Harrison Ranch Produce is in its second year of providing community supported agriculture boxes, giving members a wide variety and quantity of fresh produce.

The CSA food boxes are provided on a weekly basis starting in June and ending in November. The items provided vary each week as the content changes along with the season. The first box delivered in July of 2019 provided spinach, kale and romaine lettuce while the last box in November provided butternut squash, sunshine squash, hubbard squash and other types of squash.

“When people ask me, ‘What all do you grow?’, it’s easier to say what I don’t grow because there’s pretty much all your varieties, and I am not worried about overproducing because I focus on having a lot of stuff,” owner Scott Harrison said.

No matter the type of produce provided, each box contains a dozen locally produced and picked eggs. Other items members could receive are recipes for the content in the box, jelly and variety of vegetable based powders.

Patti McAndrew, who is in charge of providing baked goods, compared the cost of a box received from Harrison to what the content would cost at a large supermarket and concluded that members are getting $80 worth of produce for $35.

“He is also giving really good, flavorful produce that is not grown elsewhere and then trucked in,” McAndrew said. “Pretty much everything they’re getting is on the day it was picked or the day after.”

Harrison plans to expand this year by providing CSA boxes for 25 people instead of 10, growing more produce, and working with McAndrew to provide a baked goods box that varies from a loaf of bread to sweets or dinner rolls and cinnamon rolls. Each week there will be two different baked items for consumers to enjoy.

When it comes to quantity, Harrison and McAndrew avoid skimping out and make sure that each member receives a generous amount of produce.

“To give an idea of how the boxes are, one guy had a banana box with a lid with it and one time he had to take the lid off to fit two banana boxes worth of produce into one,” Harrison said. “Most people brought a cooler for the melons and eggs and then they bring either boxes or reusable bags for the rest. I mean there was one week they got a 25 pound bag of potatoes and onions.”

Harrison and McAndrew said the resources for their products are organic and local. Harrison uses hand labor and cultivation to discourage weeds and incorporates organic products to handle insects, weeds and diseases as much as possible.

Members will receive their produce starting in June, but Harrison is taking payments now so that he can plan for the amount of produce he will need to supply for the season. People who sign up prior to March 31 will receive a $50 discount from the $200 sign-up fee, which is included in the overall $700 price. The remaining $500 will be paid in payments of $125 scheduled for June 16, July 7, Aug. 4 and Sept. 1.

An option to reduce the $700 is available by working approximately 30 hours a week and helping with planting, weeding and harvesting. This will reduce the cost to $350 for the season with a $150 sign up fee. The remaining $200 will be paid in payments of $50 and follow the same payment schedule.

Baking is not included with the $700 for produce. To add baking boxes with the weekly CSA boxes, the price is a $100 sign-up fee and four payments of $65. Sign up before March 31 and get a $25 discount. People will pick up their baked goods and produce at the same location.

“My favorite part of this experience is providing people with fresh produce and hearing comments that it’s lasting them more than a week,” Harrison said. “This is truly local produce, and I enjoy hearing what people are doing with the produce.”

For more information, contact Harrison at 541-733-8778 or 541-932-4718.