find food businesses convenient to them throughout Illinois, and it will help you stand out from the crowd.
Click the button below to go right to the signup page.