A CSA is Community Supported Agriculture. The usual form of a CSA is a vegetable one in which a customer buys a share of the year’s crop in exchange for paying at the beginning of the season. This allows for a stronger relationship between the consumer and the farmer and allows the consumer to know exactly how their produce is grown. For us, we have decided to raise the animals and sell the meats instead of the vegetables, but we are operating our CSA along the same fashion as the vegetable ones. We are selling shares of the meats, though we aren’t expecting the season’s full payment up front. This allows you the ability to learn how the meat you eat is treated before it reaches your table.
By joining a meat CSA, you are helping support our local family farm while providing your family with a healthy and nutritious source of meat. You are allowing us the guarantee that our meats will be sold and more easily let us plan for what our future needs will be. In return, you get a guaranteed amount of meat at a great deal that is raised without all of the hormones and antibiotics that have become a standard in the growing practices of many of the large factories farms. You can eat knowing that your meat came from animals that were allowed to roam pastures, eat grass, breath fresh air and generally lead a happy life.
For more information about the term “CSA” or what this movement is all about, I suggest you do a little research to learn more about subscription farming.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community-supported_agriculture