Camp Joy was surely and proudly one of the first farms in the area to adopt the model of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Through the CSA we would share the fruits (and vegetables!) of the garden with local families from the San Lorenzo Valley. CSA’s are now all over the county and the world. The program is a way to bring small farms and interested community members together for mutual benefit. CSA creates a relationship between people who love fresh food and flowers, and gardners who love to grow it. CSA members sign up for the program and purchase a share of the gardens produce for the entire season. In return, they receive a bountiful basket of the farm’s fruits and vegetables every week. The contents of the weekly baskets changes and is based on what the garden can produce in each unique microclimate. CSA members also often become more connected to the farm by making their weekly visits to pick up baskets or by attending other farm events with their families.
Currently Camp Joy is not offering a CSA. While we have loved many aspects of this model of direct marketing we have also given way to focusing on the fertility of the farm as opposed to the demands of production. This also had to do with the increasing drought situation in California which we responded to by decreasing the amount of garden beds planted over the last few years. We have all found ourselves needing to do a little more conservation and we focused on growing food for the farm and produce to preserve into delicious value added products which we sell to our adoring public at our historical wreath sale and open house event.