The Franklin Farmers Market will host its second annual CSA Day on March 11 sponsored by Williamson Medical Center and Amerigo Italian Restaurant. In a CSA, a farmer “contracts” with other people in the community to provide them with a portion of the year’s harvest. CSA customers pay the farmer before the produce season begins, allowing the farmer to buy necessary seed, fertilizer, fuel and other inputs to farm for the year. When crops start coming in, the customer’s fresh, local food is already bought and paid for. For the meat farmer, a CSA commitment helps the farmer know how many animals to raise and helps with the cost of feed and processing. CSA members can come to the Franklin Farmers Market to pick up their shares. Here’s your CSA Day Passport!
Why join a CSA? The reasons are many, but the most important reasons are the nutritional value in freshly harvested food and supporting your local economy. We all have a doctor for our health, but what about a farmer? With a CSA you can have a personal relationship with your farmer and get to know who is growing your food and how. By buying a CSA, your money goes directly to your local economy, your personal farmer, and you are helping to keep the family farm alive while having access to healthy, nutritious food.
The CSA model has changed frequently through the years, but the idea is to have a “share” of the harvest. Some farmers offer a “market style” CSA where members choose what is in their share, and some put shares together for the members with recipes on how to prepare the food.
CSAs aren’t confined to produce. Some farmers include the option for shareholders to buy shares of eggs, homemade bread, meat, cheese, fruit, flowers or other farm products along with their veggies. Some farmers have just meat in their CSA, where members get a monthly or bimonthly share of mixed beef, pork, chicken and lamb. At the Franklin Farmers Market we have all kinds of options for customers. Our CSA day is designed for customers to spend some time talking with the farmers to see what is the best fit for them!
The Franklin Farmers Market has more CSA vendors than any other market in the area. Customers can find meat AND vegetable CSA farmers at the Franklin Farmers Market, including:
Each CSA box or basket contains newly harvested produce your farm of choice
Beaverdam Creek Farm (vegetables)
Bloomsbury Farm (vegetables)
Delvin Farms (vegetables)
Flying S Farms (vegetables, eggs)
Hatcher Family Dairy (meat, milk, eggs)
Jones Mill Farm (baked goods, jams, vegetable )
Kirkview Farm (vegetables)
Peaceful Pastures (meat)
Red Cedar Bison Ranch (bison meat)
Tavalin Tails Farm (meat)
Triple L Ranch (meat)
West Wind Farms (meat, milk, eggs)
Pick up a CSA Day Passport from our market Information booth identifying the farms you can visit about their CSA program. Or download a CSA Passport with this link.
Find a vegetable and meat CSA farmer at the Franklin Farmers Market’s first CSA day on March 11 from 9:00 am- 12:00 pm. The market is located at 230 Franklin Road behind the Factory.
