CSA Like a Pro: Customization

What a bounty!

2025 was our first year running the CSA with full customization. The world of CSA farms in the US has long debated the best way to run a CSA, ranging from on-farm pick-ups where everyone gets whatever the farmer picks to individually packed, customized boxes. There are many models that sit in between, and many different websites, apps, and software platforms that make offering a CSA endlessly variable. Which is great – no two farms are the same and so their CSAs shouldn’t have to be the same either.

For OAF, we’ve noticed that with each year that passed, the desire from customers to have more choice became greater and greater. We had been running a partially customizable for a couple of years already, so the switch to fully customizable seemed somewhat inevitable. Especially when many farms around us were already offering that!

So, what that means for you as a member, or potential member, is that your weekly CSA bag can contain exactly what you want it to have! Gone are the days of getting week after week of chard when you really don’t enjoy eating chard quite that much. (Or insert whatever vegetable usually gets left behind in your crisper drawer.)

Members have from Friday at noon until Sunday at midnight to choose from the available inventory in the online GrownBy store. Swap and switch items until you’re happy with your share and finalize your selection for the week. Then we’ll be ready to pack your CSA exactly the way you like it!

Don’t feel like logging in each week to customize? Another feature you can utilize is “preferences”. When you first sign up for your account in GrownBy you’ll have the opportunity to write down what you do and don’t like. (During the season that option is currently only available during the customization window. Which will hopefully change soon!) Then the system will know not to include turnips if you’ve said “no turnips” or to definitely include spinach because you’ve said “I love spinach!”.