This stretch of fantastic weather has allowed the farmers of Geauga Family Farms to get a head start on planting for their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. GFF is a co-op of eight farmers who grow certified-organic produce for members of their CSA program. Members pay up front for a weekly box of produce, or share, they receive for 20 weeks from June to October. This allows the farmers to buy seeds and pay for any labor needed to get the crops in the ground. In return, members enjoy truly fresh, locally grown vegetables.
Members choose from three sizes of shares that can be picked up at locations all over Northeast Ohio, including a GFF farm on Bundysburg Road in Middlefield and sites in Chardon, Bainbridge, Chester Township and Kirtland.
The farmers harvest the vegetables, pack them in boxes, and are ready for pick up within 24 hours. Simply choose a share size, and in early June, members receive veggies . Lettuces, green onions and radishes will start off the season. In mid-summer, members see tomatoes, sweet corn, peppers, beans, potatoes and melons in their shares, with cabbage and squash in the fall.
This region is able to produce an amazing array of vegetables. GFF farms grow more than 50 types of vegetables, and multiple varieties of many of them.Members talk about how participating in a CSA has taught them to eat new and different things and changed how they eat for the better.
There will be no GMOs – plants whose genetic material has been altered to withstand direct application of herbicide – in your shares.
GFF also offers eggs, maple syrup, cheeses, honey, baked goods and more. Members have access to chicken, turkey and grass-fed beef as well.
Other sites are in Cleveland Heights, downtown, Lakewood, Lyndhurst, Mace-donia, Mentor, Painesville, Parma, Newton Falls, Shaker, Solon, Willoughby Hills and the Beachwood. Sign up for your share by May 15.
For more info, visit www.geaugafamilyfarms.org or contact Laura Dobson at 440-478-9849, LDobson@geaugafamily-farms.org.
Laura Dobson is the farm representative for GFF.