Looking for locally grown food? These programs near Louisville offer farm-to-table access
Community Supported Agriculture programs, or CSAs, are an increasingly popular avenue for buying locally grown food while investing in local farms, and May marks the start of many such programs, as farmers begin bringing their harvests to Louisville and nearby communities.
In CSAs, consumers can buy shares of a farm's production as a kind of farm-to-table subscription, accessing fresh food from local farms on a schedule throughout the growing season — while sharing in some of the risks inherent to agriculture, like weather. Many farms offer CSA pickup locations around Louisville, and some also offer direct delivery options.
The arrangement helps bring in some upfront revenue to farmers in the spring, and offers some stability and guaranteed demand for locally owned small and mid-sized farms, which are facing historic headwinds.
Kentucky's family farms are disappearing at alarming rates, as narrow profit margins and economies of scale have favored consolidation and larger operations, The Courier Journal recently reported, based on U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
"Local food needs a champion," said Katie Harvey, CSA marketing and outreach program manager at the Organic Association of Kentucky. She said CSAs still haven't found mainstream popularity, but gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic, when supply chains grew unstable and many communities sought a sense of local connection.
CSAs have roots with Booker T. Whatley, a Black horticulturalist and Tuskegee University professor, Harvey added. He devised "clientele membership clubs" to provide a direct means of financial backing for Black farmers in the 1960s amid discrimination from government agencies and financial institutions.
Kentucky Proud, a marketing initiative of the state Department of Agriculture, publishes a guide of partner farms running CSAs and similar programs. Here are some of the programs serving Louisville, organized by their main offerings:
Fruits and vegetables
Deutsch Farm, a fourth-generation family operation in Spencer County, offers rotating produce in its 20-week CSA, with pickups including Westport Road Baptist Farmers Market and Beulah Farmers Market. According to a flyer for the farm's Harvest Share program, early season picks typically include strawberries and greens, mid-season brings tomatoes, beans and squash, and cooler weather later in the season brings broccoli, fall squash and root vegetables. Contact: 502-376-3888 or DeutschFarmLLC@gmail.com
Cleav's Family Market, south of Louisville in Hart and LaRue counties, has offered a buyers club for its produce for more than a decade, with a Louisville pickup location at the Newburg Library. "We have great food for great people," said farmer Travis Cleaver. Upfront payment from members, he added, helps the farm cover costs like seeds and labor, and "allows us to know what we need to plant, and how much we need to plant." Contact: 270-307-0240 or CleavsFamilyMarket@gmail.com
Coulter's Good Earth Farm shares "generally have over 50 different types of produce," according to the farm's CSA page, including vegetables, small fruit and tree fruit. The program also offers eggs and, occasionally, grass-fed beef. The farm offers a pickup in Louisville on Saturday mornings. Contact: 502-221-0172 or goodearthfarm@yahoo.com
Elliott Brothers Farm offers "a weekly box of fresh, pesticide-free, top quality, local produce," as well as private tours of the farm for CSA members. Pickup is available at the farm in Shepherdsville or at the Local Press in Mt. Washington. Contact: 502-550-7883 or elliottbrothersfarm@gmail.com
Meat
A couple of Shelbyville farms offer CSA programs focused on meat.
