Frequently Asked Questions

When does the 2024 season start?

We are beginning the week of June 11. As usual, the CSA lasts 20 weeks through October.

Are payment plans available?

If you cannot afford to pay the full amount of your share right away we are happy to work something out with you.  Please e-mail citycommonscsa@gmail.com to work out details.

What should I know before I join the CSA?

City Commons CSA membership helps you to share in the risks and the rewards of the farm.

Sharing the rewards means a huge array of sizes, shapes, and colors of produce, some you may have never tried before. A weekly email newsletter will accompany your share, including recipes, information, and suggestions to get your creative juices flowing and help you enjoy your farm wealth to the maximum. CSA members will be first in line for produce as it comes ripe and with seven farms there should be plenty of variety. Sharing the risks means that the diversity (and, for some vegetables, quantity) of your weekly share may vary depending on growing conditions. If we get an infestation of squash bugs, there may not be as much zucchini as we’d like, or an early frost may mean a shortened tomato season. Because we grow a large variety of vegetables and flowers, a bad pepper year can be a fantastic cucumber year – and a boring July can easily give way to a blockbuster August.

What is the difference between a Farmers Choice or Customizable share? What’s the best deal?

A Farmer’s Choice share is your best value. Every week (or every other week for half share) you’ll get a box picked out by us farmers of whatever is best and freshest that week. You will not be able to swap items in or out, but you can add items at an additional cost.

A Customizable share means that you can swap out items in the box we pick for you. We’ll send out an e-mail a few days before your pick up letting you know what is in the box. You can leave it “as-is” or you can log in to the website to swap items in and out.

What is in the storage and November bonus shares?

The storage share will consist of items that keep well so you can eat them all winter.  Think onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, beets, dried herbs, hebal tea, winter squash, leeks, celeriac, etc….

The November bonus share will contain some storage crops like those listed above, but should also include some cool weather greens like spinach, salad greens, collards, etc….

Can I add a November bonus or storage share later on in the year?

Yes, but there will be a cutoff date at some point during the season, probably once we dig our potatoes and get an idea of how many we actually have.  Signing up now will guarantee you one of these special add ons.

I’m concerned about soil contamination in Detroit….

So are we!  Like most farms and gardens in the city we have all had our soil tested for lead and those tests have come back clean.  So rest easy, this produce is clean, fresh, and super healthy.