CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically it's when community members pledge support (usually monetarily) to farmers at the beginning of a growing season and in return get food from that farm distributed throughout the season. In this way, the community shares the risk of farming with the growers and also contributes to a vibrant local food system. You can read more about CSA models here.
"CSA connects individuals and local farms in a mutually supportive relationship. In a CSA, people become members of a farm in exchange for recurrent shares of the seasonal harvest. This relationship transcends the usual commercial transaction by having farmers and members share the risks and benefits inherent to agriculture. CSA provides consumers with a deep connection to their food and the people who grow it." CSA Innovation Network
Pi Farm's Sliding-Scale CSA
Paideia Farm is thrilled to be selling sliding-scale CSA shares of vegetables, grains, animal proteins, and other goods sourced from our farm, our partner farms, and local businesses that we love.
All Paideia community members are invited to participate, including families, faculty, staff, students, and alumni.
We recommend signing up as soon as our interest form opens, as one factor in determining membership is who signed up first. Membership in a previous season does not guarantee a slot if you indicate your interest for this season. We have a large and wonderfully supportive community here at Paideia and want to ensure we are allowing the opportunity to anyone who wants to join, regardless of means or prior membership.
Did you miss your chance to participate this season? Those on the waitlist are given an early bird opportunity to fill our membership slots.
We strive to ensure equal, easy access to fresh, local, healthy food for our Paideia community members, regardless of means. By providing a sliding scale payment option, this allows our members to join our CSA program at whatever price point works best for them. No one is turned away for lack of funds and everyone gets the same food regardless of ability to pay. We offer a guide to how much we suggest you contribute at sign-up time, but we trust our members to decide for themselves. Since the beginning of the program in 2020, it has been a self-sustaining program that we are very proud of.
We have three 8-week long CSA Seasons!
Spring season starts in early April and goes until the end of the school year.
Summer season starts in early June and families can opt into a half-season (4 weeks) if needed
Fall season typically starts in October
No pickups happen on school holidays / breaks
We open the membership application a few weeks before the beginning of each season. Membership is primarily first-come, first-served. We send the link to our waitlistees before anyone else!
We highly recommend checking out Georgia Organic's Good Food Guide!
"Please use our GOOD FOOD GUIDE to connect with Georgia farmers and small businesses. By shopping directly from local organic farmers and sustainable producers, you can nourish your family, build community connection, and foster a resilient local food economy. This guide is not designed to answer every question you might have. We hope it’s a starting point to connect you to delicious, healthy, and safe local food.
Another resource we recommend is the Black Farmers Index from Ark Republic. Looking for farmers markets in your area? We recommend Wholesome Wave Georgia’s list of Georgia Fresh for Less partner markets!"