The Farm Stand at Givens' CSA: A Delmarvalous Delight

March 18, 2022

 I love participating in CSAs in our area and I want to encourage our followers to consider joining a CSA and supporting local agriculture, farmers and producers.

First, for those unfamiliar with what CSAs are, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. CSAs were originally started in order to allow a community to participate in the risks and advantages of agriculture. In some areas, CSAs include having the participants take an active role in the planting, care, growth and harvesting of the products. By doing so, the participants earned a portion of the produce production or a “share”.

More recently, CSAs have become less about participants taking an active role and more about participants paying the produce-supplier to not necessarily always grow, but sometimes just source, produce and items for the CSA share. It’s an exchange of money for goods, and in most cases, it allows the farmer/agricultural source some guaranteed income for a percentage of the products they grow.

We are fortunate to live in an area where there is a good amount of produce grown. Though I have lived in different places in the US, including the breadbasket Midwest, I had never seen produce stands—or at least a significant number of produce stands—before I moved to the Eastern Shore. If this is all you’ve ever known, you wouldn’t know that this abundance of fresh produce that’s grown here is not usual for all areas and we’re incredibly lucky to have so much of it to choose from in the lush growing months.

But in addition to the variety of produce stands, we also have a terrific offering of CSA in the Delmarva area. I’m going to tell you about my personal favorite and then invite you to share your favorite in the Facebook comments!

I’ve participated in several different CSAs over the years. One of my favorites is no longer in existence as the farm/produce stand didn’t stay open, but last year I discovered The Farm Stand at the Givens’ CSA via a friend of mine. The Farm Stand is a produce stand in Laurel, Delaware owned by the Givens family and the CSA operates from there, providing shares to both Delaware and Maryland locations.

Here’s how the CSA works: you sign up at the beginning of the season (and sign ups are happening NOW and they DO SELL OUT so don’t delay in this. Mention my name in the comments as a referral and I’ll get a credit!) for the size and frequency of the box you want. The box is then delivered directly to your residence or some other location of your choosing at an assigned day every week. Then you have delicious, fresh produce to eat and enjoy for the week until the next box arrives!

There are three reasons I love this CSA a little more than some of the others I’ve tried.

1)     They deliver directly to my house in Salisbury, MD. Most CSAs have a meeting spot once a week where you can pick up your share, but I’m lazy (not really, but I do run a business so I don’t have a lot of spare time) and I love love love having the shares delivered right to my door!

2)     Not only can I choose the size and frequency of my box—which is excellent because not everyone in my house loves fresh produce the way I do, so I need to be able to control how much/how often I’m getting it—but they also have a box that allows you to customize.

In this case, your weekly purchase is “credits” and each week you get an email reminder that it’s time to choose your produce and any additional add-ons (more on that later). Each produce item is assigned a credit work from .5 credits to 2 credits. For instance a bag of strawberries might be 2 credits, an ear of corn .75 credits and a green pepper .5 credits. You choose the produce you want until it totals your credit allowance for the week. This allows you to say, buy three bags of strawberries and skip the green peppers because you don’t like peppers but you love strawberries.

Again, this method of being able to choose my produce is fantastic because of the picky eaters in my house. I can buy more of one thing, less of another and maybe none of something only I will eat.

And the produce variety each week is always terrific so I never felt there was no way to use up my credits. If I wished I could buy a little more, all I had to do was add it to my cart and the additional credits would be charged to me at a set amount.

3)     They’re super responsive to customer service inquiries, and they do seem to legitimately love and appreciate their customers, sometimes adding small bonuses to the boxes.

In addition to these things, as I mentioned, there’s a wide variety of produce that changes weekly and throughout the season, the produce is always fresh and lasts longer than super market produce, and there are add-ons you can add to your CSA order.

I didn’t often do add-ons, so I can’t remember all of the options, but as I recall, poultry, eggs, honey and possibly milk? Were included in the available add-ons that you can buy. I do remember that apple cider was an add-on in the fall!

Overall, if you’re like me and looking for a place to both support local agriculture, which is always an industry that needs community support, and you’re looking for a weekly or bi-weekly delivery of fresh fresh fresh produce, you should consider giving a CSA a try.

I do obviously recommend The Farm Stand at Givens’ and as I mentioned above, sign ups are open now and they absolutely sell out as there are limited shares, so don’t delay in getting your family signed up for your portion! If you sign up, please mention that Angie James sent you because I do get a credit for referring people to the CSA. But even if I didn’t, I would 100% still recommend and support this CSA.

As mentioned, there are other local CSAs including Baywater Trading Company and others, so feel free to recommend your favorite on the Shop Local Delmarva Facebook group and tell us why you love it!

This business is a Shop Local Delmarvalous Delight and I highly recommend it! 

Business Details:

The Farm Stand at Givens' CSA

https://www.facebook.com/farmstandatthegivens/

https://www.thefarmstandde.com/pricing 

Angela James is a resident of Salisbury, MD and active in the Delmarva community through volunteer work for organizations such as National Folk Festival, Humane Society of Wicomico, Salisbury Pride Parade and more. A fiction editor, author career consultant and public speaker, she’s a small business owner who understands the power of word of mouth and customer reviews.

Delmarvalous Delights highlights the best of Delmarva, along with hidden gems, and shines a spotlight on those businesses that stand out consistently as Delmarvalous Delights.

If you’d like to invite Angela to visit your business, or try your products, please email angie@delmarvalousdelights.com