CSA Sign Up Day Promoted By Agriculture Secretary
New Jersey State Department of Agriculture Secretary Douglas Fisher will announce that now is a good time to sign up for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) on National CSA Sign Up Day with a visit to Appelget Farm in West Windsor on Friday, February 23.
A CSA allows for customers to pay for a season’s worth of produce, meat, eggs, or other specialty products in advance. That provides farmers with working capital so they can to prepare for the growing season and the CSA member receives locally produced goods throughout the harvest season.
According to Small Farm Central’s CSA Farming Annual Report, the most popular time to join a CSA each year is at the end of February. To promote this important time for farmers, CSA Sign Up Day was coined, and each year it falls on the last Friday in February.
Appelget Farm is owned and operated by Kevin and Lori Appelget on 10 acres in West Windsor in Mercer County. Appelget Farm has a CSA program and is a member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New Jersey. Kevin Appelget is the fourth generation of his family to farm the fields on Conover Road, continuing the family tradition.
Among the products sold at Appelget Farm are beets, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cantaloupe, carrots, cauliflower, collard greens, cucumbers, eggplant, fennel, green beans, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, okra, onions, peas, peppers, potatoes, pumpkins, radishes, shallots, spinach, squash, Swiss chard, tomatoes, and watermelon.
CSA Sign Up Day will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Feb. 23 at Appelget Farm at 135 Conover Road, West Windsor.