For 20 weeks this summer and fall, enjoy the freshest possible produce from a farmer you see each week.  

Enjoy the benefits local fare offers. Ask questions, know whats in your tummy.

At CloverCroft we offer a full-choice CSA program that can be picked up at the farm near Paris/Ayr, or in Toronto in Cabbagetown, Islington, or Trinity Bellwoods.   We also attend Cabbagetown and Trinity Bellwoods Farmers Markets Tuesday afternoons in Toronto.

VEGETABLE SHARES

20 Weeks of Organic veg, from mid June to end of October

Large Share: $875

10 items each week

$44 of produce each week

Good for a small family or 2-3 veg addicts

Save approx 6% off market prices

Bartering / Working Shares

Are you interested in connecting intimately to the food you eat?

CloverCroft offers a limited number of work shares and barter arrangements. In exchange for a set period or project of work, we’re happy to send you home with a weekly share of vegetables.

If interested, follow the link below, or check out our jobs and barter page.

What is a CSA?

CSA stands for Community Shared Agriculture: In late winter members buy a share or subscription of the farms produce, paying at a time of year when we farmers need the capital to buy seeds and tools and soil amendments.  

Then for 20 weeks, starting in June, our members have weekly access to vegetables harvested as fresh as possible: From a farm whose growing practices they know; from a farmer they can interact with, encourage and give feedback to.  It's an avenue to connect to your food in a way that shows off the realities of growing: To partake in the ups and downs of a season, to support local food security and a farming ideology that can be sustained beyond ourselves. One which endows the next generation rather than borrowing from it.

The Benefits: A traditional CSA box is a marvellous thing. It's easily the most cost effective way to access our produce: An average weekly share offers better value than the Organic section of the grocery store, and sometimes better than the conventional produce too.  Freshness can't be understated: Because you get food directly from the farm, we can harvest it the day before or even the day of. This allows us to select varieties of vegetables that are nutrient packed and taste the best. Vegetables that come from far away sacrifice taste and nutrient load so that the produce can travel far and store well and be "ripe" when upon arrival.  The connection to your food and community encourages a local and sustainable food system. Buying a CSA share, or from a farmer at the market, gives access to nearly 6 months of fresh vegetables in your kitchen, which encourages you to eat at home, eat healthy, eat fresh, and eat local.  Your body will thank you.

Things to consider: A traditional CSA is not for everyone. For half the year, someone else is choosing what veg you bring home.  We grow a great variety here, and curate our boxes well and diversely.  Committing to a weekly pickup can be inconvenient for some families. Missed weeks can feel like a loss of value, unless you have a backup friend or family member who can take your share while you're away (which is a wonderful way to share the love).  To truly benefit from a CSA share, you'll be a versatile cook, who likes most vegetables, and can make the weekly commitment. 

Click here to learn more about the CSA/Subscription style of farming. 

Your Vegetable Options with CloverCroft Farm:

Market Style CSA! For those that want it all:  The CloverCroft Farm CSA program comes with one fantastic benefit (among so many others): You get to choose your share each week.  Most CSA’s which decide which vegetables will be in your share each week.  Not so at the farm on Thursday nights, or in Toronto on Tuesdays. 

In Toronto, a google form is sent out for members to choose their shares, which are packed and ready to pick up Tuesday. On Thursday picking up each week at the farm means seeing everything laid out like a farmers market and choosing what you want.  Wherever you’re picking up - if you don't like onions: don't take them.  If you've never eaten bok choi, or celeriac: give it a try, or don't. Take extra carrots instead.  

Farmers Markets:  If a subscription doesn't fit your lifestyle, joining us at the farmers market is an amazing way to support the farm.  

Toronto:

Trinity Bellwoods Farmers Market.  Tuesday Afternoon from 3pm to 7pm.  Dundas & Shaw, north west end of the park.  May 1 to Oct 31 .

Cabbagetown Farmers Market. Tuesday Afternoon from 3pm to 7pm. Riverdale Park East (Winchester and Sumach) May 1 to Oct 31.

CSA Share Locations

CSA ADD-ON OPTIONS

Organic Egg Share

Add weekly eggs to your small or large share CSA

$160 for 20 dozen eggs

CloverCroft Eggs are the top of the line. The hens are raised outside all season long, The “Ladies Who Lunch” enjoy a fresh salad bar daily: organic grains, grasses and clovers, bugs and worms, and they move to new pastures every couple days.  This holistic management produces eggs that are high in omega 3's, vitamins A & E, beta carotene, and lower in cholesterol. 

Community Giving

When you sign up for your CSA share, you can choose to donate to our community giving program.  Your donation is matched by the farm, and we donate the sum in produce to the Paris Food Bank. Together in 2023 we donated more than $6000 of healthy fresh produce to our local community.  

As a member you commit to:

• pick up each week at predetermined times

• make arrangements for a missed week (see below

• bring your own bags (or egg cartons for egg-shares)

• ask questions, educate yourselves

• give constructive feedback; help us grow

• visit, see how we grow

• Engage in the farm. Join us at a potluck, or member event. If you're game: volunteer

Missed Weeks: 

Its summer and fall:  I fully expect that you may be going away at some point.  If you won't be able to collect your veg one week, you have several options, please just let us know ahead-of-time by text or email:

• take twice the amount the next week

• take double the week prior and bring it with you on vacation

• send a friend or family member to collect for you instead

• donate your share that week to the local food bank: check out COMMUNITY GIVING

+  missed / forgotten pickups of pre-packed shares will be donated to the food bank  +

Some of the veggies you can expect in a good season:

Some realities of CSA's and Growing for Market: 

• A farming season can be unpredictable: crop failures are always a risk. So are hailstorms. A CSA/Market Garden can mitigate this risk by growing a wide variety of veggies for you: "The eggplants all died?!?! Well that is indeed a tragedy. But wait, check out how big the peppers are this year!" Joining a CSA lets you connect with how food truly is subject to nature, in a way that can't be covered up by switching farms or countries of origin [and increasing the price] the way the grocery store can.

• Common feedback for a CSA share is that their produce can become repetitive. "More Kohlrabi?!" We curate our box realistically based on what most people like to eat. While salad greens and carrots and potatoes appear regularly, uncommon veg just gets a guest appearance once or twice. Members who pickup at the farm includes the added bonus of full choice of all our produce: Your share size dictates how many items you may take each week, and you can build your own share from there.

• We will grow a wide variety of vegetables, pretty darn well, but not at a masters level. Monoculturalists focus on one thing, and they can grow a kick-butt looking carrot, but they have to focus on a carrot that looks nice and ships well to a broad market. At CloverCroft's scale we can't compete with that kind of specialized growing equipment, scale, and packaging. Instead we compete by knowing that our produce makes it your fridge fast, usually the same day it's picked. Since freshness is guaranteed, I can focus on growing a tastier and more nutritious product for you, though it may not always look like it.

A caveat: 2024 is our ninth season! We're very excited about this: we spent years dreaming about growing food and creating a community around that food.  We've learned a lot so far, and feel comfortable growing food.  Several seasons in, I'm still quite terrified, but also still very enthusiastic coming off of our successful earlier seasons.  I still expect there to be hiccups along the way.  My hope is that we can grow together through the harder times this year and that you as my members can help me out with frequent [and hopefully diplomatic] feedback.