DeLano Farms offers CSA for first time

A farm that families and school children have visited to learn about farming practices of the past is now getting in on a trend that many hope will carry small farms into the future.

The DeLano Homestead, operated by the Kalamazoo Nature Center, will be using the Community Supported Agriculture farming model this year.

In Community Supported Agriculture, farmers and consumers become financial partners. The consumers, or subscribers, pay farmers prior to planting, giving farmers money to buy seeds, supplies and bring crops to harvest. In the CSA model this is called buying shares. In return, the consumers typically get a certain amount of produce each week as it is harvested during the season.

The DeLano Farms CSA will be for 21 weeks, from May 31 to Oct. 22. Pick-ups will be once a week at the Dalton Tool Barn Marketplace.

Each week’s share depends upon what produce is at its peak condition during that portion of the growing season.

The farm uses organic methods, which means no synthetic chemicals or fertilizers are used on the farm to produce our food. Some produce may be blemished as a result.

The DeLano Homestead, settled in the 1860s, was acquired by the Nature Center in 1968. It has been used to show families and school groups old-time farming methods since the 1970s.

Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source: Kalamazoo Nature Center