Join our

plan

Order your CSA Share card online or download our CSA Brochure to print out and mail in. (PDF format).
Check the balance on your Snakeroot CSA card here.

How it works:

• Each share costs $100.
• Purchase any number of $100 shares before April 1.
• For each share, you receive $120 shopping credit towards our organic produce, seedlings, plants, syrup, medicinal and culinary herbs.
• Shop at our farmers’ market locations in Waterville, Pittsfield, Unity, or Orono, or shop right at our farm in Pittsfield.
• Buy what you want, as much as you want, whenever you want, wherever you want.
• Credit valid from the date of purchase until December 31 in the year of your purchase. No refunds, no rollovers.
• Buy multiple shares if you want more.
• A season-long, wide range of produce, perennials, annuals, garden seedlings and herbs.
• You can go shopping without money!

This provides our farm with its start-up funds each spring, when expenses are high and income is low.

What’s a CSA?
CSA stands for “Community Supported Agriculture” and the concept is several decades old. The principle is that farms are usually strapped for cash in the spring of the year as investments are made for that year’s production. Purchases need to be made for seed, soil amendments, fertilizer, greenhouse and tractor fuel, potting soil, labor, and so forth. Yet income from the harvest is still months away.

Farms may go to lending institutions to borrow the cash needed for which they pay interest, and in the long run this adds to overall operating costs, with interst paid to the lending institutions.

The CSA concept is that the people in the community fed by a farm are the natural source for funding a farm’s early season expenditures. In return, the members supporting the farm are assured a source of food for the season at no further cost.

The way this usually works is that CSA members are supplied with a shopping bag or two of food each week for the agreed-upon season. Members are given an idea of what they will be getting throughout the season and in what amounts, but the actual contents of any week’s bag of farm produce is determined by the output of the farm that week. Members are given a choice of joining or not at the start of the season, but not of what they will be getting each week. This suits many people just fine, and is how most CSA’s work.

How are we different?

We have been selling at Farmers’ Markets for over a decade, so we know how different each shopper’s preferences are. Because we respect this, we have developed a plan whereby members who support us financially in the spring get a credit redeemable for whatever they want to buy.

This means that if you want to spend all of your CSA credit in August and September for green beans and tomatoes for canning, then that’s fine with us. If you want to fill your freezer with June spinach and beet greens, that’s OK, too. And if you want to come in twice each week from June till October for a lettuce, a tomato, a cuke, some parsley and scallions, we’ll go along with that, too. After all, it’s your money, and it’s your dinner.

What’s the deal?

When you buy ONE SHARE at $100 by April 1, then you get a $120 credit valid from April 1 to December 31 to spend any way you like at any of our several selling locations.

We also have a “latecomer’s deal” where you buy one share by May 1 and get $110 credit that year. We do this for people who miss our April 1 deadline, yet who still want to benefit from our CSA plan. Our real need for operating income is in April, so we don’t give you quite the advantage when you pay late.

Where do we sell?

We sell at the Pittsfield Farmers’ Market on Monday afternoons from 2 – 6pm. The market is located on Central St, next to Hathorn Park across from the Church of the Nazarene. May Day to Hallowe’en.

We sell at the Orono Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings from 9am–noon and Tuesdays from 2–5:30pm. The market is located in the University’s Steam Plant parking lot on College Ave. The Orono Market is open every Saturday from May Day to mid November, and every Tuesday from late June to Hallowe’en.

We sell at the Unity Market Day on Saturday mornings from 9 am to 1 pm. The market is located at the Community Center on School St (Rte. 139) and is open from May Day to mid November.

We sell at the Waterville Farmers’ Market on Thursday afternoons from 2-6pm. The Farmers’ Market is located at the Head of Falls by the Two Cent Bridge and is open from early May to mid November.

We also sell at our farm on the Snakeroot Road in Pittsfield almost any time except Saturday mornings during market season (when we’re both at market). Best to call ahead to be sure we’ll have what you want and you don’t have to wait for it to get picked.

At each location we’ll have a book with a list of our member’s credits, and your day’s shopping total will be deducted from your credit balance each time you shop.

Of course you are welcome to come tour the farm anytime just to look around, ask questions and enjoy our gardens. We have occasional pick-your-own deals, too. We also have a regular organized farm tour on the second Sunday in July each year. In any case, we’re always glad to see you!

We try to be helpful.

