18 Reasons and CAFF host a CSA Cooking Class Series

18 Reasons and the Community Alliance with Family Farmers are teaming up for a dinner series focused on Bay Area farms that sell mainly through farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs. Our first farmer, Chris Hay of Say Hay Farms, worked as a farmers' market demo chef before launching Say Hay Farms. Chris has teamed up with 18 Reasons' Chef and Program Director Michelle McKenzie to plan a seasonal meal from the farm. Join us for a dinner and discussion to learn how to help small farms thrive. 

Tickets will be on sale soon!

How a successful CSA farm supports the larger community

A CSA farm provides healthy produce for a community of families, and those families support a local farmer. But the effect a CSA has ripples far out into a community... those who work on the farm and their families, the land and environment that is cared for, the resources that are saved by minimal packaging and fewer food miles traveled...

See the impact that Local Roots CSA Farm has on its community: 

CSA Farmer Profile: Shooting Star CSA

Shooting Star CSA
Fairfield, CA

 

Lily Schneider and Matt Mccue of Shooting Star CSA raise each plant on their 15-acre farm from seed to harvest. Growing more than 35 varieties of fruits and vegetables takes a lot of time and care, but it’s what keeps their CSA shares varied and abundant from May through November. Shooting Star is located in the Suisun Valley, just outside of Fairfield. The farm serves the Bay Area, from Walnut Creek to San Francisco, as well as Solano County. 

Farmer Lily discusses the importance of crop diversity at Shooting Star, “Our farm is a living system that is constantly teaching us new ways of doing things. Our soil fertility program is based on growing winter cover crops, and compost applications before planting. Our most important pest management tool is our high crop diversity. Although we grow a wide variety of crops, we are constantly fine-tuning our varieties to find the ones that are most adapted to our warm summer climate. This means a lot of trial and error, but in the end it has led us to produce higher quality and much better tasting product. “ 

Matt Mccue served in the army prior to becoming a farmer. He came to California for the farm apprenticeship program run by CASFS at UC Santa Cruz, and went on to join the Peace Corps. Lily studied Sustainable Agriculture at UCSC. In 2009, they stumbled upon the piece of land that would become Shooting Star. In their sixth year of farming, Lily and Matt deliver CSA boxes to 275 families around the Bay Area. Throughout the year, members are invited to visit the farm for a tour, open house, and the annual farm party. 

Matt and Lily are valued members of CAFF, find out more about Shooting Star here: http://www.shootingstarcsa.com/Shooting_Star_CSA/Welcome.html