PURAMAHOI FIELDS

Do you know where your vegetables come from or how they are grown? Over time, we have lost local vegetable growers to the large contract growing operations that supply our supermarkets. Growing vegetables locally ensures freshness and gives you the ability to find out just how your food is grown.

One option that is very popular in the northern hemisphere is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). This is a model of farming in which farmers sell a portion of their harvest as shares to CSA members in the local community. Each farm adapts the model to suit the needs of its community.

The CSA is generally run on a seasonal basis. Each week, members receive a portion of what is ready to harvest - a purely seasonal approach to eating. The CSA tries to provide a wide range of seasonal produce in order to ensure variety and occasionally introduce members to different vegetables than those they might find in the local supermarket.

As a CSA member, you share both the bounty and the risk of the farming season. In a good season, you will receive more vegetables, but, in a challenging year, you may receive fewer.

Membership is an investment in the local community. It enables us to grow the vegetables you will enjoy eating over the summer months. Being part of the CSA allows you to see the weekly changes in the farm and the breadth of skills and the huge amount of work that goes into producing delicious healthful vegetables for your table. As a member,
there are also opportunities to visit or volunteer on the farm to learn how to grow, nurture, and harvest vegetables.

At Puramahoi Fields CSA, we are testing the concept of a small scale CSA within our local community.  We hope that, from this small start, we can provide you with high quality, healthful food, increase awareness of the importance of knowing the source of your food, and encourage the development of other CSAs across New Zealand.