Where does all the F.H. King produce go?

The bulk of F.H. King's produce is distributed for free to University of Wisconsin-Madison students at Harvest Handouts -- our produce stand on Library Mall* -- Fridays from 1-3pm, June-October.  During this time, we provide cooking tips to students for unfamiliar vegetables and talk about where the food came from and who grew it.  Check out our calendar for more information.  Bring your reusable bag and come grab some free, local, organic produce!

*Due to construction on Library Mall, Harvest Handouts will be on East Campus Mall in front of the SAC until further notice.

We donate excess food every week to food pantries via the Community Action Coalition.

F.H. King also ran a CSA program for the 2009 and 2010 seasons.  See below for more information.  We will not be running a CSA program this year and instead will be focusing on running more garden-based workshops and developing our internship program (Learn more by going to Get Involved!).

Information about our CSA Program

Take a look at our past CSA newsletters for recipes and more information about our CSA program.  We also have a binder of information that explains the logistics of running a small-scale CSA in our library.  Feel free to come check it out person or email fhking.students@gmail.com for an electronic copy.

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We are a student organization at University of Wisconsin-Madison funded by ASM, our student government.  As a result, much of the produce grown in our garden is given back to UW students for free.  This is done in the form of Harvest Handouts on Library Mall, or to student volunteers who come out to the garden. Separate from that, we also ran a small CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for three growing seasons.  This is done with funds from previous years' CSA programs.

If you don't know what a CSA is, check out our first blog post titled "What's a CSA?".  In 2008, F.H. King started a demonstration CSA with ten shares. This was UW-Madison’s first student-run CSA.  It ran for 20 weeks and generated a small return with which we put right back into purchasing supplies for our farm and creating a CSA Coordinator position for our 2009 CSA. 

During 2009, F.H. King increased the amount of land in production and moved to a 21 share CSA with student families in the Eagle Heights neighborhood.  The relationship with Eage Heights helped to mitigate some of the food insecurities in this community.  This was only our second year of running a CSA, but it was a huge success!  For 20 weeks we provided fresh, local, organic produce to 21 families at half the average price of a CSA share.   We harvested every week on Thursdays, and shares were delivered that same day.  Some participants came out to the garden to get their shares, while others picked them up at the Eagle Heights Community Center.  The contents of the weekly boxes varied, depending on the season.  We started out with lots of root veggies like turnips, radishes and beets, as well as lettuce and other leafy greens.  In the fall, we had squash, potatoes and more greens!  Somewhere in between were the ever-popular tomatoes, sweet peppers, and cucumbers, to name a few.  We guaranteed that our produce shares were worth $12.50 of organic produce each week, but we set (and reached) our goal that each box be worth $25 - in other words, we gave participants twice as much as they payed for!

In 2010, we worked with the Eagle Heights community again.  One exciting change in 2010 was a modification of our pick up system.  All members picked up their shares directly from our garden.  A benefit of this approach was that members had the chance to select their own produce from our produce stand.  For example, if the shares include a head of lettuce and a squash, members were able to select which lettuce and which squash they wanted to take home, just like at the Farmer's Market.  We also put out a "Swap Box" where members could swap an item in their shares.  In addition, price of the shares increased slightly in the 2010 season to $275.00 for 20 weeks of produce.  Each week cost $13.75, a slight increase of $1.25 per week from the 2009 season.  While this was not something we wanted to do, we found it necessary in order to run a successful, sustainable business.

We enjoyed running a CSA for many reasons, but the most important reason was the people.  It was a lot of fun to meet the many families who participated in our CSA.  There was a great deal of ethnic diversity in our members, and we all share a love for fresh, quality food!  It was exciting to learn more about the food preferences of people from different ethnic groups.  From our perspective, it seemed ilke all of the members and workers have expanded their culinary skills and eating palates over the seasons!  Another joy of the CSA program was that we had a chance tp educate people about sustainable farming practices.  Growing food in harmony with the earth and other living organisms makes for a better food system.  It is important to us to help connect people to the source of their food.  Anyone is always welcome to come out to the garden to learn more.  You don't have to have any gardening or farming knowledge.  Just come out ready to learn!

Your feedback, questions, and comments are valued - please contact Kimberly Koch about our CSA program.