Piggery CSA
Once you’ve read about the new program, you can Sign up here.
Overview
Thanks for all the amazing feedback on our proposed changes to our Winter CSA program. I know many of you have been members for years and you’ve given us some really helpful feedback of what you would like to see in a Meat CSA program.
When we first started our farm’s Fresh Pork & Charcuterie CSA a few years ago, it was a way to distribute our meat outside of our booth at the farmers’ market. Many of our awesome customers really wanted our farm’s meat over the winter months, but we didn’t have any way to get it to them.
There were very few Meat CSAs in the entire country so we modeled our CSA shares the best we could after our veggie farmer friends’ CSA programs. The result was a weekly or biweekly share of whatever fresh meat we could produce from two pigs each week and split evenly amongst the CSA members.
The cool thing is that many of our members love the variety and weekly surprise of their share, but we also know it would be easier for folks if they could more of one thing, less of another cut, etc.
The other obstacle to the Winter CSA is the distribution. Winter storms can really derail things around here and it so stressful for us and our members when trying to deliver/pick up fresh meat in scary weather.
Soooooooo…. we thought we’d try something a bit different for the Winter CSA to see how it works for our awesome farm share members. We’re hosting a share pick up for Full Plate Farm Collective members on Thursdays from Dec-Feb noon-7pm at our new deli & butcher shop. We hope this will be a convenient place for folks to pick up their winter veggie shares each week. You don’t have to be a veggie member to be a member of our farm’s fresh local meat CSA, but we’re trying to make getting farm fresh goods as convenient as possible for folks.
Instead of having a pre-selected, pre-packed share to pick up, you could have a farm share membership which gives you a 10% discount on any of our farm fresh meat. That means if you decide to buy a $100 share, you’ll have a $110 credit to use at our butcher shop anytime of ther next 6 months. The CSA share is good for 24 whole weeks. It begins Dec. 1st and ends May 31st. You could use it not only to pick out fresh meat from our farm, but also other fresh, local meat we butcher from other local pastured farms.
We got this CSA idea from Silver Queen Farm and Red Tail Farm. It seems like their members really enjoy it.
How it works:
You can sign up here for a farm share for any amount. For example, if you choose a $200 share, you will have a $220 share credit waiting for you at the shop. We have a good system worked out to keep track of it:) This works out to the approximate 10% savings you’ve been getting in the CSA program, but with more selection.
More Flexibility In Pick Up Times:
You can use this credit at our butcher shop anytime we’re open. Our current hours are Thursdays & Fridays noon-7pm, Saturdays 8am-3pm. We’re planning to expand those hours/days in the next two months. No more worrying if you’ll be on vacation, forget a pick up, the weather is too bad to get to a pick up date, etc.
More Selection:
You’ll be able to use the CSA credit towards fresh Piggery pork as well as fresh, local beef, chicken, lamb, duck etc. As we source all of our meat from good, pastured, local farms - please note that availability and inventory of these items change daily.
Why Still Choose To Have A Winter CSA Share???
The CSA share model is still an incredibly powerful tool you have to keep small family farms viable in your community. It takes us 10+ months to raise a piglet to a harvest size hog. This involves tons of financial input as we grow our pastured, sustainably raised hogs. We’ve got lots of hay to still buy for the chilly winter months, a barn that desperately needs fixing for the piggies, equipment to maintain, winter feed and more. Your purchase of share will help make sure we can properly raise the piggies well and continue to feed our community:)
We can’t tell you how much our share members have helped our farm. We really don’t think we’d still be farming if it hadn’t of been for all your amazing support in the past - thank you:)
What About The Fun Surprise Of Opening A Share Bag????
We think we have a solution to this!!! Don’t laugh, but you can totally come into the shop and ask for us to pack a surprise share for you! Just request this, relax for a few minutes, then you can head home with a bag of fun meat treats that we’re totally excited for you to try:)
Pickup Locations
Of course this means that the only pickup location will be the deli at 423 Franklin Street, but the meat counter hours will be expanding after the conclusion of the summer CSA (mid November) program and you can pick up your share any time the meat counter is open. Also, we will be offering Full Plate Collective shares for pickup at the deli on Thursdays, so you can kill two birds with one stone if you come then. Unfortunately, we will not be able to service the NYC market this winter, unless you want to make the trek up to Ithaca.
Resolution
If you are a fan of the traditional Piggery CSA, we give you our heartfelt apologies for changing our program, but please understand that our business is evolving, we have limited time, money and energy and we are trying to do everything we can to make quality local meat more available. We feel that for the time being, focusing our efforts on making our butcher shop the best it can be is the best way to achieve that goal for our community. We appreciate the commitment our CSA members have shown us over the years and we look forward to showing the same commitment to you by giving you more selection of great local meats. Come on in and shop with us, we think you’ll enjoy it! If you want, we can still surprise you with a mixed basket of meat. Just tell us to pack you a CSA share and we’ll deduct it from your balance. We’ll even throw in some beef and chicken! Or maybe lamb?
