Two subscription plans are available. A Regular Subscription will provide a bountiful box of vegetables and herbs every week of our season, and may be shared between two households if desired. A Traveler's Choice Subscription allows busy members to choose how many deliveries they wish to receive (from nine to sixteen) and which weeks they wish to receive them. Be sure to sign up early if you are interested in this option, as we have only a limited number of Traveler's Choice Subscriptions available.

We strive to provide a reliable supply of basic seasonal staples, while also adding novelty and variety to our members' diets. To fulfill that goal, we grow around 150 varieties of about 50 crops. Each weekly box will typically contain 10–15 different items, including something from the Allium family, such as onions, garlic, or scallions; some sort of cooking green, like kale or Asian greens; a root vegetable or two; and often a bunch of herbs. These will be joined by familiar favorites like lettuce, broccoli, green beans, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, melons, winter squash and more as each crop comes into season.

Since everyone's eating habits are different, it's hard to say exactly how many people an Avodah Farm subscription will feed. However, we aim to provide plenty of produce for a family of four or five eating vegetables in healthy moderation; for two enthusiastic, dedicated vegetable eaters; or for one person planning on doing a lot of canning and freezing.

A Regular Subscription for 2013 costs $576, which works out to $32/delivery. Again, two households can share a Regular Subscription and split the cost. A Traveler's Choice Subscription also costs $32/delivery, plus a $48 convenience fee for the privilege of choosing your delivery dates. Members picking up their subscriptions on the farm will recieve a discount. (Locals, click here for more information.)

To sign up, please click below to download the appropriate Membership Agreement for the subscription type you are interested in:
Regular Subscription
Traveler's Choice Subscription

We will be making Wednesday afternoon deliveries to the following CSA Pick-Up Sites in 2013:

1. Forage Modern Workshop, 4023 East Lake Street, Minneapolis, MN 55406
2. Mississippi Market Food Coop, 1500 West 7th Street, St. Paul, MN 55102
3. Beth Jacob Synagogue, 1179 Victoria Curve, Mendota Heights, MN 55118

Click here for more information about subscribing to our CSA.

Week 1 (June 6th, 2012): Lettuce, Red Russian Kale, Pea Shoots, Spring Turnips with Greens, Green Garlic, Garlic Scapes, Rhubarb, Strawberries.

Week 8 (July 25th, 2012): Eggplant, Early Red Tomatoes, Heirloom Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Zucchini, Beets with Greens, Mixed Kale, Basil, Sweet Onions, Garlic, Scallions.

Week 11 (August 15th, 2012): Personal Size Watermelon (not shown), Potatoes (3 varieties), Mini Cabbages, Eggplants, Hybrid Tomatoes, Heirloom Tomatoes, Sungold Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Zucchini, Jalapeño Peppers, Basil, Onions, Garlic, Mixed Herbs (Sage & Rosemary).

Week 19 (October 10th, 2012): Winter Squash (Spaghetti, Delicata, & Acorn type), Turnips, Lettuce, Broccoli, Napa Cabbage, Onions, Garlic, Tomatoes.
 

A CSA (which stands for Community Supported Agriculture) is a farm that markets local food directly to local consumers via regular deliveries throughout the growing season. Customers support the farm by paying for a season's worth of produce up front, sharing in the inherent risks of farming and providing revenue when the farmers need it most.

While CSA deliveries are often called "shares" or "memberships," we like the word "subscription." In a way, buying produce at a food co-op or farmer's market is a little like buying magazines at a news-stand. Joining a CSA farm, on the other hand, is like subscribing to your favorite  publications: instead of purchasing each item individually, you send in one check up front and enjoy a variety of content throughout the season, delivered conveniently to you.

As an Avodah Farm CSA subscriber, you'll receive a diverse weekly box of fresh, delicious, seasonal produce, grown sustainably, without chemical pesticides or fertilizers. We won't send your box through the mail (the magazine analogy isn't that perfect), but we will deliver it to the pick-up site you choose. You'll also receive a weekly email newsletter with recipes, storage tips, and news from the farm, and invitations to come out to the farm for family-friendly seasonal celebrations. Perhaps most importantly, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you are supporting a young farming family and a broader shift toward sustainable local food production and sustainable local economies.

Please click here to learn about our 2013 CSA subscription plans and download a Membership Agreement, or contact us with any questions you may have.

 

Although a lot of our marketing right now (including the rest of this website) is directed toward folks in the Twin Cities, we welcome local customers! If you'd like to purchase a CSA subscription and pick it up on the farm every week, we can give you a 25% discount off our Twin Cities price, since we won't have any delivery costs for your box. That means you can get a Regular Subscription for just $432, or a Traveler's Choice Subscription for $24/box plus a $36 convenience fee. Please contact us if this interests you. We're also very open to barter or work-trade arrangements with folks in the area.

We're working on compiling a list of local folks to contact when we have a one-time surplus of specific crops. Please contact us if you'd be interested in receiving an occasional email letting you know that we have, say, canning tomatoes or pickling dill or extra garlic for sale at the farm.

Avodah Farm is the home and livelihood of Martha OrHai Black and W. Geoffrey OrHai Black. Farming is our passion, and we come to it with eager hands, inquisitive minds, and compassionate hearts. We see this work as a way to live out the Jewish principle of Tikkun Olam, Repairing the World—by rebuilding our topsoil, our local economy, and the connections between rural and urban areas.

Before starting our own farm, we completed three in-depth sustainable farming internships together, and between the two of us we have worked, studied and volunteered on more than fifteen farms in five different states, as well as Italy and Israel/Palestine. In 2012, we returned to apply the skills we had learned on land that has been in Geoffrey’s family for nearly forty years. We are the second generation to tend this soil and grow vegetables on it, following in the footsteps of Geoffrey’s mother, Kathleen Plunkett-Black, whose large garden produces food for the family and seeds for her small seed catalog, Plum Creek Seeds.

We farm using no chemical fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides, controlling pests and diseases and maintaining soil fertility through crop rotation and cover-cropping. Our practices are informed by Permaculture, a method of designing agricultural systems that emulate natural ecosystems.

As we begin our second season farming this land, we look forward to being your farmer!