CSA FAQs

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a movement in which members of the community pledge their support to a small-scale, local farmer with whom all of the risks, and rewards of food production are shared. In the 1960s Dr. Booker T. Whatley first introduced the concept as a solution for struggling Black farmers. Later, farmers in Japan, Germany and Switzerland took on his idea as a response to issues of food safety and urbanization. Today, a half century later, there are over 12,500 CSA farms across the U.S.

CSA is good for members of the community. With a CSA membership, you know who your farmer is, where your food comes from, and (most importantly) how your food is grown. A CSA membership allows us to deliver fresh, wholesome, nutritious food to you the same day it was harvested using the minimum amount of packaging and fuel. As a member of Singing Frogs Farm, you will have opportunities to visit the farm and meet the farmers and our awesome farm crew, meet other members of the Singing Frogs Farm CSA community, and learn more about sustainable agriculture through our Farm Tours, farm events and weekly newsletters.

CSA is good for the farmers too! We receive a steady source of income from your membership as well as the benefit of a guaranteed market for our produce - typically a big risk in small-scale farming. But best of all, we cut out the middle person so that you get your produce for lower than retail costs and we sell it to you for higher than wholesale prices. It’s a win-win solution! Also, as a CSA farm, we are able to act upon our crazy desire to grow literally hundreds of different crops all throughout the year, rather than focusing on just a dozen crops for markets or wholesale!

We offer two sizes:

Classic Box: Sliding Scale $32/box

For those who graze on vegetables most of the week. Some couples devour this box by the weekend while others have extra to share with friends and neighbors.

Family Box: Sliding Scale $40/box

For those who devour veggies in celebratory style. This box has roughly 30% more food PLUS it will have occasional extra items that aren’t in the Classic Box.

Each box offers 5 to 7 different items. Our basic recipe from which we expand and contract based on whatever is at the peak of harvest during that week and season may include a lettuce, a bunching green, a root crop, something heavy, an herb and fruit about every-other-box. Some boxes might be fairly light weight and full of hearty greens while other boxes will be quite heavy from pounds of tomatoes or winter squash. On Our CSA page, we have 4 sample boxes from all the seasons during the year. Every week is different, keeping a diversity for you is important. Everyone’s eating habits and cooking styles are different, but we assure you: you will eat a lot more veggies when you join our CSA, the are fresh, ready for you with ideas and recipes - and your body will thank you for it!

The CSA boxes are curated by us with the best of what we grow with a basic recipe (see “How much food do we get in our box?”).

You have the ability to add-on extra produce from our farm as well as products from other local producers linked with our farm.

Every Friday we let you know via email the next week’s anticipated harvest plus available add-ons. At this point, CSA members have access to our CSA store from which they can purchase additional items. Feel free to peek through this week’s store (but please do not purchase anything until we let you know there is a space off the waiting list).

CSA store

Every week that you receive a CSA box you will receive two emails: Friday evening we will email you what we anticipate harvesting for that week’s CSA plus any additional produce for sale. You will receive a second email Wednesday afternoon with a pdf of the newsletter.

To keep up to date, please update your email addresses in your Member Dashboard and feel free to add more family member email addresses to keep them in the loop too!

Emailing Charlie the Llama (charlie@singingfrogsfarm.com) is the best way to communicate with us about the CSA and we try our best to get back to you in a timely manner.

If you would like to communicate with your pick-up host, their information is in your Wednesday morning reminder email or on your Member Dashboard under “Drop Point Details”.

At almost all pick-up sites your box is still available on Thursday for just such occasions. Refer to the logistics email we sent you when you signed up for specifics to your pick-up site. We realize that life happens. Be aware that your produce will be less fresh. Please try your best to pick up Wednesday, and if possible let your pick-up site host know if you will be late. If you cannot pick-up by Friday evening, your box will no longer be available.

For the past 16 years, over 97% of the produce in our CSA boxes has been grown here on our farm. Occasionally, we have a number of simultaneous harvest losses that we can’t overcome and/or we have another local farmer with sustainble practices  that we want to support . In these instances, we will buy extra produce from trusted, local (Sonoma County) farms to fill the gaps.

