Veggie Shares
Growing Food For Local Families Since 1996
If you decide to join Abbe Hills Farm CSA , you'll soon learn the pleasures of eating seasonally and locally. Often, you become a better cook and your kids become better eaters. Certainly, you'll pay more attention to the weather!
We work very hard here at Abbe Hill Farm CSA to honor the confidence you show in us and the responsibility you give us to produce your family's food in a thoughtful, careful, and transparent manner. All of us at Abbe Hills Farm look forward to growing food for your family in 2017.
This is Laura's brother, Aaron Krouse. You might know him from his day job at the Oakland Road HyVee. He loves to help at the farm on the weekends, and is responsible for making sure we've always got plenty of chicken feed on hand.
2017 CSA Shares
Choose Family or Single Size Shares
Family size shares are about the right amount of vegetables for a family of four for a week, or two vegetarians who mostly eat at home.
Single size shares are a little more than half as much, and are often enough for a couple who eats away from home some, or who has very small children.
Check out "What's in a Share" for photos of some weekly family size shares from previous seasons. Start small in June, get more by October!
Monday, Thursday, or Saturday Pickup
Pickup options include:
- Monday afternoons, 4:30 until 6:00, at the farm, or
- Thursday afternoons, 4:30 until 6:00, at the farm. or
- Saturday mornings, 8:00 until 9:00, at Noelridge Christian Church, 7111 C Ave NE, Cedar Rapids
You bring your own bags and boxes, and select the vegetables you want in the amount that fits your share size. They call it "cafeteria style".
Full Summer or Back-to-School Half Season
Our regular season is 20 weeks, probably starting the week of May 29 (depends a little on the weather), and ending the week of October 9.
Our half-season is 10 weeks, starting the week of August 7, and ending the week of October 9.
Until we fill up, shareholders are welcome to begin their season any time. The share price can be prorated for late starters.
Affordable Share Price
Family size shares for the full season remain at $500, or $25 per week. (Add $40 for CR dropsite.)
Single size shares for the full season are $300, or $15 per week. (Add $40 for CR dropsite.)
Family size shares for half season are $280, or $28 per week.
Single size shares for half season are $170, or $17 per week.
An initial payment of at least $100 at registration will hold your spot in the CSA.
Free Local Thyme Recipe Service Bonus
Whooeee! This is HUGE. And it's free with your membership in Abbe Hills Farm CSA! We partner with Local Thyme recipe service for this, and you're gonna love it!
You'll get easy and delicious customized recipes and menu ideas to use the contents of your share every week. Plus veggie ID, storage advice, a shopping list generator, and an extensive veggie-centric recipe bank to use any time during the year.
Community Support and Payment Plans
Sometimes, money is tight. Still, everybody needs and deserves good food! Together, we can help.
Want to donate to the fund to help families afford their CSA membership? You can make a gift when you register.
Need a payment plan or a little help to join the CSA? Contact Laura or make a note on your registration form. You tell us what payment schedule you can manage and we'll make it work.
Register for the 2017 Season
Want to join the CSA this season? Please print this registration form (old fashioned, I know.) and mail to Laura with your initial payment (remember "mail"? and "checks"?) Or send me an email if you can't manage the technology and I'll help you sign up!
Your Farmer
Laura Krouse
Laura Krouse bought the 72-acre Abbe Hills Farm in 1988 from the Neal family of Mount Vernon.
Laura grew up near Toddville and has undergraduate degrees in agronomy and agricultural business from Iowa State University, a graduate degree in agronomy from the University of Florida, and a teaching certificate from Cornell College.
She worked for many years with migrant and seasonal farm workers in Immokalee, Florida, and taught in the biology department at Cornell College for 20 years. She is a Sunday school teacher at First Mennonite Church in Iowa City, and is a long-time commissioner of the Linn Soil and Water Conservation District.
Laura couldn't do it without a lot of help from kind friends, generous neighbors, and her dad, Roland Krouse, and brother, Aaron.
How It Works
We've got REALLY good eggs
About 120 Golden Comet hens live in a mobile henhouse that rotates around our hay fields. They produce tasty, healthy brown eggs, plus wonderful chicken manure for the compost pile. Until we run out, you can purchase eggs when you come to pick up your vegetables at the farm on Mondays and Thursdays. $3.50 per dozen.
Watch this funny little video to see how the hens spend their days - on yummy pastures.
Stocking the Pantry
That's not all! On Mondays and Thursdays for those who pick up at the farm, we've got bread bakers, apple shares from Buffalo Ridge Orchard, milk and cheese from Dan and Debbie's Creamery, and garden extras.
While you're here getting your veggies, you can also go to the garden to pick your own cherry tomatoes and herbs (new this year!). Kids love it.
And of course, you get to pet Lucky and Kiwi, which makes them happy, too.
Bring the Kids (But Not Fido)
We LOVE kids at the farm. Your whole family is welcome to come for a visit each week, especially children and grandchildren. Although we try to keep the farm as kid-safe as possible, there are still a number of ways that toddlers can get into a predicament, so please keep them with you. Also, please, no pets. With everything going on during pickup, even the pets on a leash or inside your car almost always cause more excitement than Laura can stand!
Wash Your Veggies! Please!
We try to wash as few of the vegetables as possible. For one thing, it takes a lot of time and it's messy! But more importantly, washing sometimes decreases the storage life of certain vegetables. So, you will find some things washed, some still with a little field dirt on them - but please remember that EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE WASHED AT HOME BEFORE YOU EAT IT!!! Make Laura's insurance agent happy. Wash your vegetables.
What if I Miss a Week?
Sometimes, you get busy, or go on vacation, or just plain forget. If your veggies are here when we close, we'll send them to a food pantry, so be happy knowing somebody will enjoy them.
If you know you're going to miss a week, the very best thing to do is to find a neighbor or relative to pick up for you.
Second best, tell Laura by Sunday night and we'll bag it and keep it in the cooler for you until the following morning.
Or by Sunday night, you can tell Laura you want to switch nights that week.
Volunteer Opportunities
We like to donate food to those who need it. Planting extra is pretty easy, but sometimes we need help with weeding, harvesting, and delivering food donations. If you want to help, please let Laura know what you would like to contribute. We don't need lots of help, but when we need you, we really NEED you. Sunday school groups, college organizations, 4-H clubs and other groups can volunteer, too, to help with projects that fit your schedules.