Teaser for our 2026 CSA season!

We are very excited to announce some details for our 2026 season. This year we will be offering market style CSA as we have always done, and a new option: a subscription box service!

Market Style

The market style CSA share is our tried and true format. People who sign up for the market style CSA will receive a card that acts as a debit card for the farm. They can come to the market and spend their funds on what they want each week. This option offers the best deal due to additional funds added to your account as a thank you for paying upfront. This option also gives CSA members the freedom to choose what produce they want and how much.

Pay full amount before the start of the season (with options to add more funds throughout). Funds do not roll over to next year.
Two tier options - $250 ($290 value) and $400 ($480 value)
Receive bonus funds on your card to spend at market
Choose what produce you want each time you come to market

Subscription Box

The box style is very common with farm CSA programs and it's something we have dabbled with before. This year however, will be our first time offering it as an alternative to the market style CSA. For the boxes there will also be two options: a $25 box (6 to 8 items) and a $35 box (10 to 12 items). The box option will be subscription based and your card will be automatically charged weekly unless you choose to cancel. Boxes are pickup only with pickup options in Chicago on Saturday or in Buchanan on Tuesday or Saturday. The items in the box are farmer-selected and will change based on what is available seasonally, so you will be relieved of the burden of choice (you might get something new in your box that you typically wouldn’t think to try!). This is a good option for people who don’t want to commit to a whole season, or who just want a convenient pickup!

Paid on a weekly basis, can be canceled whenever you want
Farmer picks what goes in the box
Selection varies based on seasonality
Pick up only

We will announce when registration for the 2026 season opens so please stay tuned for updates.

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What is a CSA?

CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a way to connect customers directly with the farm that grows their food. It is essentially a membership, or a subscription to a farm.

The advantages are: you develop a personal relationship with the farmer(s) who grow your food and can learn about how it is grown or raised; you get the freshest produce possible with the best flavor and highest nutrient content; you become exposed to new vegetables; you get to visit the farm; your children may favor food from “their” farm.

From the farmer’s perspective it is a benefit to receive payment early in the season, which helps with the farm’s cash flow; farmers get to know the people who eat what we grow; and we get to spend our time focusing on producing food during the high season instead of marketing it during an already very busy time.

CSA members prepay for the season and pick up their share of the produce harvested each week. Produce varies with the season – tomatoes usually begin in July and are harvested until autumn. Lettuce is a cool weather crop so it is usually available in the spring, fall, and part of the winter. Belonging to a CSA encourages you to eat food that is in season.

The most important concept of the CSA model is the notion of shared risk – it is a sort of “we’re in this together” mentality. We feel a responsibility to supply you with the most products and the best products available each week. However, unplanned events do occur – there may be a drought, a hailstorm, or perhaps deer get into the garden. Regardless of what happens – our CSA members are our first priority.

Our Practices

At Flatwater Farms, we strive to innovate and sustainably produce high quality and nutritious food in a way that enhances our land. While certified organic, the farm also strives to go beyond the certification in our creation of a carbon rich soil full of nutrition for the plants and for us.

Flatwater Farms has always placed an emphasis on soil building practices. These practices include utilizing cover crops for fertility, weed control, and soil health. We intend to build a mulching program to feed earthworms, protect the soil’s fungal web and structure, and to control weeds. We will also fertilize using local and some farm based materials.

We understand that people want to eat locally and seasonally year round, not just in the summer, so we have been constructing mobile greenhouses that extend our seasons on both ends of the year. Our houses will jump from spinach, to tomatoes, to carrots and more, giving each plant the environment that it needs at the time it needs it. Doing this will naturally strengthen our plant’s defenses and make a delicious and nourishing product to be eaten at its peak freshness. At the end of this season, we will likely be adding a Winter CSA addition to this Summer CSA option.

We plant new vegetable crops regularly throughout the season to keep our selection ever changing and to respond to the items that our CSA members appear to like most. We welcome input on what our members like and don’t like.

We at Flatwater view the farm as part of an ecosystem and strive to create a place for a wide diversity of plants and animals. Our hope is that as we build this farm, you will join us on the journey, and in so doing, become a vital part of what we create.

We Are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto—a recent book written by Alice Waters, talks about how the way we eat is symbolic of how we live our lives, both as individuals and as a culture. Fast food values, like uniformity, convenience, cheapness, and speed, have infiltrated our entire lives, numbing us to natural beauty and our own capacity for change. Her solution? Living by what she calls slow food values, like beauty, seasonality, stewardship, and simplicity. Doing so, she writes, can change our relationship with food, each other, and the planet. We hope to do our part to share the bounty of the farm with you and connect you to our place.

Questions?

Please email or call Danny Moeller, Farm Manager

(225) 603-9228

danny@flatwaterfarms.com

We look forward to seeing you on the farm!