Photos by Alyx Chandler.
Stone Hollow Farmstead is located in the Harpersville area but has developed satellite pickup locations, including at the Market at Pepper Place, pictured here, and St. Vincent’s 119 on Cahaba Valley Road.
Stone Hollow Farmstead General Manager Jonathan Parrish said its Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, program continues to grow each year. Since the farm began its program in 2014, memberships have become more and more popular.
Becoming a CSA share member, Parrish said, means the individual or family who signs up gets to be part of an educational program, support local farmers and supplement their groceries with prepared baskets of seasonal, fresh and organic food each week.
Even though the farm is located in the Harpersville area near U.S. 280, it has developed satellite pick-ups every Tuesday all across Birmingham, including 4-5 p.m. at St. Vincent’s 119 located at 7191 Cahaba Valley Road.
“People get to learn what’s growing in season, what’s growing here in Alabama, what kind of labor and buy-in and commitment have to go to being a farmer and keeping up with it all,” he said. “… It gives you a new respect for where your food comes from and just the hard work people on the farm are doing every day, so I think that’s really valuable. You’re investing into the growth and development in the food scene here in Alabama.”
Each Tuesday, members who might not be able to make it to farmers markets for fresh food or prefer to avoid the crowds can swing by and pick up a basket filled with a selection of fresh vegetables, flowers and dairy products from local farmers.
Parrish said they supply a hefty portion of the CSA basket themselves, but they also partner with other nearby farmers to sell their extra produce and fill the growing demand.
“[Shareholders] get a really great selection each week that we put a lot of time and thought into, not just the quality of the items that we are featuring, but how they all pair together and how they will work to make some really great recipes,” Parrish said.
Photos by Alyx Chandler.
A Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, basket full of fresh produce, flowers and dairy products from local farmers, provided by Stone Hollow Farmstead.
He and the Hollow Farmstead staff research recipes with the various baskets and compile them online on a weekly blog called Tuesday Table. It features the breakdown of the week’s shares, artisan profiles and notes from the farm so that people can get to know more about where their food came from.
In this way, Parrish said, the CSA shares can be even more interesting and convenient to some customers.
The CSA shares are offered in various programs, including the annual share, offered all year long; a flower share, offered at various points in the year; and then a spring, summer, fall and winter share. People can purchase a quarter share, which generally feeds a family of two with a small child, or a half share, which generally feeds a family of four, Parrish said.
An average share includes produce, herbs, fresh bread and occasionally dairy and cannery products. People can also add on cow’s milk, cheese, yogurt, eggs and fresh cut flowers to their weekly share.
“You have access to something that most people don’t [through the program], and everything just has a much better flavor, and it’s fresher because it’s right when it’s being pulled out of the ground, basically,” Parrish said.
For more information about signing up for the CSA program and to access their food blog, go to stonehollowfarmstead.com/csa.