We can offer recipes and preparation ideas when you buy produce or herbs. If you buy plants, seeds or seedlings we can offer advice on planting and growing your garden or maintaining your plant. And come tour our gardens anytime to see how we actually do it ourselves. We can go into as much detail as you can handle.

Use your Snakeroot CSA at the whole market.

A unique feature of a Snakeroot CSA membership is that we allow our CSA members to buy any item that we do not grow from any other stand at the market. Just tell them “Snakeroot will pay for it”, then come back and tell us who to pay and how much to deduct from your credit. We then walk over and pay them cash for the amount of your purchase. To date, every other stand we have talked to is delighted that we do this, and it allows you to shop the whole market without cash.

CSA Shares as Gifts.

Several CSA members have given our CSA shares as holiday or birthday gifts or as housewarming presents for someone new to the area. Others have purchased multiple CSA shares as a donation to a local food cupboard, where the CSA members pick up at our stand and deliver the food themselves. If you are interested in doing any of these, talk to us about the details.

What We Grow.

This is a list of what we plan to grow this year and expect to have available for harvest, though we cannot guarantee availability.

Seedlings- All the varieties that we grow of tomatoes, cabbage, celery, celeriac, broccoli, peppers, herbs. Tomatoes and celery in both six-paks and singles. May and June.

Herbs: Cullinary & medicinal; fresh & dried. Basil, horehound, echinacea, dill, tansy, oregano, marjoram, sage, feverfew, parsley, peppermint, spearmint, cilantro and others.

Garlic: Scapes (June & July), bulbs (July thru December); garlic grass (spring & fall); and bulbils (August thru June).

Onions- Red and yellow cooking onions and red, yellow and white sweet Spanish onions. August to November.

Paste Tomatoes- Romas and banana sized and Hogheart and Snakeroot Golden Arrow paste tomatoes. Mid August thru October.

Cherry Tomatoes- Red & Yellow Pear, Gardener’s Delight. July thru October.

Slicing Tomatoes- Over a dozen shapes and colors of heirlooms as well as regular round red hybrids. August to November.

Lupines– Blooming lupines in pots and baby (first year) lupines. May & June. Lupine seeds available year round.

Horsehadish- intermittently April through December.

Rhubarb and rhubarb plants- May and June.

Burdock Root (Gobo). October thru May.

Carrots- bunched or bagged. Usually year round, but mostly June through November.

Lettuces- Boston, red leaf, green buttercruch and cut baby lettuce leaves. April thru November.

Celery- Bunches of tall green stalks. July thru late November.

Celeriac- Celery flavored root, stores like a turnip. September thru December.

Spinach- April, May & June and October & November.

Cukes- Slicers and picklers. July to September.

Peppers- Both sweet and hot. August to November.

Potatoes- New redskin yellow flesh Red Gold potatoes in July and August and yellow flesh Carola & German Butterball from August to November.

Winter Squash- Buttercup, Butternut, Delicata, Red Kuri, and heirloom Long Pie Pumpkins. September thru December.

Parsnips- October & November and Spril & May.

Zucchini & Summer Squash. July thru September.

Maple syrup– Ungraded, but generally dark and full flavored, in quart canning jars. Available till sold out.

Dried Tomatoes, Kale, Carrots, Herbs, Pears, and Apples- Simply sliced and dehydrated, nothing added. Available August thru May.

Seeds– Open-pollinated (non-hybrid) heirloom varieties of many of the vegetables, flowers, perennials, and herbs we grow. Available year round.

Rosemary and Aloe plants- Pots of one year to three year old plants. May & June and October and November. Available at the farm year round.

What if I want more?

Individuals, families, stores, or organizations who know they would normally be spending more than $120 with us over the course of a season are welcome to purchase multiple shares at $100 each. Of course you can always simply purchase from us in the
normal way also.

What if I don’t spend it all this year?

We are at market from April to November or December each season, and before and after the market season you can stop by the farm, so if you don’t think you will be spending at least $100 of your credit (your “break-even point”), then you probably shouldn’t buy a share. As of 2021 your CSA Share credit lasts until you use it up, the value on your CSA card will roll over into the following year.

Is your farm really organic?

Yes. We are members of and certified organic by MOFGA, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, which certifies about 500 farms in Maine. Our farm is inspected and our practices scrutinized by their inspectors each year. Our certification number is #9411.

To join Snakeroot’s CSA Plan, order online or send us $100 for each share you want, along with your name address, phone and email. And yes, we do take credit and debit cards.

More Questions? Get in touch.