Eating in spring summer is all about fresh and flavorful produce, from juicy tomatoes and vitamin-rich greens to sweet and tangy berries. Salads, skewers, sorbets and sangrias will cover picnic tables, and farmers markets make mouths water.
For those looking for the freshest produce that the season has to offer, there’s no doubt that shopping local is the way to go. For more than four decades, farmers who are situated around large cities have been providing their neighbors with the fruits — and vegetables — of their labor in exchange for investment in their often-foundering farms. This system is known as “community supported agriculture,” or CSA for short.
Greg Boulos of Blackberry Meadows Farm in Fawn said that the CSA system is about the relationship between agriculture and the community.
“It doesn’t mean I’m going to grow more food in 2026, it means I’m going to grow food in 2027,” he said.
According to Penn State Extension, between 30,000 and 50,000 Americans belong to a CSA today. The program usually has customers pay an up-front cost and then receive boxes of the freshest harvest on a weekly or biweekly basis throughout the season.
The CSA season often runs from late May to mid-to-late October, spanning the harvest time of a wide variety of vegetables and fruits. Subscribers get the produce right from the plant, from strawberries and greens to corn and melons to squash to potatoes, beets, apples and more.
What can you expect from a CSA? Let’s take a look.
Why it’s a good idea
While CSA shares are a large cost up-front — typically between $300 and $600 depending on the size and length of the share — they’re actually economical in the long run, said Jennifer Montgomery, who co-owns Blackberry Meadows Farm with Boulos, her husband.
“The customers are securing their food prices now and then going with the flow with the fluctuation of the season,” she said.
The produce is also likely more sustainable and in tune with best practices for growing. Many local farms that provide CSAs are certified organic, including Who Cooks For You Farm in New Bethlehem, which serves the Greater Pittsburgh area.
That also means that subscribers are going to get something a little different every year.
“It’s what we have when we can grow it,” said Aeros Lillstrom, co-owner of Who Cooks For You Farm. “We collaborate with Mother Nature and she is the determinator.”
It also means that subscribers are getting the freshest, most seasonal items at any given time. That’s why Who Cooks For You Farm offers a variety of share options, including seasonal shares that are only for the spring, summer or fall.
Art King, who owns Harvest Valley Farms in Bakerstown with his brother and son, said that the biggest draw for those who loved fruits and vegetables is the farm-to-kitchen nature of CSA shares.
“You’re getting the freshest vegetables that money can buy,” he said. “Whenever they take our lettuce home, they can keep it for two weeks the refrigerator.”
Harvest Valley Farms offers highly customizable shares. Every week, there are two items that everyone gets, but customers can choose the other items in their box from an array of 40-50 other offerings. And, there are some very specific options.
“We grow 21 different kinds of tomatoes,” he said.
Who Cooks For You Farm also has a lot of customization available.
“We’ve spread ourselves out to really try to accommodate dietary restrictions. … People who just want to be more adventurous and try new things, that would be more the farmer’s choice,” said Lillstrom.
She also said that customizable shares create less food waste. But there is something to be said for the old-fashioned CSAs that provide whatever is freshest for any given week; it may introduce subscribers to something they haven’t tried before.
“With my customers, I’ve heard that they’ve just learned that there’s different food out there and that you can eat different things in basically the same way,” said Paul Sarver, owner of Sarver’s Hill Organic Farm in Greensburg.
And, of course, the health benefits of getting excited about produce can’t be discounted. “Not a soul in the world would tell you ‘no, that’s not right’ when you say that the doctor said you should eat more fruits and vegetables,” King said. “What’s the best way to do that? Make sure you have it at the house.”
How it works
Every CSA program works a little bit differently, but the formula is essentially the same. Subscribers will sign up at the beginning of the season, pay up front, and then receive their shares throughout the growing and harvesting seasons. Shares are designed with a set number of items in mind, and will be available at set intervals of time — weekly or biweekly — for a mostly set period of time.
Where the differences lie from farm to farm is typically in the logistics. Some farms require early sign-ups and some — including Who Cooks For You Farm — even allow for new subscribers into the growing season.
“It’s ongoing registration, and whenever people sign up when the season starts, it just gets pro-rated,” Lillstrom said.
Most regional CSAs are still taking on new subscribers.
Many farms offer more localized pickup locations for their CSA boxes. Blackberry Meadows Farm offers set times for pickup in Bloomfield and Squirrel Hill as well as the option to pick up at the farm itself on set days. Who Cooks For You Farm offers a wide variety of pickup locations depending on which CSA season is purchased.
Some CSAs ask their subscribers to come out to farm for their shares, as is the case with Harvest Valley Farms.
Seasons also vary in length. Harvest Valley Farms runs their CSA for 22 weeks from the beginning of June to the end of October; Sarver’s Hill Farms offers a 24-week option and a 20-week option, starting either in late May to late October or early June to mid-October; and Blackberry Meadows Farm offers either 20-week or 10-week programs that run weekly or bi-weekly from June to October.
Who Cooks For You Farm offers a variety of different lengths, with spring, summer and autumn shares.
Sarver’s Hill Organic Farm loads up with plenty of produce with its one-size share.
“It’s basically set up for a family with two adults and two children,” Sarver said.
Growing a community
“It’s a community thing. It’s a back-and-forth. We’re part of them, they’re part of us,” Sarver said of the connection between farms and the customers they feed.
For farmers, CSAs are a part of the symbiotic relationship between grower and customer. The up-front cost helps farmers in their upcoming season, and the community gets to share in the bounty of the harvest.
“It also gives me an idea of what the people are looking for, because their desires change over the years,” said Sarver, who has been running the CSA program for three decades and is also a part-time pastor.
Who Cooks For You Farm even offers payment plans for those who may need a little more time for that up-front cost.
“That’s really important in this wild financial era that we’re in,” Lillstrom said.
Blackberry Meadows Farm even offers community members the ability to come and work at the farm to grow their own food.
“What we’re doing is leasing as little as a three-foot-by-50-foot-long plot, and I want people to grow storage crops that are kind of low-maintenance,” Montgomery said. “They come out and learn about how to plant, where to plant, when to plant. … It becomes an instant food community.”
The farm also offers work trades, Boulos said, and Sarver’s Hill Organic Farm offers discounted shares for those who come and volunteer at the farm.
CSA programs not only offer a taste of the region to customers but offer a chance for both farmers and their supporters to get closer.
“We believe really wholeheartedly in the model of community supported agriculture and us supporting the community, Lillstrom said. “It’s a collaboration, we feel, in helping to sustain the Earth and just being an integral part of the community on both ends.”