Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
Winter CSA is Open!
What is a CSA Subscription?
When you join our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program, you’re committing to local agriculture by sharing the risks and rewards of the farming season with us. Each week, you'll arrive at the farm to pick up a box of fresh, seasonal produce grown by our farm crew. But it's more than just a box of veggies; by prepaying for your season's worth of fresh food, you’re helping us cover the cost of seeds and supplies we need early in the season. In return, we’ll reward you with the best variety and quality of produce we have to offer all season long! Click here for a peek at last year’s boxes and recipes.
Is a CSA Share Right for You?
There are reasons why our subscribers love having a CSA share and some reasons why they don’t. The biggest challenges seem to be using your entire share and picking it up weekly. CSA is not the right fit for everyone; if it's not right for you, don’t fret. Visit our market and select your favorite veggies.
Ask yourself these questions:
Is eating with the seasons important to you?
Do you value fresh, locally grown vegetables and knowing the farmers who grow your food?
Do you enjoy cooking and are willing to be creative in the kitchen, sometimes with unusual vegetables?
Can you prep your harvest for storage and preserve it by canning, freezing, pickling or fermenting?
Do you value teaching your children, family, and friends how to eat a healthy diet?
Will you enjoy and have time to stop by the farm each week to pick up your CSA share?
Are you interested in picking flowers and produce in our fields?
Do you support local agriculture and want to make a difference in the local environment and economy?
You'd enjoy our CSA if you answered yes to most of these questions.
Ask yourself these questions:
Are you often too busy to have time for prepping and making meals at home?
Are you a “picky” eater with strong preferences for certain vegetables?
Do you travel frequently and will not be able to pick up a weekly CSA box?
Do you prefer to eat most of your meals at restaurants?
If you answered yes to these questions, we think you’d enjoy buying your veggies a la carte from our market instead of becoming a CSA subscriber.
CSA Signup Details
How to Sign Up:
STEP ONE: Select your pickup day:
Saturdays 10am-noon
STEP TWO: Select your vegetable share length and size.
Choose the share length that works for you: 3 or 5 weeks. Pickups are every other Saturday, Dec. 21, Jan. 4, 18 & Feb 1. This year, we will continue offering small and full shares. Our full share offers a generous selection of 13 to 15 items and some extras. Our small share consists of a selection of 7 to 8 items and some extras. Shares may include sweet potatoes, winter squash, radishes, carrots, greens, beets, garlic, herbs, and grains such as whole wheat flour, rye flour, popcorn and wheat berries.
STEP THREE: Select your optional add-on shares:
Add your choice of bread, fruit, cheese or pantry item add-on share (see below for a full description of our optional add-on shares). Be sure to match your add-on share lengths to your vegetable share! Click the picture to learn more about the add-on share and the producers!
Season Length & Pickup Options
Season Length
5 small or full share bi-weekly pickups: Dec 7, 21, Jan 4, 18 & Feb 1
3 small or full share bi-weekly pickups: Dec 7, 21 & Jan 4
Pickup Day & Time
All early winter CSA pickups are at Amber Waves Market, 367 Main St. Amagansett
Saturdays 10am-noon
Add-On Shares
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Sign up for a weekly rotating bread share from Panadda Sourdough and Il Buco's Bakery! The share will consist of freshly baked artisan loaves, including Baguettes, Filones, Boules and more! The Boule from Panadda Sourdough Bakery is made with whole wheat and rye flour from Amber Waves Farm.
Panadda Sourdough, a local artisanal bakery in Sag Harbor, bakes hand-crafted sourdough boules. Panadda bread is baked in small batches and delivered freshly baked on your CSA pickup day. The whole wheat sourdough boules are made with hard red wheat flour from Amber Waves Farm. Pumpernickel and 100% rye sourdough loaves of bread are made with Amber Waves dark rye flour.
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Enjoy a variety of artisanal cheeses, including cheese from our local friends at Mecox Bay Dairy, Catapano Dairy, Goodale Farms, and Villa Italian Specialties. The rotating share alternates between local, New York State, and Northeast cheeses, including various raw milk cow cheeses produced by Mecox Bay Dairy in Bridgehampton, a selection of goat cheeses produced by Catapano Dairy Farm and Goodale Farms on the North Fork and fresh mozzarella from Villa Italian Specialties in East Hampton. Please match the season length of your cheese share with your vegetable share.
Our East End Farmers and Producers: Villa Italian Specialties (fresh mozzarella), Mecox Bay Dairy (raw milk cow cheese), Goodale Farms (goat cheese), and Catapano Dairy. New York State Producers include Nettle Meadow Farm (cow and soft goat cheeses), Old Chatham Creamery (sheep cheeses), and others!
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In the winter, we partner with Briermere Farms in Riverhead and the Milk Pail in Watermill to bring you the best seasonal selection of Long Island fruit! The seasonal fruit for our early winter share will be primarily pears and apples, approximately 4 lbs each week.
In the summer and fall we partner with Briermere Farms in Riverhead, Balsam Farms in Amagansett and the Milk Pail in Watermill to bring you the best seasonal selection of Long Island fruit! Seasonal fruit includes berries, peaches, plums, pears, apples, melon and more. Briermere and Milk Pail fruit are low or no spray but not organic (please let us know if you have more questions about this). Fruit shares begin in June and run through the end of the season. Please match the season length of your fruit share with your vegetable share.
