Community Supported Agriculture at Temple Isaiah
What is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)?
What is the Temple Isaiah/Gan Ilan/CCJDS CSA Project?
What Choices Do I Have As a CSA Member?
How do I sign up?
Read our weekly CSA recipe blog
What is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)?
In a CSA project, individuals or families commit in advance to buy produce from a local farm for a whole season. Taking this step builds a strong relationship between food buyers and their local farmers, and provides substantial economic, social and environmental benefits for all involved.
What is the Temple Isaiah/Gan Ilan/CCJDS CSA Project?
In 2010, the Temple Isaiah/CCJDS Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Project brought fresh, organic produce from three local farms, grass-fed, free range meats and delicious organic soups and prepared meals to Temple Isaiah. Every Tuesday afternoon, CSA members came to pick up their food, share recipes and cooking tips, learn about organic farming and visit with friends. More than 85 families participated in the CSA in its first season. Together we helped support organic farming on six acres of farmland in Fairfield, Pleasonton and Santa Cruz, kept more than 9000 pounds of chemicals out of the environment, and donated more than 750 pounds of fresh organic produce to the Contra Costa Food Bank and a Lamorinda based cancer support group called “When God and Cancer Meet”.
We are now taking sign ups for the CSA’s fall season, which begins on Tuesday, September 20, and runs through December 13.
The CSA’s Fall offerings are:
Organic produce from Ledesdma Farms and Frog Hollow Farms
(choice of boxes that contain all vegetables, all fruit or a mix of fruit and vegetables). Delivered weekly.
- Small box (serves 1-2): The box costs $286 for the season ($22/week).
- Large box (serves 3-4). The box costs $390 for the season ($30/week)
Organic soups and prepared meals from Nature’s Bounty
Delivered weekly
- Small (serves 1-2). Soups cost $6 and entrees cost $10.
- Large (serves 3-4). Soups cost $12 and entrees cost $20.
How do I sign up?
If you are interested in becoming a CSA member and purchasing one or more of the items listed above, please contact Rebecca Calahan Klein at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or at 510.612.0547. Please indicate what products you want, and she will send you a sign up form. Payments can be made either for the full season or half season. A contribution to Temple Isaiah will be made for every CSA membership.
We are also exploring the possibility of setting up a food coop for CSA members to purchase organic dry goods (pasta, flour, sugar, canned goods, spices, tea and coffee, oils, etc.), green personal care products (soaps, shampoos, lotions, etc.), green cleaning products and organic pet food. We will need 10 or more more families to start the coop. We would work together to develop a coop buying order on the third Tuesday of the month, and pick up our orders at the CSA site on the first Monday of the month. It will cost $75 to join the coop. You will pay for your order when you pick it up at the CSA. Prices are expected to be about 25% lower than retail. If you are interested in this, please contact Rebecca.
If you would like to help support the CSA project, or the broader community building activities described above as a volunteer, please contact Rebecca Calahan Klein at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Donations can also be sent to Temple Isaiah.