CSA member selected vegetables for a Half Share. Thank you Lucy, for the picture
Example of a XL Share getting prepared for pick up
A Market walk, and you get to shop your CSA items from 5-10 Tables worth of vegetables every week. And this is why a lot of our CSA members keep coming back. Check it out.
There are a few more videos of our Market walks available now when you go to the channel.
To clarify, since we have been asked, CSA pickup is whenever our Market is open. No CSA-specific time/days.
Just stop by, and get the veggies you want, any time the market is open, but only once a week
Apples and Eggs are not part of the CSA, but if we did an add-on share for them, you would still be paying for them.
We can not guarantee someone else’s business, nor how our ladies are laying, hence, no risk involved in buy as you want.
What is a CSA?
Many times we are told that we’re the best CSA around. Check “what people are saying” We offer a large variety for you to choose from. You will find things you know and like, as well as new things for fun, to get to know and try.
But Best of all, you have total control over which vegetables go home with you.
We make eating healthy Fun & Easy for You
In simple words, you give us money before the season starts, the amount depending on how many vegetables you want. The earlier you pay, the cheaper it is.
Then you stop by our market each week when the vegetables are in, and take what you want, just as if you were retail shopping. You basically commit to shopping with us. And that is why we do market-style CSA. It can be this simple.
The pricing is based on per bag, and far lower than what you would pay, if you would buy retail. That is not even talking about all the extras we include “outside” the bag.
There is information below that we strongly suggest you read before you sign up.
If you have never heard about CSA, this is basically how it works. That is how we do it. Other farms do it very differently, some things are the same, due to the concept. We hope you like what we offer, but we do encourage comparison with others. A CSA should be something to look forward to.
We no longer allow sharing a CSA share. Consistently, that does not work. You are welcome to purchase a share and split that with someone else any way you want to, but ONE person will have to purchase it, as well as pick up. You can take turns picking up, you can take the appropriate amount and divide it up later, but effectively it is one share, not two, and is treated that way. Thanks for understanding.
Also: We do allow you to bring your own bag/s. BUT, please bring the amount of bags you sign up for. If you want to separate items, you are welcome to bring more, but they have to be put in your main bags. This helps everyone and avoids questioning why someone that purchased one bag, leaves with five….
CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, an easy way for people to buy fresh, seasonal vegetables directly from local farmers and help with the spring cost of farming when Farmers’ income is often absent. This is also called Farm Share.
For one payment in the spring you pick up vegetables every week during the farm season. You share the harvest experience and get extra when there is extra. There is a risk of sharing harvest challenges, but we have managed to minimize that as the last years have proven. One with historical droughts, the next excessive flooding, or both. The idea is that if there is less, or crop failure, that is the risk. If there is excess, then there is extra. There are no refunds. Most farms will, however, take care of their CSA committments in whichever way necessary. We have managed to have consistent abundance, even if we had to limit some items for a little while, until the next patches were in, and that only so everyone could have some of these items.
With the purchase of a Share you agree to committ to this risk-sharing concept, and that CSA does not have refunds because of that. Our responsibility is, to make it the best experience possible, with lots of fresh vegetables.
We are generous with extras and while some items might fail, there is plenty to make up for those. We also have a somewhat unique view of considering interest or appreciation for the pre-payment and you always get a lot more value than what you paid.
Find all out CSA options here, in the Farm Store.
Why would you want a CSA? Because for one price, you pick up fresh vegetables all season long. You don’t need to bring cash or a card, no worry if prices have changed yet again, no mathing out what your total will be. A CSA is an asset. You get more back than you put in, and whatever happens to your finances, you will eat. With our CSA you only get what you want, and that’s it. If you like what you get, there won’t be waste. That’s at least how it works for our CSA.
You want a CSA with us, because We make eating healthy Fun & Easy for You. You can shop our Market as if you were a retail customer. But you don’t pay, because you already did. You get exactly what you want at a far better price than retail. And I already mentioned, your price can’t change. We’re right there for any questions you might have in regard to anything. You have full customer support at all times. Yes, even if you start cooking at eight at night and forgot what that thing you wanted to try was, and what to do with it. Just give us a call.
