To give folks a better idea of what to expect from our CSA shares, I take photos each week of a random full share box and a random half share. Photos from 2021 are shown below. Photos from 2020 are available on the farm Facebook page (full shares 2020 and half shares 2020). Every year is a little different, but I hope to at least give a sense of a typical share.
2021 Full Shares:
2021 Half Shares:
Stone’s Throw Farm shares are offered in two sizes: a full share is packed in a 3/4 bushel box and is intended for 4 enthusiastic veggie eaters, and a half share is packed in a 1/2 bushel box and intended for 2 people. This is just an estimate; you might find that a share works for more or fewer people, depending on your eating habits. Both shares are weekly, and you should expect a wide variety of veggies and herbs in your share over the course of the season.
Each week, I’ll send you some of everything that’s ripe, delicious, and plentiful at the farm. At the beginning of the season, you’ll receive veggies that grow well in cool weather, such as kale, radishes, lettuce, spinach, and bok choy, and your share box won’t be very heavy. Later in the season, heavier fare such as root vegetables and winter squashes add up to a heavier box — sometimes a full share weighs 20 pounds. I’ll do my best to be fair and put the same amount of veggies in each box, but not all veggies are created equal. If I’m giving out cabbage, for example, they won’t all be exactly the same size.
The contents of a share box change from week to week, which is part of the fun! As an example, one full share box on 7/8/13 contained: bunch of 7 large scallions, 10 oz salad turnips with greens, 6 oz baby lettuce mix, 2 large heads lettuce, 2 heads Napa cabbage, 9 oz kale, and 9 oz spinach mix.
One full share box on 9/23/13 contained: 3# russet potatoes, 2# carrots, 4 beets, 1 spaghetti squash and 1 gold nugget squash (5 lb), 6 onions (2 lbs 10 oz), 6 ears sweet corn, 3 leeks, 2 or 3 small heads broccoli or cauliflower (1 lb 2 oz), 5 sweet peppers (1 lb 2 oz), 2 hot peppers, 4 slicing tomatoes, 1 1/2 pints cherry tomatoes, 7 oz bag of spinach leaves, and a 6 oz bunch of cutting celery.
Every season is different due to weather and other factors, but our veteran farm members find they can anticipate approximately when each crop will show up in their share boxes. We try to give farm members a “heads up” in the weekly newsletter about upcoming crops, too.
Our growing season is short in Northern Minnesota, but we use several techniques to extend the season, such as hoophouses, row cover, and some black plastic mulch. Farm members are welcome — even encouraged! — to visit the farm to see for themselves how their food is grown.
Stone's Throw Farm 
I was wondering if you could provide some more information on the food in boxes for the CSA. How many people should the weekly package of veggies feed? Two? Four? Any further information would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Hi, Chris. Thanks for your interest in Stone’s Throw Farm. It’s difficult to answer your question because people really vary in how many veggies they eat in a week. We have quite a few shareholders who take a full share for a family of four — they love their veggies! The majority of our farm members do split a share between two households, however.
Also, it’s important to note that there’s a lot of variation in the share boxes throughout the season. In the spring the boxes (we use 3/4 bushel boxes) aren’t full to the brim because only the cold-tolerant veggies are ready to eat, but later in the summer they can be full to overflowing, so that’s a lot of veggies. For example, one week in late June, our share boxes contained: Collard Greens, Head Lettuce, Kohlrabi, Radishes, Spinach, & Turnip Greens. On the other hand, one week in late August, all of these veggies and herbs were included in the share box: Basil, Bell Peppers, Broccoli, Carrots, Cilantro, Cucumbers, Green Beans, Head Lettuce, Hot Peppers, Onions, Potatoes, Spicy Salad Mix, Sweet Corn, Summer Squash, & Tomatoes.
Thanks again for asking, and if you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Best,
Catherine
we love the concept of trying your boxes but we are a couple and suspect that the half box might be more than we can handle. could the pickup be adjusted to once every other week, at least as we try the process?
Hi Molly, thanks for your interest in our CSA shares. I don’t offer every other week shares, though if you can find another person/couple who would like to split the share with you, you could certainly take turns picking it up. I hope this helps.