How to buy direct from Australian producers: 'It's like having shares in a farm and your dividend is vegetables'
Written by Lee Tran Lam
Finding a farm-direct produce box takes a bit of detective work, but the rewards can be heady
Fairytale eggplant, Turk’s turban pumpkin and a cucumber so intergalactic-looking that it’s appeared in Star Trek and Star Wars movies: they’re the kind of striking items you won’t see in a supermarket, but you might find them in the veggie box offered by Roly Poly Farm, 90 minutes south of Perth.
Farmers Declan McGill and Melissa Charlick sell their produce boxes through the community-supported agriculture (CSA) model, where customers buy directly from the farmer – paying money upfront or over several instalments to finance the upcoming growing season. It’s like having shares in a local farm, and your dividend is a regular box of freshly-picked vegetables, rainbow-bright with yellow zucchinis, cherry medley tomatoes, watermelon radishes or whatever happens to be growing in the dirt right now.
Related: Go to ground amid coronavirus: how to grow a living pantry to eat this winter
Related: Veggie boxes 101: how to use up everything from a mystery produce haul
Continue reading...
Since you’re here …
… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too.
If everyone who reads our reporting, who likes it, helps fund it, our future would be much more secure. Support the Guardian – it only takes a minute. Thank you.