We will bring you the best seasonal selection of Long Island fruit! Seasonal fruit includes berries, peaches, plums, pears, apples, melon and more.
The McCombe Family has operated Briermere Farms in Riverhead since the 1970s. They're known island-wide for their extraordinary pies, but they are also talented farmers! Depending on the season, they specialize in fresh berries, plums, peaches, apples, and pears.
The Milk Pail is owned and operated by the Halsey family, who have been farming in Bridgehampton and Watermill for 12 generations. They specialize in an array of new and traditional apple varieties that are sure to wow even the pickiest of apple tasters.
Balsam Farm, founded in 2003, farms approximately 200 acres of mixed vegetables, fruits, herbs, cut flowers, and grains with four-season greenhouses, improved storage facilities, and generally temperate Long Island weather.
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In our winter share, enjoy a rotating selection of our own pickled scapes, granola, pickled radishes, ketchup or hot sauce—one item per pickup.
CSA Subscriber Value
We appreciate your commitment to the farm and want you to feel good about your choice to join us - we depend on your partnership to keep growing!
CSA Subscriber Value
Vegetable Box......................20% below retail price over the course of the season
Bonus items......................supplement your box with a little bit of free choice each week
Add-On Shares......................selected and curated for you each week at 10% off retail pricing
Pick Your Own....................$30 weekly value from July - Oct; free as part of your subscription
Newsletter & Recipes...................updates from the field and creative recipes for your bounty
Exclusive Beyond the Gates Tours………tour our fields with our farm crew and meet and enjoy a meal with your fellow subscribers
Market Discount*......................10% off your purchases at Amber Waves Market & Kitchen in the weeks your subscription is active
*Memorial Day through Thanksgiving subscribers receive the 10% discount all year. Year-round CSA discounts are active from the day you sign up through Jan 31 of the following year. There will be some overlap time as a grace period between when your year-round discount ends and when you need to sign up again to avoid a lapse.
CSA Value Details
The Box: The weekly box of fresh vegetables is the basis of the CSA subscription. Fresh, seasonal veggies are picked straight from our fields all season long! Choose the season length that works best for you with a variety of start and end dates to accommodate your family’s schedule.
Add-on Shares (optional): Add a local bread, fruit, cheese, flower bouquet or fresh from our kitchen item to supplement your weekly box of veggies!
Pick Your Own in the Fields: In addition to your weekly box of veggies, you’ll have access to special pick your own areas of the field when your subscription is active. Pick Your Own may include (depending on the time of season) flowers, herbs, shishito peppers, cherry tomatoes, husk cherries, sugar snap peas, and a few other treats. The Pick Your Own perk applies to primary family members of the CSA share and is not transferable to friends or guests picking up your share in your place. Expect the Pick Your Own fields to open by mid-July.
Weekly Newsletter and Recipes: Each week, you’ll receive our newsletter updating you on what’s going on in the fields, what’s new in the box, and our farmer and subscriber recommended recipes and preserving, canning, freezing, and pickling tips for using your bounty.
CSA Handbook: Printed information about the farm, an outline of subscriber perks and policies, and information about the vegetables we grow. Also included are farmer-based suggestions on storing and cooking the produce in your weekly box and nutritional information.
CSA Discount in our Market & Kitchen: As a CSA subscriber, you’ll receive a 10% discount while your subscription is active. Memorial Day through Thanksgiving subscribers receive the 10% discount all year. All other CSA subscribers only receive the 10% discount in the Market when their subscription is active. Please remind your cashier at checkout. The store discount only applies to primary family members of your CSA share. It is not transferable to friends, guests, or extended family picking up your share in your place. As a subscriber of our CSA family, we ask that you respect and honor our policies.
Subscriber Tours & Community Potlucks: You'll be invited to tour the fields with our farm crew and meet and enjoy a meal with your fellow subscribers.
Here’s What We Get As Farmers
Financing: Your on-time payments early in the season enable us to buy seeds, supplies, and equipment and to get growing!
Insurance: Your commitment to the farm and understanding of the challenges inherent in agricultural production spreads the risks and rewards of the growing season between us. Together, we'll share both the failures and successes of each season; we count on your subscription dues to support the farm even in cases of massive crop failure caused by weather events, insects, or disease.
Flexibility: Subscribers' season-long commitments to the farm enable flexibility within our crop planning and help us absorb excess/bumper crops of a particular item during times of great abundance, which helps us cut down on food waste.
Freedom: Your support of the farm's mission as an educational farm gives us the freedom to experiment with new crops, growing methods, and projects while doing our most important work: training our crew of Apprentices who will go on to become the next generation of farmers in America. We sacrifice some efficiency via this training and experimentation model. Still, our belief in information-sharing and teaching is the basis for Amber Waves Farm, and your support helps us continuously pursue that mission.
Feedback: We want to make our subscribers happy! We want to know your favorites and least favorites to continue improving our crop list (while we encourage you to get out of your comfort zone to eat with the seasons and try unfamiliar vegetables).
Family: We readily acknowledge that we couldn't have come this far without you. Your support and encouragement (some of you for the full thirteen seasons!) is the lifeblood of the farm (family is also a literal term here - Katie first met her husband, Dan, when he joined our CSA!)