We also allow you to take extra another week, if you let us know that you are not able to pick up for any reason. HOWEVER… there is a change for 2024 from previous years. You can get extra (not necessarily double) the week following the missed pickup, but we no longer allow it to be done later on. Some kept on getting that missed share several times, be it that they forgot that they already picked it up, or thought that we forgot. We could have proved it, but is it really worth a fight? So we simplify to what usually works for everyone anyway, and scratch the exception in writing. The extra also does not include extra limited items unless approved. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Everyone picks up every week, regardless of share size. We want you to eat fresh vegetables.
You also have a chance to pick up your share whenever our Market is open. There are no CSA designated times or places, that makes it easy.
There are more things that make us unique below, but we think that these are what sets us apart most from everyone else. And of course, if you would like your share packed up, we’ll be happy to do that as well. Sometimes this is just more convenient.
As a CSA member, you get to pick up your share every week, from July (depending on when we start harvest) to mid-October. You become a member of our farm. When you stop by, we love to share our philosophy of growing and nurturing the delicious produce we offer, as well as how to cook, process, and store the vegetables and herbs if you’re interested.
We founded StefanFarms in 1993. Starting with a little Farm stand, we then started offering fresh vegetables at the Hartford Regional Market and in time sold at more local markets. Now we produce an abundant supply for veggie-lovers from miles around. We even get CSA orders from other parts of the world. Learn more about our story.
Or jump straight to our farm shop to check out CSA shares and vegetables. Maybe you would like to see what people are saying about us, or what we grow. There are also pictures on the bottom of this page.
How it works
We offer several CSA options to make sure you get the amount of vegetables you want, as well as a Custom Option if none of those address your needs.
You also get a Newsletter informing you of what is available, and important news. Effective 2024 we will no longer send out weekly Newsletters. That was something we started during the Pandemic, and it made sense, because we let everyone choose what they wanted in their shares. People enjoyed it, and we continued. But something like that takes a lot of time.
After the 2023 CSA season we will send Newsletters out when there are things of interest, when something important changes, or there is need to know.
You have several days per week with hours that we have found to be most popular in the past.
For pick up we offer several days per week which we will coordinate with our pick schedule to ensure you have the freshest possible produce.
We also provide customer support whenever you need more info about an item and how to cook and store it. Even if it is later in the day and you find something you don’t know. We are happy to help.
CSA does not have a refund, and typically, if you are not able to pick up you lose that share. If you let us know ahead of time that you can not pick up, we allow you to take extra another time, if this works for you. You may have someone else pick up for you. But we are not required to make up missed pickups. We might also delay the extra when there are a number of people who want extra at the same time, which could/would then result in shortage for regular pickups, or when there is not a lot of abundance, or shortages, due to causes out of our control.
Important: Can I share a CSA share with someone?
We no longer support shared shares
You can, but the distribution of the contents is up to you. There are things that are extra, but one per share, not per person. You can always purchase another of such an item if you like, or take turns with such things. This is up to you.
The person that purchases the share is the person we expect to pick up the whole share. You may alternate pick up, and or split the contents afterward. Because of good reasons, we no longer allow joint pickup, even though you may come together, one person will fill the appropriate bag/s. The share holder or the alternate person will pick up once a week, not both and/or multiple times.
Please contact us with any questions you might have.
About our CSA
How big is a “share”?
The amount of vegetables depends on which size "share" you purchase.
XL Vegetable Lover/Large Family Share About 3 plastic shopping bags, plus bulky items like melons, cabbage etc. on the side as extras. You can trade one bag for special items that are for sale only if you want to add more variety and don’t want the extra vegetables on some weeks.
Full Share About 2 plastic shopping bags plus bulky items like melons, cabbage etc. on the side as extras.
Half Share About 1 plastic shopping bag, plus bulky items like melons, cabbage etc on the side as extras. Great for 1 or 2 people.
This used to be “The Quarter share,” -just an idea, an experiment, but it seems to be “just right” when someone wants a CSA, but in small, manageable amounts. It turned out that my “new Idea” worked, and many farms now have this as a “sampler” but, we found that we don’t really need it, because when someone is able to only get what is wanted by picking it out themselves, there is no waste because of things you don’t like. This one bag/Half Share is a perfect size.
We are regularly told that we’re the best CSA around. We have to take your word for it. But you don’t have to. You can read our reviews.
