Hooray for CSAs!

How to help local farmers without going to the farm

By RICH WARREN

I felt like I spent a big part of last summer "down on the farm," when in reality I never left Columbus. Instead, I spent hours in my kitchen cooking up produce that earlier in the day had been ripening in a field.

I didn't physically help to pick that produce, but in a way, I helped nonetheless. That's because I joined a Community-Supported Agriculture venture, CSA for short. It's a concept that originated in Europe and Japan and has been in the U.S. for about two decades, really catching on in the last few years. Basically, what it involves is a bunch of city slickers like myself buying a "share" in a farm's output during the course of a year. I made a payment upfront early in the year, and in exchange I got a delivery each week from late spring right almost until Thanksgiving of whatever fruits and vegetables were ripe. I picked up my weekly delivery at a church parking lot just a few blocks from where I work.

Ben, Lisa and Charlie Sippel, proprietors of the Sippel Family Farm, a Community-Supported Agriculture venture.

It's an arrangement that worked out well for both me and the farmers I supported.

I got lots of ultra-fresh food at a great price, I got exposed to lots of new vegetables and new recipes, and I got to know the farmers growing my food.

The farmers, Ben and Lisa Sippel of Morrow County (and members of Consolidated Electric), had the benefit of getting their payments early in the season so they didn't have to spend time marketing their wares during the summer months when they were busy in the fields. And they got to know the 220 families in their CSA just like we got to know them.

Of course it meant that I, too, took on part of the risk of the growing season along with the Sippels - that's what the "support" in a CSA is all about. As it states at www.localharvest.org, a Web site where you can locate a CSA in your area, the shared risk helps create a sense of community between the members and the farmers. "If a hailstorm takes out all the peppers, everyone is disappointed together, and together cheer on the winter squash and broccoli," according to the site.

From week to week, I never knew what would be in my delivery, and that meant I was surprised and delighted each time. I have to say I had a ball. As a single person, I like to cook but rarely take the time, usually just heating up a can of soup or slapping a Stouffer's frozen entrée into the microwave.

By joining a CSA, it forced me to cook, and to be creative about it. All sorts of things popped up in my delivery that I not only had never eaten but had no idea what to do with - things like kohlrabi, kale, escarole and chard. I would scour the Internet for recipes or just take a look at the ones the Sippels provided on their Web site. Then it was off to the kitchen where I spent hours blissfully roasting beets or braising cucumbers. I admit to
tiring of the steady torrent of zucchini, and I did lose my enthusiasm for tomatoes, but I learned a lot of different ways to prepare them to
create some variety.

I loved concocting easy or even not-so-easy dishes that I'd then devour with gusto. Admittedly, the results were uneven. No one will be beating down my door to get at my Potato and Leek Curry, but I learned to make a really mean Eggplant Parmesan, and my Nutty Cole Slaw and Butternut Squash Soup would set your lips a-smackin'. I do wish I'd had someone around to help with the cleanup. I have never learned how to cook without making my kitchen look like Hiroshima.

I also learned firsthand something about the vagaries of farming. As you'll recall, last summer was quite cool, which affected the farm's output substantially. The fall, however, was warm, and the stream of produce picked up. Also, I learned something about the variations in Ohio's climate. I learned that the Sippels' farm location nearly an hour north of Columbus meant longer growing time than farms closer to me or south of the city.

When you live in a large city, the impact of weather on agriculture is an abstraction. When you're a member of a CSA, it's part of your reality.

The Sippels are young - both are turning the big 3-0 this year - but nevertheless, this coming season will be their tenth of operating a CSA, the seventh at their current 77-acre farm on St. Rte. 19, not far from Mount Gilead. Both are college graduates, and both decided early that a life in farming was what they wanted. Running a CSA has helped them achieve that goal, allowing them to afford both the acreage and the equipment to farm it, and also to secure a loan from the bank. In fact, their explanation of how a CSA operates is what helped "seal the deal" with their loan officer, who will be one of their CSA members this season.

The Sippels also have pork and beef available for purchase to their members. Other CSAs offer different options such as dairy, eggs, sometimes even bread or flowers, but the Sippels stick with the basics, and they are adamant that farms that band together to offer products are not true CSAs - those are more like agricultural co-ops, they said.

Ben and Lisa take very seriously what they see as the "educational component" of a CSA, sending out weekly e-mails to members describing what's in the delivery, what to do with it and what's going on at the farm. And to promote a sense of community among their members, they sponsor monthly potlucks at their farm.

To the Sippels, that sense of connection with their members is an immense satisfaction - it's that and their love of farming that keeps them going each year. As a testament to what a good job they're doing, they have a very high rate of members returning each year - typically only 10 to 15 percent of their customers drop out, often only because they're moving away from the area. This, and the fact that the Sippels only need to rely on word of mouth for advertising, tells them that their members are highly satisfied. They relish the bonds they've made with their members - some have become close friends, and many send Christmas cards.

Ben and Lisa were joined by son Charlie in February of 2007, and already he too is an enthusiastic farmer. Lisa shared a touching story about Charlie in her final newsletter of the 2009 season. It seems that Charlie had just the day before said to her, "Mommy, let's do something fun!" When she asked him what would be fun to do, he replied, "Let's pick up rocks in the wheelbarrow, or feed the pigs!" It appears that even at age 3, Charlie Sippel is a Future Farmer of America.

At this point in the year, the Sippels may well be fully booked for the 2010 season, but if you live close enough to their farm and are interested in joining, it's worth contacting them to see if you can be added to the waiting list for next year. Contact them at sippelfamilyfarm@bright­­choice.net.

Alternately, to find a CSA for this year, go to www.localharvest.org and enter your ZIP code into the search engine to find CSAs in your immediate area. The Sippels strongly advise that you study each CSA's offerings carefully to get a sense of what you'll get and for how long. Although other CSAs may be cheaper, not all provide the variety or last as late in the season as the Sippels'.

So lots of good food, lots of fun cooking, and lots of learning about an Ohio farm and the family growing my food are all good reasons to return next year. As Ben Sippel put it, "If you join a CSA just as a produce transaction, you're missing the real value."

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