Kranz Hill Farm is a family-run CSA that currently offers shares of locally grown vegetables. I have been a part of this CSA for over three years now and they are absolutely wonderful. They offer small and regular sized shares; the small share provides more than enough vegetables for my family of two adults and two small children. I love that they offer a choice of a Tuesday or Friday pickup time for the season, which helps with keeping pickup from being too crowded.
Kranz Hill Farm offers a great variety of vegetables throughout the season, and also takes shareholder requests into consideration each year. Pickup is housed in the barn on the farm, and I am always greeted warmly upon arrival. The couple that runs the CSA are kind and caring, they get to know each shareholder more each time they come to pick up their share, and are available to answer any questions you may have about the selection of vegetables that week. They have given me advice on how to cook each vegetable as well as how to store any vegetables I may not have time to cook/use that week so nothing goes to waste. The other nice thing that I like is that you get to pick out your own vegetables. So instead of other CSAs where you just go pick up a box of pre-sorted goods, Kranz Hill has a few tables set up with the produce spread out. So YOU get to choose the exact tomatoes you want or how much of each type of lettuce you want. Chalkboards located on each table tell you how much of each vegetable each share receives. For example, a small share can pick out 2 pounds of summer squash (usually from a variety of squash, so you can pick more yellow squash versus zucchini versus pattypan squash if that is what you want) while a regular share may get 3 or 4 pounds.
They are very family friendly, you usually see their kids plus those that accompany their parents for pickup running around in the grass, playing on the swing set behind the barn, or just checking out the animals that reside at the farm. I attribute part of my kids' love for vegetables to this CSA. My daughter tried her first cherry tomato here and now any time we go she is always asking when they will be ready for picking, and gobbles them up when they are available. There is also wild raspberries growing around the farm, and the owners are gracious enough to let shareholders come and pick them to their hearts content! Both my children get excited when it is time to go get our share each week, wondering if they will get to eat some tomatoes, raspberries, carrots, cucumbers, or even apples from the trees that grow on the farm.
The CSA also occasionally offers produce from other local farms for sale. Items ranging from honey, mushrooms, vegetables, and sometimes even meat are offered during pickup times. The CSA does a good job of trying to predict the amounts of each vegetable you will receive at pickup time, and I always look forward to those emails or Facebook posts to see what yummy food we will be getting!
Right now only vegetables are available with this CSA, which works well for me since I have a few local orchards nearby that I can get fresh fruit. I highly recommend this CSA and will continue to secure a share with them every year! read more
