Feb. 22, 2024
The Community Supported Garden at Genesis Farm was one of the first CSAs in the country, founded in 1988. Every year, approximately 300 families sign up to receive a share of our harvest, some of the tastiest, healthiest food grown on our planet. Most come to the farm in Blairstown to pick up their shares, but there are pickup locations throughout northern New Jersey.
Why should you join our CSA? Our food is unique and powerful because:
- We’ve got experience growing vegetables and fruits for 36 years using organic and biodynamic processes. Our six farmers have a combined experience of almost 100 years of growing food on our farm.
- We are local. All of the food we grow and distribute is grown at our farm in Frelinghuysen Township, New Jersey. We are not selling food that has been grown hundreds or thousands of miles away.
- Our food is grown on property preserved in perpetuity as New Jersey farmland. Our CSA owns approximately 60 acres of farmland that has been preserved by the taxpayers of New Jersey by way of the New Jersey Farmland Preservation Fund. We lease 46 adjoining acres from the Sisters of St. Dominic, whose property is also preserved. We believe growing healthy, plant-based food is the highest and best use of preserved farmland.
- Our food is “clean.” We’ve never used herbicides, pesticides, GMO seeds, or other agricultural practices that value quantity over quality. We understand and share our members' belief: “Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food.”
- We are using food to promote environmental awareness and action. The choices we make have far-reaching impacts on the health of our families and our planet. Buying less industrial food decreases demand, and our money goes back into the local economy rather than towards global agribusiness. Choosing to eat sustainably is healing the Earth, rather than harming it.
- We are collaborating with the Sisters of St. Dominic by using some of their preserved farmland to grow our food, a unique and successful collaboration between a religious organization and a secular one to find common ground and benefit everyone.
- We have a unique economic model. Our members pay for a share of the harvest at the beginning of the year. They share in both the highs and lows, the unexpected bounties and the unexpected disappointments that are inherent in farming. In a conventional agriculture setting, the farmer absorbs all the losses. The true CSA model allows our farmers to concentrate on growing the healthiest food rather than GMO corn or soybeans.
- We have a committed board of trustees. We are incorporated in New Jersey as a not-for-profit corporation run by a board of trustees who are longtime farm members. Trustees bring different skills and perspectives to the board, volunteering their time to ensure the sustainability of the farm.
- We have an apprenticeship program. Not only are we growing food, but we are also growing farmers! Every year, we train three committed individuals who are exploring a career in regenerative agriculture. Many of our apprentices have gone on to starting their own organic farms.
- We’ve got the best volunteers. Although there is no requirement for members to volunteer, the farm welcomes and needs volunteers to continue to be successful. Our volunteers overwhelmingly report the satisfaction of time well spent greeting members in the distribution center, thinning carrots, or repairing the farmhouse that serves as our community center and apprentice housing.
- We are sustainable. We’ve been “green” since our inception 36 years ago. All of our efforts are directed to ensuring that the land we farm continues to improve in quality. We use no pesticides, herbicides, or GMO seeds. Compost made on site is our principal means of nurturing the soil. Our farmers receive sustainable compensation including health insurance, pension contributions, and a fair wage.
- We make eating vegetables fun! Forget about those canned industrial vegetables that we all push around our plates. The Community Supported Garden at Genesis Farm grows genuinely delicious food!
Membership is open to all, and new members are signing up now for the spring season. For additional information, email csgardeninfo@gmail.com or call (908) 362-7486. Join us today!
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