We are not certified organic. Organic farming allows for the use of toxic organic pesticides, organic herbicides, and organic fungicides. While they generally don’t cause harm to us humans, these organic sprays are very detrimental to pollinators, especially bees, as well as to the entire community of beneficial insects in an ecosystem. Organic pesticides still kill indiscriminately, just like conventional pesticides! We practice what is often termed “Beyond Organic,” or "Organic 2.0." Organic farming also still encourages the use of plowing, discs and other tillage equipment which has proven to be highly detrimental to soil health and soil biology, and increases greenhouse gas emissions. While we support the organic movement - it is far better than the conventional alternative - we also believe that the organic movement needs to adopt even better management pratices.

At Singing Frogs Farm, we meet or exceed all organic standards, but we also strive to create a healthy, vibrant, natural ecosystem that is strong, biodiverse, and resilient... and that also happens to produce food for us humans! For more information on organic farming and ourfarming practices, join us for one of our fun, inspirational and informative Farm Tours.

Yes! Every CSA Box comes with a newsletter with what’s in the box, some story from the farm and “Produce Notes & Recipes.” Check out our CSA Newsletter Blog. We try to give you some basic information about your produce as well as some ideas and specific recipes. Our recipes focus on the new and unusual foods in that week’s box. Some of our members have found it very useful to keep a binder or folder of our newsletters as an ever growing recipe book by Singing Frogs Farm!

When you go on vacation you can either hold or donate your box. If you opt to hold, you will not be charged for that box.

When a box is on hold a “box credit” is not used. Subscription payments automatically charge your credit card when you are out of box credits (not after a specified amount of time). Every time you receive a box you use a credit. When you don’t receive a box, no credit is used… in other words you’re not charged, it just advances your credits.

The exception is if you “donate” rather than “hold” a box. This is an option you can choose if you feel inclined but if we do it we always default to a hold. If you donate, the farm still gets paid and it helps us make donations to various groups we help (donated transplants to BIPOC farmers in urban areas, plus food to both Farm-to-Pantry and Cultural Conservancy Native Foodways).

You can put a box on hold (or donate) via your Member Dashboard: click on the date on the calendar you’d like to hold. If you have any issue just email me and I’ll do it. Also if you want to do it for many weeks I recommend you let us do it as we can do a different action for many weeks rather than each individually.

When you’re done, make sure the date changed color from green (scheduled box) to gray (box on hold) on your delivery calendar.

Feel free to ask. We request that a minimum of 8 CSA boxes be delivered to any given pick-up site. We are currently accepting new drop sites in Sebastopol, Graton and Santa Rosa.

Don’t go out of your way to bring boxes to your pick-up site or the farm - it’s not worth your time or gas. However, our boxes cost us $3 each and we want to continue to reuse, so please do remember to bring ALL of your boxes back to your pick-up site the next time you pic-up.

Our billing is through a software company CSAware/LocalHarvest.

Credit Card: We offer automated billing every 4 or 13 boxes (per your preference). Most of our members pay this way.

CalFresh/EBT: We also accept CalFresh/EBT. For CSA boxes you charge your card for every box and there is a grant to cover 50% if you use CalFresh/SNAP. This is on a week-to-week basis. You can additionally use SNAP/EBT Cash/Credit Card to purchase add-ons.

Other: Cash or Check - we don’t prefer cash or check but if this is a need talk with us and we’ll see if we can work something out.

As a CSA member, you are welcome to visit the farm on a CSA pick-up date or for one of our events. Please let us know you’d like to pick up your box on the farm by phone or email before 8 am Wednesday or you can change your pick-up site for one week on your account. Go to your Membership Dashboard, click on the date you’d like to come on the Delivery Calendar and choose to reschedule for farm pick up. (Note this will only work before Monday 5pm.)

Yes, you are more than welcome to do so. We will work with you to arrange all of the details for your “Gift Membership.” Please note we have a waiting list for Veggie Shares but we have space for Flower Gift Shares.

Email charlie@singingfrogsfarm.com

No, we are not. We are a for-profit business and a working farm operating on private property. However, we do offer Farm Tours and other special events which will give you ample opportunity to enjoy the farm and learn about our land use management in a very in-depth and informative way.

CSA members may opt any week to pick up at the farm and take a walk around the fields. Please do not invite friends unless you clear it by us.

Unfortunately not.

We do not maintain a farm stand due to limited access. If you are interested in wholesale purchasing you can certainly reach out to charlie@singingfrogsfarm.com to inquire.

The best way to get our produce outside of the CSA is to stop by one of our Farmers’ Market booths:

Friday evenings June - October @ Occidental Community Farmers’ Market

Saturday mornings @ Santa Rosa Original Farmers’ Market at the Luther Burbank Center

Sunday mornings @ Sebastopol Farmers’ Market