Danielle Martin, a manager at Ledge Ends Produce at the Briggs-Boesch Farm in East Greenwich, cares for more than a dozen winter plants, including Swiss chard, cilantro, parsley and rosemary, in one of the farm’s greenhouses. They will all eventually make it to local kitchens.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

It wasn’t that many years back when I was talking with my friend Sara, who thought she’d hit the lottery because she got a CSA membership here in Rhode Island. With few farms participating, it was almost like scoring season tickets to the Red Sox or Patriots.

Until rather recently, only a few farms offered this type of subscription service by which a customer pays up front for a season full of farm-fresh produce. It’s in the dead of winter, when the snow is on the ground, that people must sign on. With mostly small farms in Rhode Island and environs, there was limited opportunity.

This year the list of local Rhode Island farms with community supported agriculture programs is more than two dozen, and if you expand to nearby Massachusetts’ farms the list grows longer yet. This is great news for those like my friend Sara; people who want to eat in a healthful way and wish to know where their food comes from.

What hasn’t changed is that now is the time to sign up.

Of course being this kind of shareholder doesn’t come without a cost. Many are $400 to $600 for the season. It’s money well spent when you consider the wholesome freshness of locally grown food. When summer comes you pick up your weekly supply of veggies, herbs, fruits, eggs, meat, even fish.

The money also supports these farms, many of them run by a new generation who understands the importance of working the land or families who’ve been at it for generations. It all helps preserve some open space.

Here’s one example of what’s available and a mission statement.

For $600, Ledge Ends Produce CSA members (a maximum of 240) receive a weekly share of fresh vegetables for 22 weeks from June to late October. That share is equivalent to a week’s supply of vegetables for a family of four or a family of two adult vegetarians. Subscribers will also get a weekly newsletter with farm stories, pictures and recipes. Pickup can be at the farm in East Greenwich or in Providence at the Friends Meeting House.

Everything is grown organically without pesticides or herbicides at the Briggs-Boesch Farm, owned and managed by the East Greenwich Land Trust. Ledge Ends Produce is run and managed by Erik Eacker on the property. This is his sixth year doing CSA memberships. Eacker is also working with Narragansett Creamery, Barden Orchards, Robin Hallow Farm and Pat’s Pastured to bring members optional shares including flowers, cheese, meat, fruit and corn in addition to the vegetable CSA.

Eacker sees membership as a way for people in the community to support the preservation of open space and historic sites in East Greenwich.

Farm Fresh Rhode Island has made it easy to find the CSA offerings by compiling a list of participating farms on its Web site. It breaks them down by locations of pickup to make it easy.

Noah Fulmer, Farm Fresh RI director, also notes they run a market CSA program at the Downtown Providence and Armory Farmers Markets. Customers subscribe for a half or a full summer, and the weekly basket has food from each farm at the market. Some farms offer sliding scales for cost, said Fulmer. Others, such as Scratch Farm and Farm Fresh RI’s market basket program, accept food stamps, he said.

There’s more information at farmfreshri.org/csa. Here are the pickup spots and the farms offering CSAs.Local farms that offer CSA programs by pickup location

Bristol County

Wishing Stone Farm: Barrington (401) 635-4274, skippaul@cox.net

Kent County

Ledge Ends Produce: East Greenwich (401) 884-5118, ledgeends@cox.net

Moosup River Farm: Greene (401) 397-7277, moosupriverfarm@aol.com

Newport County

Simmons Farm: Middletown (401) 848-9910, simmonsfarm@cox.net

Wishing Stone Farm: Little Compton (401) 635-4274, skip@wishingstonefarm.com

Wishing Stone Farm: Tiverton (401) 635-4274, skip@wishingstonefarm.com

Providence County

Big Train Farm: Providence (401) 243-4212, bigtrain_farm@yahoo.com

Blue Skys Flower Farm: Cranston (781) 603-4894, christina.dedora@gmail.com

Cedar Edge Farm: Johnston (401) 294-6306, jkocab@cedaredgefarm.com

Farmacy Herbs: Providence (401) 270-5223, farmacy@riseup.net

Four Friends CSA: Cranston (781) 603-4894, 4friendsfarm@gmail.com

Hickory Hill Farm: Burrillville (401) 568-2166, hickoryhillfarm2166@yahoo.com

Ledge Ends Produce: Providence (401) 884-5118, ledgeends@cox.net

Port Clyde Fresh Catch: Pawtucket (207) 372-8065, jessica@midcoastfishermen.org

Rabbit’s Dance Farm: Cumberland (401) 658-2457, kristin@rabbitsdancefarm.com

Red Planet Vegetables: Providence (401) 273-0914, marsfarmer@yahoo.com

Scratch Farm: Providence (401) 351-4633, onthebloch@gmail.com

Simmons Farm: Providence (401) 848-9910, simmonsfarm@cox.net

Wishing Stone Farm: Providence (401) 635-4274, skip@wishingstonefarm.com

Zephyr Farm: Providence (570) 479-0126, choke22@rocketmail.com

Washington County

Blazing Star Farm: Block Island (401) 466-5797, blazingstarfarm@verizon.net

Casey Farm: North Kingstown (401) 295-1030, caseyfarm@historicnewengland.org

Cedar Edge Farm: Richmond (401) 294-6306, jkocab@cedaredgefarm.com

Greenview Farm: South Kingstown (401) 788-0900, greenviewfarm@hotmail.com

Moonstone Farms: Wakefield (401) 742-6117, greenergardener@gmail.com

Robin Hollow Farm: Saunderstown (401) 294-2868, polly@robinhollowfarm.com

Bristol County, Mass.

Forbidden Fruit Farm: Dartmouth (508) 990-8837, forbiddenfruitfarm@comcast.net

Kettle Pond Farm: Berkley (508) 822-6919, kettlepondfarm@gmail.com

Lucky Field Organics: New Bedford (508) 763-8104, weston@luckyfieldorganics.com

Quittacas Farm: East Freetown (508) 916-1089, info@quittacasfarm.com

Rosasharn Farm: Rehoboth (401) 330-7153, rosasharnfarmcsa@gmail.com

Round The Bend Farm: Dartmouth (508) 938-5164, roundthebendfarm@gmail.com

Second Nature Farm: Norton (774) 266-0431, adam@secondnaturefarm.com

Silverbrook Farm: Dartmouth (508) 991-5185, farmsilverbrook@aol.com

The Farmer’s Garden: Rehoboth (508) 889-7632, noons140@comcast.net

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