Slaughter Family Farm's CSA includes options for pasture-raised chicken, forest-raised pork and free-range eggs. Pickup is available at the Douglass Loop Farmers Market and two more locations around St. Matthews. Contact: 502-386-1251
Skinner Farms offers monthly CSA packages with chicken, pork and beef. Pickup is available at the farm, Beckley Creek or Simpsonville, and there's an option for delivery with a fee. Contact: 502-655-9567 or skinnerfarmspoultry@gmail.com
A little bit of everything
Many farms serving Louisville offer a wide range of products in their CSAs, often with options to customize. All of the following farms offer a mix of meat, produce and other food products:
Boxcar Acres is a vegetable farm in Henry County, but it partners with other nearby farms to offer a "full diet" CSA, as well. Pickup hubs include Prospect, Crescent Hill, and the St. Matthews, Douglass Loop and New Albany farmers markets. Contact: boxcaracres@gmail.com
Juniper Brooks Farm's CSA programs range from vegetables and flowers to eggs, handmade bread, meat and pasta, according to the farm's website, with options for home delivery. Contact: 859-533-1773 or juniperbrooksfarm@gmail.com
Triple J Farm advertises a customizable CSA, with a focus on vegetables and some fruit, and options to add other items like beef and bread. It has many pickups around Central Kentucky, including the St. Matthews Farmers Market. Contact: 502-735-3729 or info@triplejfarm.org
Sweet Maple Farms offers a vegetable CSA with options for meat and other additions. The farm is in neighboring Shelby County. Contact: sweetmapleliving@yahoo.com
Black Paw Farms, in Shelbyville, offers multiple CSA programs, with options for produce, jams, eggs, meat and fresh bread. The listed pickup options are slightly outside of Louisville — either at the farm in Shelbyville or at the Simpsonville Farmers Market. Contact: 502-655-9866 or blackpawfarms@yahoo.com
Certified organic CSA farms serving Louisville
Kentucky Proud names several certified organic farms with CSA programs. (Some of the farms listed outside this section still practice "organic-equivalent" farming, but aren't listed as certified organic by Kentucky Proud and the USDA.)
Here are some of the certified organic CSA options in the Louisville area:
Barr Farms offers organic vegetables, grass-fed beef, pastured chicken and pork in its customizable CSA. Pickups are available at local Rainbow Blossom stores and the farmers markets at Douglass Loop and Phoenix Hill/NuLu, in addition to a delivery option for a fee. Contact: farmer@barrfarmsky.com
Elmwood Stock Farm is a sixth-generation Georgetown farm with CSA offerings including vegetables, beef and eggs. Pickup is available at West Sixth NuLu or at several local Rainbow Blossom locations, and home delivery is available for an extra fee. Contact: 859-621-0755
Hickory Grove Farm's CSA offers organic vegetables, meat and eggs. The closest pickup locations are in La Grange and Simpsonville, and the historic Pleasureville farm also hosts a pick-your-own program at its organic strawberry patch. Contact: hickorygrovefarmky@gmail.com
Knob Hill Farm, in Breckinridge County, offers three different sizes of its organic produce CSA program. The farm has a pickup location at Iroquois Park in Louisville. Contact: 502-541-9051 or Keith.mckenzie1@aol.com
Rootbound Farm runs a "very veggie-forward" CSA program, says farmer Bree Pearsall, offering organic produce in addition to lamb and eggs. It has many pickup locations in and around Louisville, including Logan Street Market, local Rainbow Blossom stores, Norton Commons and others. Contact: bree@rootboundfarm.com
Sustainable Harvest Farm, outside London, Kentucky, focuses on organic produce, but also offers additions like cheese, eggs and sauces. The farm has several pickup locations to the east of Louisville. Contact: 859-227-5101 or ford.waterstrat@gmail.com
Flowers and other offerings
Local farms La Très Jolie, Pure Pollen Flowers and Chickapoo Farm offer CSAs for flowers. Each has options for pickup at local venues or delivery in or around Louisville. Contacts, respectively: info@latresjolie.com; purepollenflowers@gmail.com; and gwen@chickapoofarm.com
UrbanEco Farms, in Louisville's South End, offers a CSA for microgreens and sprouts. The service includes an option for pickup at the Bardstown Road Farmers' Market or delivery within 25 miles of the farm. Contact: 866-645-3276 or info@urbanecofarms.net
Connor Giffin is an environmental reporter for The Courier Journal and a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. The program funds up to half of corps members’ salaries, but requires a portion also be raised through local community fundraising. To support local environmental reporting in Kentucky, tax-deductible donations can be made at courier-journal.com/RFA.
Learn more about RFA at reportforamerica.org. Reach Connor directly at cgiffin@gannett.com or on X @byconnorgiffin.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: CSA programs near Louisville offer farm-to-table options
