Want to join our CSA?
Community Supported Agriculture (or CSA) is a way of supporting your local farmer by pre-buying food boxes in March when the early season cash flow is needed to buy seeds and amendments. Members pick up a weekly vegetable box either Monday or Friday from a convenient location in East Vancouver (3238 Fleming Street) and get to enjoy farm fresh food harvested literally THAT MORNING from the farm.
More details:
Pick up is every Monday or Friday afternoon, starting June the 8th through to October the 5. (18 weeks in total with perhaps the last two weeks combined into one box).
Our Harvest Box consists of our famous salad mix and sprouts every week and often includes a herb (basil, dill, cilantro, thyme, chives..) Below is a rough timetable of the harvesting season. We also include cooking tips to inspire you or help you try new recipes.
HOW much does it cost?
$400. Paid either in one installment or two separate of $200 each (second due mid July). That works out to $20 a box of fresh and organic vegetables every week. You can pay via e-mail transfer, or paypal. E-transfers can be sent to joni@butternutbuddha.com
Box Contents:
Over the course of 18 weeks from June 8 to October 5, the contents of our CSA share boxes will vary based on what's ready to harvest.The 18th box may be delivered on week 17 as a double box full of root veggies for your Thanksgiving dinner. Here is a very loose example of what you can expect each week, weather dependent:
Nettles, pea shoots, lettuce, baby salad greens, cilantro.
June 8th or 12th
Micro green mix (spouts), lettuce, dill
June 15 June 20
Lettuce, mixed greens, basil
June 22
- September 28
Lettuce, mixed greens, dill
maybe Oct 5
Why CSA?
Becoming a CSA shareholder helps support innovative alternative food systems.
Shareholders help establish food security by contributing to the viability of local mini-farming.
By withdrawing support of Big Agriculture and choosing to pre-purchase from local farmers the CSA consumer is putting sustainability back into food systems.
The CSA box will provide you with maximum nutrition, freshness, and taste at market prices.
Food miles are reduced.
Farmland is preserved.
Organic farming practices protect bees and local ecosystems.
It can expand exploration of new foods and flavours.
Taking out the middle man ensures that farmers benefit fully from the exchange and members benefit by knowing where their food comes from and how it's grown.
Butternut Buddha may be able to provide certified organic eggs at an extra cost, as well as specialty products (like cherries, figs, wild blueberries and salmon berries when in season). A monthly newsletter will inform you of these extra options at so you'll have time to let us know if you'd like to purchase any of the add-ons.
If you want to skip a week due to summer holidays that's fine just give us some notice so we don’t harvest for you. That said, we can’t refund you for the missed boxes but you could give your box to a neighbour…
Membership Agreement
The agreement between Butternut Buddha and the CSA member is straightforward. You are responsible for:
picking up your share at the designated time and place. (delivery can be arranged for an added fee of 5 bucks, or more if you’re not close by.) In the times of COVID we will be respecting social distancing guidelines and having two separate pick up days. You can choose whether Monday or Friday is better for you. We will also only be allowing one person in the yard at a time and will provide hand sanitizer at the gate. Unfortunately we cannot pass the bins to and fro… you will have to bring your own bags and pick the vegetables out of your designated bin to put in your bags. We will be following Young Agrarian’s protocol for CSA and markets.
notifying the farm of any problems with your share within 24 hours of pickup.
arriving with a bag. We will email you what's in the box weekly, and you will serve yourself.
notifying the farm for any 'vacation holds". Any missed boxes will be donated to the Portland Hotel Food program.
paying the farm on time so we can buy our seeds, etc.
As a provider we are responsible for:
Having the shares ready at the time and location agreed upon at signup.
dealing with issues and concerns in a timely manner (24 - 48 hrs)
providing members with fresh, quality produce, guaranteed to be grown organically.
Please be aware, since farming involves many unpredictable natural factors, consistent quantities of harvest cannot always be guaranteed. We grow 20 percent more than CSA shareholders need in order to cover for this, and still there is the possibility of unforeseen weather issues causing production problems. This is a part of the small risk members share with the farmer, and though at this point we can't provide monetary refunds for a specific problematic harvest, we are open to discussion around trade in kind (i.e. if the tomato crop fails in early September we would replace the value of the tomatoes with either another vegetable of choice, or with free admission to one of our dining events). That said we will strive to provide a wide and pleasing variety of produce.
