Greenbook: A Local Guide to Chesapeake Living - Issue 7 | Page 18

Susanna Chase is the owner of Blue Frog Pilates in
Annapolis, wife to a fireman and a busy mom of four.
As a personal trainer and fitness professional, she
is keenly aware of how important mindful and
nutritious eating is to total health. “Talking to my
clients about nutrition is easy; it’s incorporating that
into our busy, complicated lives and making it a
priority that is hard”, she says.
Susanna doesn’t have space at her Annapolis home
for a substantial garden, nor does she have time for
multiple weekly trips to the market for fresh
produce; nevertheless she insists on providing plenty
of local, unprocessed foods to her family. “I need
quick and easy access to fresh, high-quality produce,
dairy and meat, so I turned to a CSA,” she told me.
“I get loads of fresh foods, most from Anne Arundel
County. I can place my order online, pick up once a
week and have my family eating all the colors of the
rainbow from March to October.”
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is an
increasingly popular way for urban and suburban
folks to access farm fresh foods. In 1986, there were
only two registered CSA’s in the United States.
By 2012 there were more than 6,500.

WHAT IS A CSA?

In the traditional CSA model, customers pay a local
farm for a share of the year’s harvest:
• Applications to join the CSA are collected in late
winter/early spring.
• Payment is made in full at the time of application.
• Deliveries/pick up are made weekly at a set 
location for a designated period of time, usually the
typical growing season of May/June to September
October.
WHY JOIN A CSA?
The obvious benefit of joining a CSA is enjoying
farm-direct, fresh, natural and usually organic
products. Other benefits include:
• less trips to the grocer B