Bittersweet Farms offers local produce with a purpose

(Submitted by Bittersweet Farms)

Sign-ups are underway for the 2021 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program at Bittersweet Farms, now in its 11th year. People can receive weekly boxes of fresh, sustainably grown, local produce and support meaningful, paid employment for adults with autism by signing up at www.bittersweetfarms.org/csa. Given the continued impact of COVID-19 on programming and production, spots are limited.

When you purchase a membership share of the CSA program, you are partnering with Bittersweet Farms. This partnership is about more than just fresh, wholesome, local produce. It is joint support of our greater mission of serving adults with autism. The CSA program provides participants with valuable opportunities for vocational development.

Participants working in the CSA program practice skills such as amending the soil in raised beds, planting seeds, transplanting vegetable plants, watering, weeding, harvesting a wide variety of crops, rinsing root vegetables, and packaging produce into CSA shares each week.

In 2021, Bittersweet will offer small, medium and large shares during the spring, summer and fall seasons. CSA members may join one, two or all three seasons, and they have a choice between Tuesday or Thursday afternoon, from 1 to 3 p.m., pick-up at Bittersweet Farms in Whitehouse, 12660 Archbold-Whitehouse Road, Whitehouse. 

For more information about our CSA sizes, share availability, dates for each season, and examples of seasonal produce featured, visit www.bittersweetfarms.org/csa.

New this year, Bittersweet will also offer custom produce orders for pick-up through the Market at Bittersweet Gardens website marketatbittersweetgardens.square.site. Each week, the market website will be updated to highlight the produce available, and veggies will be harvested fresh for your order. This is an opportunity for the public to enjoy Bittersweet’s fresh produce and support the organization’s mission without the long-term commitment of a CSA share.

The Bittersweet Gardens team continues to follow heightened cleaning, safety, and sanitizing protocols in response to COVID-19. This includes strict use of masks and gloves while handling fresh produce and a contactless pick-up process. A complete list of proactive and preventative measures is available on our website: www.bittersweetfarms.org/csa.

Bittersweet looks forward to partnering once again with its CSA members and supporters to positively impact the lives of individuals with autism and to provide fresh, sustainably grown, local produce to the community.

Since 1983, Bittersweet Inc. has been serving adults and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders across three locations in Ohio. The mission of Bittersweet is to positively impact the lives of individuals with autism and those whose lives they touch.