But, everything you get we grow ourselves -you will not ever find stickers on our vegetables...
We adjusted our share size offering to meet different needs. We noticed others are doing that too now. Yes, it was a great idea. What has not been copied is the custom share or Market style pickup, nor the XL share, and a few other things. As it should be.
We will custom-create a share to fit your needs if the options do not match your family or lifestyle.
You will consistently get a lot more than what you paid. The beginning usually starts a little slower, but then we keep the shares full to the end. Often overfilled.
In some ways, our CSA is just like everyone else’s. CSA is not refundable. We have a very flexible pickup schedule that gives you maximum control over when you pick up.,
With very little effort and communication, you get all the vegetables and so much more, even if you skip a week or two.
If you go on vacation or are away, you can let us know, and we can make arrangements to give you extra in the share when you get back. You can also have someone else pick up your share while you’re gone. Either is OK with us. If you don’t let us know, we won’t replace those shares. It is then a missed pickup. We don’t know any CSA that will give you extra in the following shares. ( We reserve the right to adjust this as needed if necessary)
If you have a CSA with us but also purchase something else, you are welcome to combine the pickups or schedule at different times, whichever works for you. Please let us know ahead of time, so we can have it ready for you. Knowing this matters, especially for bulk purchases for canning. You might need time to deal with your CSA vegetables apart from the canning project, or it might work better together. Either way, we work with how it works best for you.
When you purchase a share, you agree to our CSA policy described above. Also, that it is a shared risk, in spite of our best efforts. We used to have written contracts, but that does not work so well and was quite a turnoff for some. This is simplified, but no less binding. This is in essence how all CSAs work, this is the concept. You can find more here and here
During the season we also offer Share-like crates which you can purchase without having a CSA, or in addition, if you need more for any reason. Maybe you want to “test-drive” our CSA, or maybe you only want a great deal on vegetables, but not every week. These are available throughout the growing season whenever you want them.
Enjoy
For one low payment per year in early Spring, you get a crate full of . . .
High-quality, fresh, local, non-GMO, in-season, and of course delicious, vegetables!
You pick up EVERY WEEK during the growing season, regardless of the size of your share.
When and How you can sign up
You can sign up when shares are in the Farm Store. We appreciate cash or check payments, because processing fees for charged purchases are real. But we understand that sometimes this is the only way.
The CSA idea is to help Farmers get the growing season started when the expenses are high and income is low or non-existent. And while we appreciate all sign-ups, the early months are financially challenging.
Just call us at 860-527-5523 to order your share. You will get an e-mail confirmation and receipt and are signed up as soon as we receive payment. When the pickup starts, we are sending out our CSA newsletter to remind you of your pickup, and let you know what to expect as well as things of interest.
The first newsletter you receive will be ahead of the expected pickup. This serves as a “heads up” and also to make sure that you are able to receive the newsletter. We make sure you don’t miss when pickup starts.
You also get . . .
Discounts on other purchases
Bulk discounts and CSA only offers
Complete CSA support. If you don’t know something, or how to prepare it, want to try a little of something… whatever, we will be available to guide and advise you even outside of Market times.
We customize your CSA to your needs and preferences to the best of our ability—keeping season and harvest in mind. Yes, you do get to let us know if you don’t like something, and we’ll leave it out, or
take advantage of our Market-style setup to pick and choose exactly what you want.
You get a Newsletter to inform you of important changes and events. Starting 2024 they will no longer be weekly
Market Style pickup. You “shop” what you like.
Weekly pickup. You select what you want from our Market Tables any time while our Market is open. We have a large variety of common and unique, uncommon vegetables.
This is about 2 grocery shopping bags, PLUS large items like melons and cabbage “on the side” as extra. Great if you like vegetables or for an average family using vegetables as a side dish.
If you want, or can, save us the processing fees, we do appreciate cash/check payments.
You also get Newsletters, informing you of what is important, special offers, and more. Starting in 2024 they will not be weekly anymore, but as relevant.
You always get a lot more than what you paid.
Often we’re called the best CSA, but we’ll have to take your word for it. Check out “what people are saying”
If you don’t really care for Vegetables but want to eat healthier or are only one person, we recommend the Half Share.