Community Supported Agriculture Program
Luther College offers a CSA Reimbursement Program for faculty and staff who are working 0.75 FTE or greater. You are eligible for a 50 percent reimbursement (up to $100) on Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares.
What’s a CSA?
For over 25 years, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has been a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. Consumers pay an up-front cost, and in exchange receive weekly or biweekly boxes of produce for the entire summer. Some CSAs even offer market shares where customers can pay up front and draw down an account at the local farmer’s market. CSAs come in all shapes and sizes to accommodate the diverse needs of consumers.
The basic idea is that a farmer offers a certain number of “shares” to the public. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a “membership” or a “subscription”) and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce on a regular basis throughout the growing season.
This arrangement creates several rewards for both the farmer and the consumer.
Advantages for Farmers
- Get to spend time marketing the food early in the year, before their 16 hour days in the field begin
- Receive payment early in the season, which helps with the farm’s cash flow
- Have an opportunity to get to know the people who eat the food they grow
Advantages for Consumers
- Eat fresh food, with all the flavor and vitamin benefits
- Get exposed to new vegetables and new ways of cooking
- Usually get to visit the farm at least once a season
- Develop a relationship with the farmer who grows their food and learn more about how food is grown
How to Participate in Luther’s CSA Reimbursement Program?
All faculty and staff wishing to participate in the CSA reimbursement program are encouraged to complete the registration form by April 1. Before completing the form, please purchase your preferred CSA share (options available below).
No need to submit a payment voucher or receipts. Reimbursements will be paid with your paycheck in the fall, so long as the producer has been paid in full. Employees must be at least 0.75 FTE, and must continue to be a Luther employee until at least the time when reimbursement is made at the end of October. As it is considered a benefit of employment, the CSA reimbursement will be taxed.
In addition to the vegetables, another benefit of this program is providing educational and food preparation events. Information about activities will be sent by email to participants.
This program is co-sponsored by the Health Care Fund, Wellness Program and Center for Sustainable Communities.
CSA Options
Ethan and Carly Zierke launched Sweet Season Farm in 2022 thanks to the farm incubator program at Canoe Creek Produce. This program helps beginning farmers gain access to the land and tools they need to get started. Their farm follows organic practices and is on track to become USDA certified organic in 2023. Sweet Season Farm produces a wide range of high-quality and nutritionally dense vegetables for their CSA, the Decorah Farmers Market, and local restaurants. Please reach out to Ethan (ethan@sweetseasonfarmiowa.com) or Carly (carly@sweetseasonfarmiowa.com) if you have any questions—we want to hear from you!
Spring CSA (New!)
Fill up on fresh, local greens each week this May with Canoe Creek Produce and Sweet Season Farm. This is a 4-week veggie subscription designed for salad lovers! This box will focus on spinach, lettuces, salad mixes, and specialty greens but will also include other spring vegetables as they become available. Canoe Creek Produce, owned by Barb Kraus, is an established farm with over 20 years serving the Decorah community. In 2022, Canoe Creek Produce added an incubator farm opportunity that offers land and resources to help new farmers get their start.
Price: $75 (paid by check or $77.25 online). Pickup is on Saturdays in May at the Decorah Farmers Market. More information on the Sweet Season website.
Full Season Purchase options
- Small share: $300
- Regular share: $500
- Market shares: $50 or $100 gift cards (see below)
Weekly CSA Share Pickup
- Wednesdays 4-6 p.m. at 1007 Locust Road, Decorah (our home)
- Saturdays 8-11 a.m. at Decorah Farmers Market
Wednesday pickup runs for 16 weeks from June 14–October 4. Saturday pickup runs June 17–October 7. We take a one-week break the week of Nordic Fest (Wednesday, July 26 and Saturday July 29).
Every week, we will send an email detailing what items you can expect in the box along with recipe ideas, storage tips, and preserving methods. Our goal is to provide the inspiration you need to use the less familiar items in your box (hello, radicchio and winter radish!)
Visit the Sweet Season CSA page for more details
Market Share CSA
After we receive your payment, your card will be loaded and ready for you to use at the next Decorah Farmer’s Market. Each $50 share purchased will result in $55 added to your gift card.
Redeemable only at the Sweet Season Farm stand at the Decorah Farmers Market. Redeemable for the purchase of food products only—no soap or body care items.
Please email Ethan (ethan@sweetseasonfarmiowa.com) or Carly (carly@sweetseasonfarmiowa.com) with questions.
Patchwork Green Farm is a ridge-top garden overlooking the beautiful Canoe Creek valley several miles north of Decorah, Iowa. We raise daughters, soil fertility, hopes for a sustainable future and truckloads of very tasty vegetables.
CSA Program
Patchwork Green Farm is offering an 8-week fall CSA program, from September 6 – October 25. We are a Certified Organic farm and follow careful food safety guidelines.
