WHAT IS A C.S.A.?
CSA stands for "Community Supported Agriculture". Developed in the 1960's in postwar Japan, CSA programs were designed to build a relationship between the neighbour farmer and its supportive community. Members (that's you) buy shares in the farms output before the greens are sown, and then reap the benefits of the harvest each week as the season progresses. CSA members agree to share in the fluctuation and production oscillations inherent in farming, and understand that their produce will be grown with organic, regenerative farming practices. Members are, essentially, shareholders in the farm, thus becoming committed to its successes and failures. This joint venture allows the farmer to receive capital before the season starts when they need it most and allows them to be in the field during the growing season instead of worrying about selling their produce. There are other benefits to supporting local farms and CSA programs. As consumers, we have become accustomed to buying fruits and vegetables shipped from all over the world, regardless of the season with its considerable wastefulness of resources and energy. By choosing locally grown food, you ensure that you are eating the freshest, most nutrient dense and best tasting food possible and being environmentally responsible at the same time.
WHAT TO EXPECT?
We offer weekly shares with home delivery or pick up options in the Sotogrande, Jimena, Alcaidesa, and Estepona areas. Each member will enjoy a weekly or biweekly share of fresh, organic fruits, vegetables, microgreens and herbs, pastured chicken eggs, honey, homemade marmalades, pickled preserves, organic bread loaves, organic cheese, and more all depending on seasonality, and availability. Our carefully selected varieties and organic growing practices bring out the very best in flavour and nutrition. Produce is harvested when it is ripe, just before you receive it. Members can enjoy peace of mind knowing that everything is grown organically, meeting or exceeding conventional organic protocols. We never use chemicals, synthetic pesticides or herbicides on any of our crops or local produce. We will send out information throughout the harvest season, filled with updates, recipes, and stories from the farm. Members can also look forward to exclusive CSA farm tours and opportunities to volunteer and learn about how their food is grown. We want our members, and their families, to have a true understanding of our farm and how their food is grown. We are growing for you!
CONTRACT DETAILS
CSA baskets are a way for us to feed you with healthy organic food, and for you to support your local farmers, that is us. Every weekly CSA basket will represent the equivalent of 30 € worth of organic and local produce, often with added complimentary add-ons to each basket, and depending on the time of the year, it will include an array of all the products, and more, mentioned above.
PRICES & PAYMENT
Our weekly baskets contain products that vary depending on the seasonality of our garden. All baskets contain the same products ( 12 different items approximately). Depending on our availability some add-on products are offered separately, such as pickled greens, ferments, home-made marmalades, eggs, local bread, and more, regularly sharing this information with clients.
4 boxes = 120 €
8 boxes = 240 €
16 boxes = 400 €
Since our first plantings in the fall of 2018, we have been committed to a simple and holistic set of ecological principles that have guided farmers for millennia:
• The soil is the foundation of health, nutritional value, and flavor to all our food •
• Biodiversity optimises resilience and overall stability of our land •
• Farm animals and their manures are essential contributors to complex, mature ecosystems •
• Compost production represents a weekly activity needed for enduring and healthy productivity of all living things at the farm •
• The surrounding habitats and ecosystems are valuable collaborators with cultivated systems •
• There is no waste in a natural system •
These foundational concepts are a baseline from which we invite local schools and their students to experiment, play, learn and enjoy nature. Self-generating, self-renewing agricultural ecosystems offer real solutions to climate change, food scarcity and ecological decline. Finca la Gloria aspires to share the knowledge of the value of the land beyond its productivity and to embrace the social and ecological values that are essential to restoration of resilient regional food cultures, attempting to become the grounds for exploration and experimentation that integrates traditional wisdom with innovative research.
Based on a permaculture design from its initial phase, all the agriculture land available, two hectares of disused slopping land, has been crisscrossed by a natural irrigation system composed of Swales and reservoirs at increasing topographical levels, thus allowing all the rain water to be captured, filtrated, and slowly redistributed in its soil. Following the implementation of these earthworks, plants have been specifically positioned for their beneficial attributes as nitrogen fixers, boosting the nutritional dose for the rest of the avocado and citrus plantation for decades to come. The entirety of its soil surface has also been treated with a multiplicity of different types of cover crops, which will help retain water and moister in the warm months, elevating the nutritional levels of the soil, and strengthen the subsoil structure with increased microbial life among others.
