Slow Food Cape Town CSA

About

Following the success of the first two South African CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) earlier this year, Slow Food Cape Town and farmer Erick Zenzele will be running another, spring CSA bag project from 8^th September through 27^th October, 2009.

WHAT IS A CSA?

A CSA is a partnership between an agricultural or artisan producer and a group of consumers. The consumers sponsor the production of a specific crop or product at the beginning of the CSA, and during the season, the producer responds with frequent reports on that crop’s development and growth, and the consumers can visit the producer to learn more about how crop is grown, and even help with the harvest. The harvest is divided between all the members during the course of the season. Possible CSA products could include vegetables, fruit trees or grassfed beef from an entire steer.

The point of running a CSA (and a cornerstone of the Slow Food ethos) is to reconnect consumers with agricultural producers, and make urban dwellers aware of the lifecycles implicit in growing and producing the food we eat.

This spring, we are running a mixed organic vegetable CSA, grown just outside of Kraaifontein by small, organic farmer Erick Zenzele, that will be divided among all participants every week (i.e. every week during the season you receive a bag of mixed vegetables).

WHAT WILL I GET IN MY WEEKLY CSA BAG?

You will get six vegetable items in each bag. Erick Zenzele is growing (and hopes to successfully harvest!) potatoes, leeks, lettuce, cauliflower, various herbs, spinach, carrots, baby turnips, baby cabbages, broccoli and spring onions. Each week he will select six of his ripest crops to harvest and send you one bag or bunch of each vegetable. The focus is on providing a changing variety of vegetables for CSA members to enjoy, as the season progresses.

HOW MANY PEOPLE DOES THIS BAG FEED?

Depends how hungry they are! Allowing for different appetites, we’d estimate this meets 80% of the weeklt needs of a two person household (consider onions and the occasional veggie not supplied by the CSA that extra 20%).

WHAT IS DIFFERENT BETWEEN THIS AND THE PREVIOUS CSAS?

Our other CSA farmer, Eric Swarts, is taking a break from the CSA until October, when he hopes to have enough variety and crops to participate again. So Erick Zenzele is going it alone – for this CSA, at least!

As there is not much currently in season for pickling or jamming, this CSA does not include preserves made by the Sustainability Institute’s cottage industry project. Look out for their participation in future CSAs in the coming, warmer months.

We will unfortunately not be using the nifty black reusable shoppers to transport the veg; the company that makes them has increased their lead times, so any bags ordered now will not be ready in time for the CSA. We hope to use them again though in future CSAs. Instead, we will be sending you your veg in recycled brown paper bags.

We sadly will not be using our Vredehoek collection point as very few members used this collection point last time. If this affects your ability to participate in the CSA, please let us know.

WILL I GET ALL OF THE VARIETIES OF VEGETABLES THE FARMER GROWS? WHAT HAPPENS IF CROPS FAIL?

As all farmers know, sometimes crops fail. And even with experienced farmers like Erick, unreliable weather, pests and diseases and other acts of nature mean there is no guarantee that every crop planted will grow perfectly through to harvest. And participants of a CSA are partners with the farmer, so they must share the risk, too. But it is highly unlikely you will pay in advance and then receive no vegetables. But if one crop fails (such as mielies did during our Summer CSA), you will not receive that vegetable in your weekly bag.

IN WHAT WAYS DOES THE CSA CREATE A SMALLER CARBON FOOTPRINT?

We work with local farmers less than fifty minutes’ drive from Cape Town, and now with our more direct delivery system, food miles have been reduced even further.

When delicate vegetables (lettuce, herbs, etc) need to be bagged, we use compostable plastic bags.

WHEN DO I GET TO VISIT THE FARM AND MEET THE FARMER WHO IS GROWING THE VEGETABLES? DO I HAVE TO GO ON EVERY OUTING?

Slow Food Cape Town will be arranging two visits to Erick Zenzele’s farm during the growing season, where he will show us his land and answer questions. These outings will be on weekends, and your family is welcome to attend. These outings are not obligatory! All CSA participants will also receive weekly email updates during the season, letting you know how the crops are doing.

HOW DO I PICK UP MY BAG? DO YOU DELIVER?

In the spirit of job creation, we are paying a bakkie owner in Erick’s community of Bloekombos to drive the veggie bags from Erick to three collection points on Tuesday, where you can pick up your bag after 1pm. We unfortunately cannot do home deliveries. If our collection points are inconvenient to you, get together with your neighbours and friends – if you can create a group of at least twelve CSA members in a neighbourhood, we will then consider adding a new collection point to our deliveries.

Our collection points are:

Jaqui Daya Good Food Store

205 Main Road, Newlands

021-685-5383

Open 7.30am-8pm daily

Millstone Farm Stall

Oude Moulen Eco-Village

Alexandra Road

Pinelands

021-447-8226

Open until 5pm

Home Baked @ Red Cherry

24 Koeberg Rd

Durbanville

021-975-6300

Open until 5pm on Tuesdays

Klein Joostenberg Deli

Off the R304 road on the way to Stellenbosch

(200 metres from the N1, Stellenbosch exit)

021-884-4303

Open until 6pm in the week

*please note we may close a collection point if there are less than ten CSA members using that collection point. This will be decided BEFORE the CSA starts.

WHY MUST I PAY IN ADVANCE?

In order to grow enough crops for a group of people, a farmer needs to buy inputs at the beginning of the growing season, such as labour, seeds, mulch, etc. and all of these are a major expense. A CSA gives a farmer something very unusual in agriculture: certainty. He or she knows there is a market for the crops before they are grown, and exactly how many people need to be fed.  And requiring payment upfront is one way to determine how much must be planted and harvested to meet the needs of the participants.

WHY CAN’T I BUY INTO JUST ONE MONTH OF THE HARVEST?

The point of the CSA is to allow participants to get a better sense of what is involved in growing food for a living. A farmer cannot just walk away from his crop in the middle of the growing season, and so if you wish to take advantage of the CSA, you need to sign up for the whole journey, too.

HOW DO I PAY FOR MY BAG, AND HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?

The CSA will run from 8^th September through 27^th October, for a total of eight weeks. Each weekly box costs R49.88, so the total for eight weeks of vegetables is R399. To reserve a spot in the CSA and make your payment, please send an email to kate@slowfoodcsa.co.za, and we will send you a reservation code and our banking information for EFT.

WHO/WHAT IS SLOW FOOD CAPE TOWN?

Slow Food Cape Town is a volunteer-run branch of the international Slow Food movement, which promotes sustainable, ethical food production, traditional and artisan food cultures, and consumer taste education. www.slowfoodcapetown.co.za