- Half share: $200 (includes delivery)
- Full share: $350 (includes delivery)
Shares will include a wide variety of summer and fall produce, fresh herbs and occasional cut flowers. Look forward to basil, beans, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cilantro, cucumbers, garlic, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce heads and mix, onions, parsley, sweet and hot peppers, potatoes, radishes, summer and winter squash, slicing and cherry tomatoes and more!
Delivery
The CSA price has a delivery fee built-in. We’ll deliver your weekly bag of produce to your residence in Decorah and nearby neighborhoods. We may also set up a drop-off/pickup site in Decorah for folks who live farther from town. We’ll drop your produce off at your residence between 3 and 6 p.m. on Wednesdays. Please communicate with us via email about logistics at your residence (we would ideally be able to load your produce right into a cooler that you leave on a front porch/steps) and if there is a Wednesday when you would not like to receive a share. Deliveries will begin on September 6 and finish on October 25. We also have an online site that allows you to purchase a wide variety of additional produce to be delivered with your share. If you are not comfortable purchasing a share with a credit card (with Stripe, a national e-commerce payment system), let us know and we’ll work out an alternative payment. We’ll continue to share information about farm happenings, crops, and recipes in our weekly email newsletter. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram @patchworkgreen.
Email Erik at eriksessions@gmail.com for more info or to
Humble Hands Harvest is a worker-owned, diversified, organic farm run by Hannah Breckbill and Emily Fagan with employees Mars Nicol and Mackenzie Miller. We’re entering our sixth season raising organic vegetables and grass-fed lamb, and are establishing nut and fruit orchards to hold the soil and provide food for this community in the long term. We’re grateful to have rooted ourselves in this place and look forward to decades of resilience ahead. A key piece of resilience is a connected community, and the relationship we build with members is the reason we love to offer a CSA program.
A CSA box is a sampling of our best produce of the week, the first choices from the field before we send the rest to farmers market. When you sign up for a full or half share with us, you also have the opportunity to add on offerings from other local farmers, from mushrooms to flowers. There are so many good businesses doing great things for the land and this place, and a Humble Hands Harvest CSA box is one way to access all this goodness in one weekly stop. CSA boxes and add-ons will be available for pick-up at Wednesday farmers markets, July through October, and boxed shares without add-ons are also available on Saturdays. If a CSA box isn’t right for you, you can purchase a market share, which gives you a declining balance on HHH produce and meat at farmers market.
Full Share
Each CSA share is packed in a half-bushel box and includes an email newsletter about the produce. It costs $450 for the harvest season, July through October, and you can pick up your share at the Winneshiek Farmers Market on Wednesdays or Saturdays–your choice!
Sign up for full or half shares
Half Share
You will receive the same half-bushel box as a full share, but every other week instead of weekly. A half share costs $250 for the harvest season, and you’ll pick up your share on either Wednesday or Saturday (your choice) at the Winneshiek Farmers Market.
Sign up for full or half shares
Market Share
Your investment of $100-$300 in the farm at the beginning of the season gives you the 10% extra credit at our farmers market stand ($110-$330) that you can use whenever and however you like, all season long (May through December).
Email Hannah and Emily at humblehandsharvest@gmail.com for more info and to sign up.
Food Education Events
As part of this program all participating households may participate in food education events and education offered periodically during the season. These food events are intended to bring people from different parts of campus together in community to learn a new skill while enjoying tasty season foods.
FAQs
Eating more vegetables is proven to improve health and Luther wants to encourage faculty and staff in their wellness goals.
This program builds community, on campus and off:
- Brings faculty and staff together over unique food experiences
- Connects faculty and staff to local producers and the local community
This program is open to all current Luther College faculty and staff who are working .75 FTE or greater. To receive your benefit, you must continue to be employed at Luther at the time when reimbursements are added to paychecks in October.
Faculty and staff are responsible for paying the farm of their choice in full and completing the CSA Program Registration form as soon as they can in the spring. Faculty and staff will be eligible for reimbursement via payroll. Reimbursements will be paid on or before October 31st. Reimbursements are taxable.
You can find a friend to pick it up for you that week. The friend can either use the vegetables or save them for you until your return.
Some CSAs offer the option of donating your box to the food pantry that week. Food Pantry customers are always happy to receive fresh produce.
You are more than welcome to split your CSA share with someone else if you are worried about not being able to use all the produce yourself. It will be up to you to figure out how to make that sharing happen. If you are sharing with another member of the Luther faculty/staff, only one of you is eligible for reimbursement. If you are sharing with a non-Luther employees, keep in mind that the financial benefit is meant to benefit Luther employees and make sure to structure your split with that in mind.
Yes, you may sign up for full or half shares from as many farms as you wish. Your reimbursement maximum remains $100, however.
If you have any other questions, please contact sustainability@luther.edu.