On Needham Community Farm, excitement around bumper crops of lettuce and concern that leaf miners are damaging the Swiss chard is front-of-mind. The first fruits of summer’s harvest were sent off three weeks ago, kick-starting a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) cycle that will supply up to 80 families with seasonal vegetables through early October.
This year, a newly installed 9-foot deer fence funded by grant money from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) has allowed farm staff to start transforming acres of weedy growth into usable farmland.
Community Farm expanded its acreage in 2021 — jumping from roughly half an acre to just over three acres — but only recently began using the additional land to maximize crop yields. The deer fence could increase the farm’s yields by 50-75%, the state website notes.
“The expanded land, in addition to Avery and farm staff maximizing this [existing] land, is the main driver of how we were able to increase our CSA shares by so much,” said marketing and development director Courtney Sodano. “I mean, I think in 2018 we started with 20 shares, maybe, and now we’re at 80 summer shares, 60 fall shares, and 20 spring shares.”
“80 fall,” farm manager Avery Westa corrected.
“Oh, 80 fall? I feel like you’re always increasing it,” Sodano laughed. “Avery has very high expectations, which are excellent.”
As Community Farm’s manager, Westa is responsible for the produce that ends up in CSA boxes. The CSA program allows community members to buy a portion of the farm’s harvest in advance, receiving a box of fresh vegetables for the 10 or 20 weeks of the share’s timeframe. Community Farm estimates that veggies from one summer share box meet the weekly produce needs of two to three family members.
Two full-time farm staff (and a handful of seasonal workers) make to-do lists and to-harvest lists during Monday field-walks, said Westa. “Sometimes it’s like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to harvest this now, and other things can wait.’ So then based on that, we decide what to harvest and put into the shares.” Occasionally, if there is an overabundance of one crop, Westa will sell excess produce to farmer friends.
Summer is the farm’s largest share, with the most variety of produce. Broccolini, radishes, spinach, Hakurei turnips, kale, herbs and a host of other summer crops will fill CSA boxes in the coming months. Community Farm’s website features a growing chart with a long list of expected produce.
This year, Westa has added cantaloupe, watermelon, cauliflower and ginger to the list. “When I got here, I had a crop plan from a previous manager; I sort of just started with all of the standard veggies I know CSA farms do, and they’ve done here before. But we have been adding some things.”
So far, no veggie has proved too difficult for Westa to grow. “[We’re] just trying to give people a little more variety, and, like, cauliflower is a little trickier to grow, but we’re excited to do it.” Sodano said Westa and assistant farm manager Emma/Luca Haroules Badini have maximized the land to “an incredible degree.”
Westa noted that, according to a survey conducted among shareholders, the inability to control what appears in weekly CSA boxes is a point of uncertainty for many.
“You’re paying all this money up front to get great veggies,” said Sodano. “But the downside is, you don’t always know what to expect. So, it’s a trade off.” Westa pairs recipes (often sourced from the Internet) with weekly CSA produce, giving shareholders a place to start when unboxing their veggies.
For the first time this year, Community Farm is offering on-site pickup for CSA shares, in addition to off-site pickup locations in town.
Westa said the CSA program, which began in 2018, has increased in popularity with the Needham community. Interest in other programs has increased as well, evidenced by 150 sold-out community garden beds — the full booking yet another first for Community Farm.
As production expands and community interest grows, the farm is changing to meet new demands. The first step? New equipment. But sourcing new equipment can be a challenge; since Community Farm is off-grid, with no electricity on site, new equipment has to be off-grid as well. Currently, farm staff drive off-site to find coolers, heated greenhouses and charging stations for the farm’s electric van.
The farm recently applied for an on-site solar-powered cooler through MDAR — an investment Sodano said would be a “big win” for farm operations. Grant programs like MDAR, she noted, have been “very good” to Community Farm. She said the farm has specifically benefited from MDAR’s Food Security Infrastructure Grant. In addition to the deer fence, MDAR has financed a high-tunnel greenhouse, electric van and walk-behind tractor. Grants from other programs, like the Cummings Foundation and Community Preservation Act, have funded initiatives like the community garden beds.
Despite generosity from grant programs, money remains one of the farm’s biggest obstacles. This, in part, stems from Community Farm’s commitment to donations, with 50% of farm proceeds going to Needham Community Council’s food pantry and Needham Housing Authority residents via a free mobile market.
CSA programs, Sodano said, are a “huge” part of the farm’s operations budget.
“It’s a much more reliable surface income for us than, like, a farmer’s market, where if it rains on the day of the market, you might have a really bad week,” Westa added.
The farm is doing their best to keep CSA shares affordable, despite increased operation costs. “We are working hard to sustain the same prices for next season and the following,” the website states.
Summer CSA shares are currently priced at $750 for 20 weeks, or $400 for 10 weeks. These prices, said Sodano, have increased less than 10% over the past five years — “our shares are less than a lot of the other community farms in the area and other CSA farms in the area,” Westa said.
“We always give at least 10% more than what the retail value would be, because people are committing to us, and to the farm, and supporting us,” added Westa. “So we want to make sure they’re getting a reward for that.”
“We have a lot to offer the community, really,” Sodano said. “From the garden beds, to [gardening] classes, to volunteering, to the CSA. It’s a lot, and we try to get it out there and make that known to everyone as much as we can.”
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