Fall and winter CSA options for the 'grasshoppers' who aren't ready for winter

A kitchen crew of seven people processes sweet corn for the Locavorious frozen food CSA.

Photo courtesy of Locavorious

I love sweet corn, so I hate that summer is almost over. Another couple of days and poof! It's gone for eight months while we get our long winter's nap. In the middle of asking myself why I want to live with such an attenuated season of warmth and light,

I'm also panicking because, like the grasshopper in Aesop's fables, I haven't done nearly enough to fill up the freezer or the pantry for the winter months. I made my sauerkraut, but as of this moment the tomatoes remain un-roasted, the raspberries un-jammed, the corn un-frozen and the peppers un-salsa-ed. I am no urban homesteader, that's for sure.

Luckily for locavore wannabes like me, the proliferation of farmers' markets, CSA farms and hoop houses in our area is beginning to fill in the gaps across the year and starting to address community food security in our area. We now have many farms growing food for people nearby.

In addition to making direct connections with local eaters, our farms are scaling up to supply groceries, like the People's Food Co-op, and restaurants, like Silvio's Organic Pizza and Grange Kitchen and Bar. And they're starting to have food year round. It's clear that the "eat local" ethos is driving an increased supply of winter produce (and other food) that is new here, and Washtenaw County is leading the way toward a four season food system in our state.

Four season food system brings fall and winter CSAs

The Ann Arbor Farmers' Market has always been year-round on Saturdays, but over the past few years it has seen an astounding jump in the number of shoppers and vendors during the winter months. Using hoop houses and old-time techniques like root cellaring and preserving, farmers (and other innovative CSAs) are extending the part of the year when local food is available.

In fact, post-summer may be the best time to have a CSA farm share — it will likely include the last of sun-loving tomatoes and peppers before moving into the sweetest brussels sprouts and kale of autumn, along with winter squash and potatoes that can last through the winter.

Many farmers echo Sunseed Farm owner Tomm Becker who says the fall CSA share is "the most diverse share we have — you get all the summer bounty and you get all the crops that are best in the fall. You get to experience the beginning of the winter harvest vegetables that start to come really fast. I think it's the nicest share, personally. Our members can enjoy all the summer vegetable fruits they love and watch the harvest change as we transition into fall and winter."

Jennifer Kangas of Capella Farm says of the fall share: "I think this is one of the best times of the year."

And Richard Andres of Tantre Farm says, "It's just a huge culmination, like the end of the fireworks display. It's the crescendo, that big burst."

The food system is also an employment system

Rena Basch, owner of Locavorious, the local, frozen food CSA, is working on the last of her big burst of effort that's already put more than four tons of Michigan produce — processed by hand and meal-ready — into the freezer. She's still waiting for broccoli, cauliflower, edamame and sweet pie pumpkins to finish her season, but one big Locavorious project completed is the corn.

It takes a big kitchen crew to process it, and she says the corn is "a great big effort. We call the farmer the night before to tell him how much we want and then pick it up first thing in the morning. Back at the kitchen we have a shucker and a washer, and then someone blanching it before plunging the cobs in ice water. We do two dozen ears at a time in a huge steam-jacketed, floor-mounted kettle. Then, there are two or three people cutting the kernels off the cobs, and someone weighing the corn out into the containers."

The corn is so sweet Rena says, "People are suspicious — like you must add sugar. But it's the speed that we get it from the field to the freezer, and it's one of the older varieties, this year mostly from Brookside Farm in Superior Township."

Don't panic!

It's a virtuous cycle — the more demand, the more farms, the more food — and all the health and economic benefits that come with that. So instead of taking a Xanax for the panic attack about my currently empty freezer, I made a list of fall and winter CSA options. In between roasting peppers and making raspberry jam, I'm going to be making some calls.

The increasing number of fall, winter and "holiday" CSAs means there are lots of options for the healthy, locally grown food that sustains those of us who try to see winter in Michigan as an opportunity for character development — through shoveling snow, making soup, and wearing long underwear. Ultimately, the knitting together of a sustaining food system is more important to me than endless summer, and that's a big part of why I love living in this under-appreciated state.

And as Richard Andres says, "This time of year, it's like you ran a marathon and see the flags at the end of the finish line, the beautiful leaves. It's like, oh yeah, there's the finish line. It feels like we're getting more and more with the local food movement. There's more and more momentum there, so that's sort of the current carrying us along. There are more and more things to look forward to..."

Indeed, I'm already looking forward to the winter farmers market and all the fall and winter CSA options we have this year.

Fall and Winter CSA Options

Brines Farm

Throughout the winter, receive three pounds a week of many types of fresh hoop house greens (and a few roots and other things), grown in Dexter.

Duration: 24 weeks, November through April

Cost: $650

Pickup: Saturday Ann Arbor Farmers' Market

Sign up: http://csa.brines.org

Capella Farm

After spring and summer shares earlier this year, Capella Farm, a diversified CSA farm on Scio Church Road, is offering a fall and a "holiday" share.

Duration: 5 weeks, Oct 18-Nov. 15 - which includes the Holiday Box (two weeks of produce)

Cost: $210

Pickup: Tuesdays 3-6:30 p.m. at the farm on Scio Church Rd.

