Stay Tuned For Information About Our
2024 CSA Options
(info below is from 2023...)
Read below for CSA description, dates, costs, and pick up locations....
WHAT IS A CSA?
By becoming a member of our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) community, we form a relationship with you and you get to know us as the people who grow your food. Essentially, you are purchasing a share of everything we are producing on the farm this season. Becoming a shareholder helps support a local family farm committed to growing the highest quality food. Your support is also a financial commitment. It enables us to prepare for the needs of the farm so that all of us can enjoy the bounty of the harvest not just this year, but for years to come.
OUR CSA SHARES
If you become a member of our 2023 CSA, you'll be bringing our farm to your table and enjoying fresh, healthy produce every week (or every other week for "half" shares) for 22 weeks, starting the week of May 2 (or soon thereafter), and ending in late September or early October. We sometimes give our CSA a 2 week hiatus in August and/or early-September [exact dates TBD], which gives our customers a break, and also gives us time to put in a really good fall planting of crops. If production and weather is favorable, as occurred in 2022, we may not need the break. CSA customers will get their full number of boxes regardless of the number of hiatus weeks we do or don't use in August/early-September.
You'll get a few cool season items at the beginning and end of the season, plus your summer favorites, and maybe a few things you haven't tried before. We'll provide recipes and storage/preservation information throughout the season to help sort out any kitchen kerfuffles, and you can always ask us questions via email (or call in an emergency). Amongst many other things, we grow Arugula, Asian Greens, Basil, Beans, Beets, Bell Peppers, Blueberries, Cabbage, Calendula, Carrots, Chard, Cilantro, Collards, Cucumbers, Dill, Eggplant, Endive, Fennel, Garlic, Hot Peppers, Jerusalem Artichokes, Kale, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Melons, Mustard Greens, Napa Cabbage, Okra, Onions, Oregano, Parsley, Potatoes, Pumpkins, Radishes, Radicchio, Roselle, Scapes, Sunflowers, Snow Peas, Spinach, Summer Squash, Strawberries, Sweet Potatoes, Tomatoes, Turnips, Watermelons, Winter Squash, Zinnias Zucchini... and so much more...
We'll put together a standard box for you each week, and if you want additional items you can buy them via our online store portal or at our farmers market stands in Nashville. If you purchase additional items via the online store we'll have them waiting for you at your regualar CSA pick-up point.
Everything we grow/harvest to put in your in your CSA boxes will be free from synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and GMO's, which maybe isn't necessary, but which makes us farmers and our land happier (and hopefully makes you feel better too). We're proud of the food we grow, and we hope you'll share some with your friends and family, as we do with ours. Though we have not yet pursued organic certification due to costs that are increasingly geared towards larger scale farms than ours, we do follow all of the rules, and enjoy telling anyone that will listen about our sustainable farming techniques.
Each season, we choose a few items that we don't grow ourselves to source from other local sustainable farms for inclusion in our CSA offerings. Last year, these items included apples, blueberries, and muscadine grapes. Any time we are going to include something we did not grow ourselves, we are 100% transparent about its origins. Our goal is to provide our customers with the best variety of what's available at any point in the season.
Potential CSA members should note that nature may have plans that can affect varieties & yields of certain products. As CSA members you agree to accept this risk, along with the farmers themselves because the benefits are far greater than the possibilities of problems. Athena’s Harvest Farm employs good farming practices, and plants diverse varieties of plants to guard against nature’s plans, and we will do the best to find a substitute should one particular crop fail.
TYPES OF SHARES
FULL SHARE
For people who cook regularly, couples, roommates/families, or vegetarians/vegans), consists of 1 CSA box (or paper grocery bag size) valued ~$32/box (give or take a couple of dollars depending on the type of share you select). Each box will contain 6 to 10 vegetable/fruit varieties each week. (Likely on the lower side early and late in the season, and on the higher end in the middle of the season).
HALF SHARE
Perfect for folks who cook less frequently) are the same as the full share described above, but only delivered every other week (we’ll schedule with you to determine which sequence of weeks you will be on).
PICK-UP LOCATIONS
We have 2 pickup locations in Nashville, and 1 pickup location in Maury County. We do not deliver boxes to individual members.
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12 South Farmer's Market (Nashville - 12 South)
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(Tuesdays 3:30-7pm)
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Richland Park Farmers Market (Nashville - Charlotte Ave.)
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(Saturdays 9am-12:30pm
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On-Farm Pickup (Fly, TN / Santa Fe, TN)
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(Saturdays 2pm-6:45pm for those that live close by or want to visit the farm).
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2023 CSA COST:
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Standard Full Share (sign up after March 31): $704
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Standard Half Share (sign up after March 31): $374
PAYMENT OPTIONS
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Pay up front (preferred) using credit/debit card, PayPal, check, or cash.
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Pay in 5 monthly installments (credit/debit card only) - 1st installment is at the time of signup, and the rest are spread over 4 months from June - September.
We accept checks, cash, and all major credit cards. Paying up front provides us with the operating capital needed to purchase seed, compost, organic fertilizer and any specialized tools needed for growing your food, and to get started growing it. To give you a bell pepper in late summer for example, we need to start those plants in our greenhouse in early February.
We realize, however, that paying all the money up front can be a heavy lift financially, so we are also happy to offer the option of having your payments spread out automatically over several months. This option requires paying by credit/debit card.
CUSTOMER VACATIONS AND MISSED BOX PICK-UPS
Our Policy is to accept 2 customer "holds/vacations" (skipping a box pick-up) with advance notice per season, and we will work with you to re-schedule your box to another date. If you have additional scheduling issues you may need to make other arrangements with a friend or neighbor for days you will be unable to pick up your share. When members fail to pick up their boxes as scheduled, we may agree to hold the box for you at the farm for you to pick up later, but we will not generally "make up" missed boxes beyond your 2 hold/vacation allowances. Our products are perishable, and if your share is not picked up, it will be donated to a local community refrigerator or the Nashville Food Project, fed to our hungry neighbors and interns, given to our chickens, composted for re-use on the farm, or offered as appeasement/sacrifice to our ravenous 3.5 year old son.
CANCELLATION/REFUND POLICY
CSA shareholders/members are seen as active partners in our farm community/enterprise and as such, share in the risks and rewards of the harvest each year. Members can of course cancel their subscription boxes at any time, but if you choose this option, we cannot offer a monetary refund for shares. By the time harvest delivery begins, the seeds and other inputs for your shares have already been purchased, planted, and maintained. By joining our CSA, you are committing to the entire CSA period you have signed up for. If you have unpaid installments and decide to cancel, the full balance of all installments will still need to be paid either on the original schedule, or in a lump sum at the time of cancellation.
We gently recommend that folks who must cancel their CSA season elect to do one of the following: (1) give the remainder of your CSA share to a relative or friend, or (2) sell the remainder of your share to someone else who can utilize it.
We recognize that the FARMER <---> CSA MEMBER partnership model is somewhat unique in today's consumer environment, and we appreciate your understanding and trust. We'll do our best to make our members happy and satisfied, and though our policy is outlined above, we are always willing to talk to folks about extreme extenuating circumstances while reserving the right to stick to the policy as written.