Have you kept up with the local food movement over the last two decades? If so you have probably heard the term CSA. #CSA is an acronym for Community Supported Agriculture and it has become a very popular way for market gardeners to get their veggies directly to their customers.
Although CSA can be interpreted in a number of ways, at its core a CSA is a model in which a customer financially invests in a farmer's crop before the growing season has begun. It provides funds for the farmer when sales are at their lowest and provides a share of the crop harvest to the customer throughout the growing season. It has been a great way for market vegetable farmers to afford the upfront costs necessary to get those crops in the ground.
Over the past five years, as more and more USA based farms have moved to flower production, the CSA business model has been adopted by #flowerfarmers under the same principles as vegetable farms. The flower farm CSA model can come in all different shapes and sizes based on the farm's structure and customer needs.
We, #TheFertileBurb, prefer to use the phrase Flower Share. In years past, CSA models included on-farm work for customers and are part of the reason the name Community Supported Agriculture was adopted. The term Share, we feel, is the best representation of what we are offering to our local community. As an event florist, we only have a small window of harvestable stems for a Saturday wedding. What this means for the farm is that we have many beautiful flowers throughout the week that are not timed appropriately or are not in the color palette for those events.
What do we do with all those flowers? They go to our Blooms in the Burbs #FlowerShare customers! We offer a Spring and Fall Flower Share. These shares are bi-weekly, of course, any customer can purchase two bi-weekly shares and receive a bouquet every week. We include all the stems we can possibly fit into our hands which means you are not paying per stem as you would from a florist.
Our flower Shares are the best way to receive the absolute best #inseasonblooms. Plus, you quickly learn what the flower seasons look like here in Northern VA. We also communicate with our Share members every week about what is in their bouquets and best practices for flower care.
Providing our Flower Shares has been an amazing way to bolster a more robust community connection with our farming operation. When you choose to invest in us, or your local flower farms, you are deciding to invest in our business, knowledge, creativity, and most importantly to support companies that are providing local, sustainably grown, Never-Flown BLOOMS!!