Signup: Call 734-761-3554 OR e-mail: capellafarm@gmail.com

Note: Holiday Share (one distribution on Nov. 15, available for $80 or $90).

(Green Things Farm)

This is a new CSA farm whose fall CSA is already sold out. Look for them again for a spring or summer CSA membership.

Harvest Kitchen

Harvest Kitchen calls itself "a prepared food Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program in Washtenaw County, Michigan." They offer a variety of membership options for vegetarian and "omnivore" dishes prepared from meat and produce from local farms, as well as retail sales at their shop in Ypsilanti. Vegetarian and meat-based dishes are prepared on different days.

Duration: Winter season is 23 weeks, from December-May.

Cost: Vegetarian share $2,500 (approx. $109/week); Omnivore share: $2,800 (approx. $122/week)

Pickup: Tuesday OR Friday 4-7:30 p.m. at Harvest Kitchen, 32 E. Cross St., Ypsilanti; Also Wed OR Sat at Ann Arbor Farmerrs Market 7:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., 315 Detroit St., Ann Arbor.

Signup: http://www.harvest-kitchen.com/share-info/winter-spring

Note: Half shares are available for reduced fee. Glass rather than plastic packaging is available for a fee. Home delivery is available through Arborcycle.

Locavorious

A wintertime CSA for hand-processed frozen fruits and vegetables from local farms. Members will receive meal-ready items including: blueberries, raspberries, peaches, sweet corn, beans, cauliflower, squash and edamame. Locavorious makes an effort to source produce that is certified organic or grown with organic practice whenever possible. Except for the corn, all produce is briefly steam blanched to preserve nutrients and flavor.

Duration: 4 monthly pickups, December-April

Cost: $200

Pickup: Ann Arbor Farmers' Market, Corner Brewery, Morgan and York

Signup: http://www.locavorious.com/sign-up

Note: Pickup at Morgan and York is available throughout the week after Monday drop-off.

Old Pine Farm

Local, humanely raised, hormone-free meat, either in a monthly CSA box, or in quarters or halves

Duration: A special four-month share starting in September. Quarterly and six-month shares starting in 2012.

Cost: Starting at $375

Pickup: Zingerman's Roadhouse, Washtenaw Community College, West Ann Arbor

Signup: http://oldpinefarm.com/index.php/contact-us

Our Family Farm

Based outside of Manchester, Our Family Farm offers a four month winter CSA that includes various options for chicken, eggs, and pork. Farmer John Hochstetler and his wife, Lois, are among the mainstays of the wintertime Ann Arbor Farmers' Market — there every week with their CSA and some potatoes, eggs and greens.

Duration: Chicken available starting October, pork available starting January.

Cost: From $108 for 15 dozen eggs and five fryer chickens up to $275 for 80 pounds of pork over four months.

Pickup: Ann Arbor Farmers' Market on Wednesday or Saturday from 7 a.m.-1 p.m.

Signup: http://ourfamilyfarmllc.com/wintercsa.php

Sunseed Farm

This year-round CSA farm offers memberships in spring, fall and winter. They currently have a small number of openings for the fall CSA season. Farmer Tomm Becker says, "Our fall share is often our most diverse, as it includes the end of the summer bounty as well as the fall harvest, which is the best time for growing cold-season vegetables. Our members can enjoy all the summer vegetable fruits they love and watch the harvest change as we transition into fall and winter."

Duration: The fall CSA is 13 weeks this year, from Sept. 15 through Dec. 9, 2011 due to unusual weather that extended the summer share.

Cost: $460

Pickup: Thursdays from 4-6:30 p.m. at Sunseed Farm, Boyden Drive, Ann Arbor OR Fridays from 7-10 a.m. at SELMA, 722 Soule Blvd., Ann Arbor.

Signup: http://www.farmsunseed.com/resources/fall%20csa%20signup.pdf

Root Cellar Fermented Foods

They say: "Each member will get a share of locally grown and processed fermented food bi-weekly delivered to drop-off points in Ann Arbor and Farmington Hills. Live fermented foods are a healthy addition to your daily diet! The fare will run the gamut of fermented dishes from sauerkraut to tempeh, from miso to chutney."

Duration: Starting the first week of November, there are one-, three- and six-month membership options.

Cost: TBA.

Pickup: Bi-weekly, starting in November, in Ann Arbor or Farmington Hills

Signup: http://www.emailmeform.com/builder/form/7f5atcEplshI5uC

Tantre Farm

Tantre Farm has a regular 20-week CSA from June through October, and they also offer an "extended season" share for three weeks after that. In addition, there is an option for a large "Thanksgiving" share which includes approximately 60 pounds of fall and storage crops. Farmer Richard Andres says, "We got a good early start, and we've got a lot of root crops coming, and we'll have some fresh baby greens. If we get a few mild weeks here we should be all set."

Duration: Extended season share is Oct. 22-Nov. 5. Thanksgiving share likely Nov. 19.

Cost: Extended season share $90. Thanksgiving share: $100.

Pickup: Ann Arbor Farmers Market

Signup: http://tantrefarm.com/csa-interest