Community Supported Agriculture

What is a CSA?

The term “CSA” stands for Community Supported Agriculture, also referred to as a farm share. Participating in a CSA program means that you will essentially become a shareholder of the farm for that season. Your upfront monetary investment will be put toward the early-season costs of operating a sustainable, diversified vegetable farm. In return, you will receive a share of locally grown, seasonal vegetables each week for the duration of the CSA program. Your return on investment will come in the form of a greater amount of vegetables on average than what you’ve paid for. In addition to that, you will be directly supporting a small-scale, woman-owned farm and contributing to its success as a small local business.

Like any investment, a CSA program is not without risk. As a member of the CSA program you agree to share in the risks associated with farming. While we will do our absolute best to provide you with a fresh, diverse, abundant, and beautiful farm share each week, you may experience some of the complications that can happen during the growing season. This could include weather-related issues, pest damage, crop disease, or other unforeseen complications contributing to lower yields of particular crops. Your investment in the farm through the CSA is highly appreciated and a vital part of paying early-season start-up costs.

How does it work?

Folks sign-up for a CSA share through our website (below), put a deposit down to hold their place, and finish paying for their share before the first CSA pickup of the season. You will receive an email confirmation after signing up and we will be in communication via email regarding all things CSA. When the CSA starts, folks visit us at the farm to pick up their CSA share each week during the main growing season. Pickup consists of a “self-serve” style setup in which all of the produce will be displayed similar to our farm stand. Each week at pickup, we will post how much of each crop members can take home. From there, folks pick out their own produce with some availability for customization throughout the season (i.e. summer squash or zucchini, carrots or beets, lettuce or kale, etc.). Someone from the farm is always available at CSA pickup to answer questions, restock produce, and help newcomers get familiar with the process.

If you know you are going to miss a week, please notify us as soon as possible. We are happy to pack up your share for quick pickup during our farm stand hours that week. After that, we cannot hold your share any longer. Your share will not rollover to the following week and you will not be refunded for that missed week. Alternatively, you can always send someone else to pick up your share for you.

What’s in a share?

In New England, the beginning and end of the growing season tend to yield less produce and less variety than the middle. Only certain crops tolerate the cold, damp weather we tend to get in the early spring and fall, and what does grow is usually growing slowly. This means that we can expect the first few weeks of the CSA and the last few weeks to have less variety in each share. However, the bulk of the CSA season will yield abundant harvests with more variety and a higher quantity of produce.  It’s helpful to think of the CSA like a bell curve – lower on the ends and higher in the middle – averaging more than what you’ve paid for per week over the course of the season. Regardless of the time of season, we will do our absolute best to provide a balanced variety of our highest quality vegetables each week.

The late spring and early summer harvests tend to yield radishes, peas, garlic scapes, herbs, and a variety of leafy greens. The main summer season brings tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, carrots, beets, cucumbers, squash and zucchini, green beans, celery, herbs, and leafy greens. Late summer and early fall add melons, winter squashes, onions and garlic into the mix. We’ve done our best to plan for and prepare this spread, but mother nature will ultimately decide when and how much of these crops we’ll see this season.

What are the details for 2025?

• The CSA runs for approximately 16 weeks from early June to late September (exact dates are TBD and weather dependent).

• The pickup window will be Wednesdays from 3pm - 6pm at our farm stand at 449 Westerly Bradford Road, Westerly, RI.

• We offer 3 CSA share sizes with sliding scale pricing:

  • Small Share $200, $250, or $300 (feeds ~1-3 people)

  • Medium Share $350, $400, or $450 (feeds ~2-4 people)

  • Large Share $500, $550, or $600 (feeds ~3-5 people)

• We accept cash, check, credit/debit, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Frontier Farm gift cards.

• We require a 50% deposit at the time of signing up to hold your spot.

• Our sliding scale option allows us to subsidize CSA shares for folks who may not be able to afford one otherwise. Food accessibility is paramount to our mission at Frontier Farm and we believe everyone should have access to healthy, high quality food regardless of socioeconomic status. If you consider yourself low-income and would benefit from a custom payment plan or reduced deposit, please email us at frontierfarmri@gmail.com.

• Our farm friends and neighbors at Echo Rock Flowers offer stunning cut flower shares for pickup same time, same place. Please refer to their website here for sign-up details. If you plan to purchase both our CSA and Echo Rock Flowers’ flower share, we recommend choosing their Wednesday pickup day for a one-stop shop experience.

How do I sign up?

If you’re ready to sign-up for the 2025 CSA program, please do so by clicking the button below. You’ll be taken to our Square site where you’ll choose your CSA size and sliding scale option, and put down your deposit (or pay in full). You will receive an automated confirmation email from Square after signing up. Frontier Farm will send a second personalized confirmation email welcoming you to the CSA. If you prefer to pay with cash or check, please get in touch with us via email to coordinate payment. Should you have any questions or concerns, please email Cassidy at frontierfarmri@gmail.com.