Dinihanian’s CSA is growing for you

Cover crops of winter rye and field peas kept down weeds during the winter and will be plowed into the field for extra fertility

On a 40-acre farm just north of Cornell Road opposite the Oak Hills shopping center, the Dinihanian family has been growing flowers and greenery for generations. In 2009, they began to convert some of the holly acreage into a vegetable patch to supply their farm market and their CSA.

A CSA—Consumer Supported Agriculture—is a system where consumers pay up-front, at the beginning of the growing season, and then receive boxes of fresh produce and other foods weekly throughout the season. Vahan Dinihanian came up with a little twist on the conventional CSA model by bringing food from several farms throughout the region. This allows them to supply their customers with a broader variety of foods, and reduces the risk of any single crop failing due to weather, disease or any of the other mishaps that can befall a farm.

Butch Hamaday looks over trays of seedlings in one of the greenhouses

They have been expanding the acreage planted to vegetables since they began, and last year they embarked on the three-year process of making the farm organic. Farm manager Butch Hamaday ran a large organic farm in California before he came to work here, and he’s enthusiastic about the changes that are coming to “YourCSA.com,” as the program is called. They manufacture their own compost onsite, and use only natural herbal sprays for pest control.

“We have expanded our greenhouses this year,” he says, “and we’re growing a much wider variety of vegetables here. More intensive planting will mean that about 80% of each box will come from our farm. Boxes will be larger this year, too.”

A full box, enough to feed a hungry family of four, is $650 for the 20-week season, and can be paid for one-half at a time. That’s only $32.50 per week, and if you now shop at “whole paycheck” or another fancy grocery, you’re probably paying that already for food that may be weeks old and that has traveled from different climates, time-zones, countries, and hemispheres. CSA boxes are filled with produce harvested the same day the box is packed. This means you receive produce that has a longer shelf life, better taste, and higher nutrient content. A half-share for a smaller family is $400.

Peas are already sprouting in one area of the farm. A trap catches destructive beetles.

In addition to a wider variety of fruit and vegetables, they’re offering optional add-on shares of beef, chicken, eggs, bread, cheese and many other foods and beverages, all locally-sourced for maximum freshness. They’re even supplying a “bulk food share” that will include the pantry items you need to prepare all your meals.

Another new feature this year is what Butch calls the “transparent field.” Click the “In the Field” tab of the website (yourcsa.com) and you’ll be able to find out a wealth of information about your food as it grows, from seedlings to harvest, including seed sourcing, estimated harvest dates, recipes, and nutrition for each crop.

They’re taking signups now for the season that will start in June. Visit the website to find out more, and sign up for your share. And if you’re not ready to commit to the CSA, most of the produce is available in the Farm Store, which will also open in June.

NEWS HOME