Whidbey restaurant shows CSAs are more than fruit and produce

By NATHAN WHALEN
Editor

On New Year’s Eve 2013, Sara and Tyler Hansen took over The Oystercatcher, a cozy bistro located in historic downtown Coupeville located in the heart of Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve on Whidbey Island. They have a view of picturesque Penn Cove and currently serve beef shoulder, black cod and a local bean cassoulet braised lamb shoulder.

One of the more popular dishes is the bread they bake fresh out of the open-air kitchen located in the center of the restaurant. Sara said it started to gain a following and they started selling it at nearby farmer’s markets and neighboring businesses.

“It kind of became gluten crack to people,” co-owner Sara Hansen said.

Their bread has become so addictive people bought a subscription where they would receive one loaf per week.

Oystercatcher on Whidbey provides a CSA to folks living within driving distance to the Central Whidbey-based restaurant. So far, around 50 people are receiving loaves of bread.

CSAs, or community supported agriculture, is a subscription-based food program often used by small-scale organic farms. A family pays a fee, often hundreds of dollars, to receive a full box of fruit and produce a week for typically 20 weeks. The Hansen’s CSA highlights such programs have expanded beyond traditional agriculture.

“It’s kind of funny, people didn’t think to come here to buy it,” Hansen said.

CSAs provide several advantages for both the consumer and the business. Local Harvest, a nationwide website emphasizing farms and food, highlights several positives of CSAs. For the consumer, they receive ultra-fresh food and get exposed to new food. They often get a chance to visit a farm and learn how produce is grown.

The Hansens started their subscription program as the slower winter season started on Whidbey.

“What’s nice is you know exactly how much you make so there’s no waste,” Hansen said.

It takes about 36 hours for Oystercatcher staff to produce their loaves of bread. They have their own starter that they add to every day. As for yeast, the Oystercatcher simply leaves it out and uses the yeast found in the air.

“That’s what I love this kind of bread,” Tyler said of it’s simplicity.

Michael Tu, bread baker for the Oystercatcher on Whidbey, looks at the latest loaves to pop out of the oven. Bread-loving Whidbey residents will receive weekly loaves as part of a subscription program.

For the farmers involved, the CSA provides them time to market their farm during a traditionally slow time of the year and the subscriptions improves the farm’s cash flow.

The subscriptions are helping the Hansen’s expand their business. They used the cash earned from the subscriptions to pay for a large oven, which will help speed up the baking process.

The Hansen’s aren’t the only ones who are expanding the concept of a CSA.

Pam Thompson, owner of Farm and Larder and Bella Luna Farm, offers soups, meats, jams, cheeses.

“There’s always some sort of menu that goes out,” Thompson said. “There’s a theme around the contents of the box.”

Farm and Larder has operated its CSA for two years.

“It just seemed to be a good way to market the farm,” Thompson said.

The CSA provides a chance for people to tour the Bella Luna Farm and learn culinary techniques such as cheese-making and herb gardening. Thompson said the Farm and Larder CSA is geared toward a family of four, but she hopes to eventually add an a la carte option.

Farm and Larder operates near Snohomish but the Thompson’s also grows organic fruit and produce on about 30 acres of land near Fall City. Sixty people currently receive weekly boxes, but Thompson said she hopes to expand that number to around 100-125 customers scattered between Seattle and the Eastside.

Farm and Larder also has a selection of produce for the boxes too. People can expect to see rhubarb, potatoes, spring onions and peas as part of the culinary box.

“I try to base the menu on what is available from the garden,” Thompson said.

Of course there are plenty of traditional CSAs thriving throughout the Puget Sound region. Puget Sound Fresh, www.pugetsoundfresh.org, provides an excellent list of farms and ranches that offer CSAs. These farms are scattered between Stanwood and Olympia and from Ellensburg to Sequim.

The Puget Sound Fresh folks, as part of the Cascade Harvest Coalition, developed a list of factors people should consider when deciding to participate in a CSA.

• Location – Farms serving the metropolitan area are scattered throughout northwest Washington and how often you want to be involved in on-farm activities. Some farms are located in neighboring counties, but, fortunately, those long drives are often the prettiest.

• Size – Some CSAs offer as few as 10 shares while others have as many as 300. This means some farms grow exclusively for a CSA while others also sell to markets and grocery stores.

• Price – It’s difficult to compare prices between CSAs because of different growing seasons, products available, growing practices and size of shares.

• Pick-up sites and delivery days – All farms have weekly drop off sites that are typically at homes often of farm employees or CSA participants who receive a bit of a discount for hosting a site. The drop off days also vary between the farms with some delivering on the weekends while others deliver earlier in the week.

The Cascade Harvest Coalition also noted that some farms are certified organic while others simply use organic practices. CSAs also offers education and a chance to communicate with farmers.