The Potato: A True Staple
This CSA was created so that you can truly experience one of the most important food staples: the potato. An extremely nutritious vegetable, the potato, which can be grown practically anywhere in the world, has evolved alongside humans, supplying health and sustenance. There are several thousand different known varieties of potatoes, but at the grocery store you'd be lucky to find more than your standard russet. Often overlooked and undervalued for their variety of flavors, textures, and colors, store-bought are nothing but a shadow of a potato, grown for productivity, conformity, consistency. A box of Heart's Pasture potatoes is a true representation that there is so much more to the potato than what we've learned through our past experiences.
Heart's Pasture Potatoes
At Heart's Pasture Farm, we grow over 32 unique varieties of potatoes, each one having a distinctive color, size, texture, and flavor. Grown, cultivated, and harvested using biodynamic and beyond organic practices, we provide the perfect conditions for our plants to naturally produce beautiful underground gems.
Customers immediately notice the smell of fresh earth and see the different shades of purple, pink, blue, orange, brown, and white when they open a box. Some potatoes are a solid color, smoothly and graciously presented on the potato's skin. Some are mottled, splashed, or streaked with a combination of hues. They come in all shapes and sizes and do not conform to any one in particular. Some have a quilted pine-cone-like look. Some are knobby, oval, long, or perfectly round. Each potato variety is different. Together, they paint a beautiful picture of different colors, textures, sizes, and, of course, nuanced flavors, a feast for your eyes and for your palate.
Customers immediately notice the smell of fresh earth and see the different shades of purple, pink, blue, orange, brown, and white when they open a box. Some potatoes are a solid color, smoothly and graciously presented on the potato's skin. Some are mottled, splashed, or streaked with a combination of hues. They come in all shapes and sizes and do not conform to any one in particular. Some have a quilted pine-cone-like look. Some are knobby, oval, long, or perfectly round. Each potato variety is different. Together, they paint a beautiful picture of different colors, textures, sizes, and, of course, nuanced flavors, a feast for your eyes and for your palate.
Heart's Pasture Potato CSA
CSA stands for community supported agriculture. A share (membership or subscription) is purchased and a box of potatoes of the desired CSA size is supplied to our members once per month, for four months (September-December). Purchasing a share supplies our customers with fresh, local potatoes, unrivaled in flavor and quality, and gives them an opportunity to get to know our small family farm, making it a great way to support the local food movement in Northern Michigan.
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We offer three size options for local pickup. There will be two different pickup days and times each month of the CSA at a convenient location in Petoskey, Michigan so that you can choose the best one that fits your schedule. If neither option works, we will still make sure that you receive your potatoes!
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Shipping is available for our medium sized potato box. We ship our boxes USPS priority mail to any state in the United States. If you are local, but you travel after the Labor Day holiday, or even if you've never visited us before, this is a great option that allows you to enjoy a taste of norther Michigan! Potatoes do extremely well during transit, making them the perfect vegetable to share with people from afar.
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CSA Size Options
16 lb CSA Box |
12 lb CSA Box |
8 lb CSA Box |
$4.50 per pound |
$5.00 per pound |
$5.50 per pound |
A minimum of 4 varieties of potatoes per box |
A minimum of 3 varieties of potatoes per box |
A minimum of 2 varieties of potatoes per box |
64 total pounds of potatoes over 4 months |
48 total pounds of potatoes over 4 months |
32 total pounds of potatoes over 4 months |
4 CSA Boxes in 4 Months (September, October, November, and December) |
4 CSA Boxes in 4 Months (September, October, November, and December) |
4 CSA Boxes in 4 Months (September, October, November, and December) |
Monthly potato descriptions, recipes, and more on our member-only CSA page |
Monthly potato descriptions, recipes, and more on our member-only CSA page |
Monthly potato descriptions, recipes, and more on our member-only CSA page |
Local pickup only |
Local pickup and USPS shipping options available |
Local pickup only |
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know how many pounds of potatoes I need?
Consider that the average person eats 120 pounds of potatoes each year. That averages out to 10 pounds per person, per month of potatoes! So although it is difficult to recommend quantities, keep in mind the following:
- 1.5 pounds (24 ounces) of potatoes will usually serve 4 people (6 ounces each); and
- A 12 pound CSA box provides 32 servings that are 6 ounces.
Will I have potatoes in time for the major holidays?
Yes! Heart's Pasture potatoes will be the highlight of your dinner plate this holiday season. You will have access to recipes that highlight the potatoes in your box on our members-only CSA page.
Why would I join a CSA?
A CSA benefits the farmer and the customer. It supports your local farmer by providing funding at the beginning of the harvest season. This up front payment relieves the farmer by freeing up time to tend to the potatoes in the garden instead of spending much time on marketing. The customer gains a connection to the land through the purchase of a CSA subscription, and enjoys the fruits of the farmer's labor with each box of freshly-dug potatoes. The CSA member further enjoys a lower price-per-pound than a regular customer, which is the farmers way of saying, thank you for supporting me as a CSA member.
Do you grow potatoes from true potato seed?
Yes, some of the potatoes that we grow have been started from what is called true potato seed. If grown in the right conditions, potato plants form flowers, which are pollinated by insects and form into little green seed pods, reminiscent of a small green tomato. When ripe, those seeds can be harvested and planted to grow another potato plant.
The seeds are miniscule and must be started indoors before the growing season. They require a lot of attention and take quite a bit of time to sprout. Some have very low germination percentages, making even the first stage difficult to a novice. They also take a long growing season to form tubers, and when they do the first year, the harvest can be unpredictable in tuber size and quantity.
Typically, a whole potato, referred to as a tuber, is planted and that is what is referred to as seed stock. Tubers are an exact clone of the mother plant, a full genetic copy. There are strengths and weaknesses to using the traditional method of planting potato seed. In comparison, true potato seed has the potential for a totally unique genetic makeup.
When growing potatoes from true potato seed, there are a lot of exciting factors that come into play. It's rarely done in general, due to its intensive process and unpredictability, making it limited to small market growers or homesteads. Potatoes grown from true potato seed are generally less susceptible to disease. Sometimes the only way to have a certain variety of potato is to grow it from true seed, making the end product extremely valuable and rare --a hidden gem.
The seeds are miniscule and must be started indoors before the growing season. They require a lot of attention and take quite a bit of time to sprout. Some have very low germination percentages, making even the first stage difficult to a novice. They also take a long growing season to form tubers, and when they do the first year, the harvest can be unpredictable in tuber size and quantity.
Typically, a whole potato, referred to as a tuber, is planted and that is what is referred to as seed stock. Tubers are an exact clone of the mother plant, a full genetic copy. There are strengths and weaknesses to using the traditional method of planting potato seed. In comparison, true potato seed has the potential for a totally unique genetic makeup.
When growing potatoes from true potato seed, there are a lot of exciting factors that come into play. It's rarely done in general, due to its intensive process and unpredictability, making it limited to small market growers or homesteads. Potatoes grown from true potato seed are generally less susceptible to disease. Sometimes the only way to have a certain variety of potato is to grow it from true seed, making the end product extremely valuable and rare --a hidden gem.