Choose your CSA seasons and share options
We offer spring, summer, and fall CSA shares for a total of 29 weeks of fresh veggies. The 16-week summer share offers the classic CSA experience, and would be a great place to start if you haven’t been part of a CSA before. The spring and fall shares are a unique opportunity to extend the season of eating fresh veggies, and are great if you find yourself dreaming of fresh greens in April or can’t get enough brussels sprouts in November.
Our shares are generally pretty generous and intended for families. If you think this might be too much for you we encourage you to find another family or person to split with, and can help you do this if you don’t know anyone who would be interested! Splitting a share can also be a great option if you’re planning to go out of town quite a bit.
We also partner with other local businesses and farms to offer share add-ons, so you can pick-up locally-roasted coffee, eggs, and/or fresh baked bread along with your vegetables.
Signup & send in a deposit
You can either sign up online, or download and print the pdf version of the Membership Agreement Form and mail it to the farm. With either the online or downloaded form please mail at least a $50 deposit to the farm (5025 120th St Solon IA 52333) to reserve your share. Upfront payments allow us to buy seeds and other much-needed supplies without a bank loan, but we also want to be flexible to accommodate everyone's different financial situation. Please call (319.331.3957) or email Carmen (localharvestcsa@gmail.com) if you'd like to discuss alternative possibilities - expanded payment plans, barter skills or farmwork for vegetables... suggest a possibility!
Pick out your veggies
We deliver our vegetables to each pickup location buffet-style, which means YOU get to select the exact vegetables in your share. We bring a fleet of coolers to each delivery location with what’s in season that week- usually between 10 and 15 different types of vegetables as well as fresh herbs. Each cooler is labeled with what’s inside and how much to take- for example: Leafy Lettuce: Take One Bag or Sweet Peppers: Take Four.
In addition, there are many “help yourself” options at each pickup location, from bulk greens to veggie ‘seconds’ (those veggies that are not quite beautiful enough to be marketable), which are great for putting up for the winter. You can get as much or as little as you want of these options. The bulk kale, collards, and chard are especially popular amongst green smoothie drinkers.
Meet your farmers
We love delivery day each week because we get to catch up with everyone, and get to swap recipes and cooking ideas.
The ‘buffet style’ setup also means that if there’s a vegetable you particularly don’t like you don’t have to take it. At the end of each pickup day, we donate any extra vegetables to a number of food pantries/ food relief organizations in the area. So you can rest assured that if you just can’t take any more kale, that the food you leave will not go to waste. We care about everyone having access to good and healthy vegetables, and your participation in the CSA allows us to provide more vegetables to those in need. The vegetables and plants that are not good for people to eat are not wasted either-- they become a nice treat for the sheep!
Vegetable pickup is a favorite among many of the kids in our CSA-- selecting their own veggies is another way to connect them to their food and where it comes from. Plus, it’s great fun to practice your colors and counting while throwing peppers in a bag!
Cook up a storm!
Once you get your vegetables home it’s up to you what to do with them! You will receive a newsletter each week with an update from the farm, notes about any new or different vegetables appearing in that week’s share, and several recipes highlighting what’s in season. We love hearing what everyone is cooking, so we often include recipes in the newsletter that were recommended by other members.
Visit the farm
Sundog Farm is the home of Local Harvest CSA-- where all the veggies are grown. We host several events every summer including an annual harvest party for members to get out of town, walk around the farm, and see what it’s all about. We also have an open-door policy: you are welcome to come visit to check out the place where it all happens. We just ask you send us a quick email, call or text to setup a good time. The farm is family friendly, and also the home to a number of goats, dogs, cats, and a flock of sheep. The goats especially LOVE kids and being fed grass and vegetables by hand.