The 2021 Fall CSA program is full! Thank you to everyone who joined!

What is CSA?

Our Growing Practices

The Community Garden at Auburn University is a two acre garden that provides growing space to community members who rent garden plots on a yearly basis. Although the majority of our space is used for plot rentals by community members, we have designated several garden plots to grow produce specifically for our CSA members. Your membership costs covers all expenses associated with growing your produce, including labor, irrigation, fertilizer, seeds, and equipment.

While we are not certified organic, we rarely use insecticides or herbicides in our plots, generally only in extreme circumstances, and we always follow all guidelines for safe use and harvesting of produce after using insecticides or herbicides. For more information regarding our growing practices or potential pesticide use at the garden or in your specific plot, please contact garden manager Marley Halter at community.garden@auburn.edu.

We take the safety of your food seriously. When harvesting and handling your produce, we follow general personal and food hygiene practices. This includes rinsing (if necessary) and quickly refrigerating produce after harvesting. For your added protection, please thoroughly wash all produce and place in refrigeration as soon as possible after receiving a delivery.

Benefits of Partnering with the CGAU

Your CSA membership comes with many benefits. In addition to a weekly delivery of fresh, healthy, hyper-local produce, you are also contributing to our many outreach activities across campus and in the Auburn/Opelika community. Some of the activities your partnership supports includes:

• Educational opportunities for both children and adults focused on sustainability, health & wellness, and gardening for self-sufficiency.
• Building new partnerships with other community groups and bringing more people to the garden.
• Supporting the holistic education of Auburn University’s students through creating new academic and extracurricular partnerships across campus.
• Donating produce to local hunger relief organizations to alleviate food insecurity in Auburn and Opelika.

Sharing in the Reward of Crop Surplus

In the case that crops are especially abundant during certain times of the season, we may ask if you’d like to receive a surplus of produce that week, especially if there have been other weeks where production was low due to weather/pests/etc.

Sharing in the Risk of Crop Failure

We promise to do our best to provide you with a bountiful share each week. The quantity of produce, however, may vary from week-to-week due to extreme weather, insects, or other production factors. By joining our CSA Program, you are agreeing to share the risk of crop failure with us and other members. In the unlikely event of a crop failure, our procedure is as follows:

If only a small portion of crops fail, we compensate for the failed crops by offering replacements with other crops grown at the garden that are ready for harvest at that time. If a large portion of crops fail, we may not be able to deliver any product in some weeks or fewer products than expected. All information regarding crop failure will be communicated with CSA members via email.

Communicating with Us

The best way to communicate with us is via email. Our email address is community.garden@auburn.edu. We communicate with all of our CSA members via email. Please check your email for updates regarding your weekly produce pick-ups and other garden news.

Please contact us with any news of the following:

• changes to your email address,
• changes to or problems with your produce pick-up, or
• dissatisfaction with your produce.

Photo Release

We may request to take photos or videos that include your person at the delivery site or at the garden for use in publications, news releases, online, and in other communications related to the mission of the Community Garden at Auburn University.

Agreement Summary

By clicking the link below and paying for a CSA membership, I agree to purchase a CSA membership as outlined on this webpage. I understand that, although unlikely, the garden may change parts of this agreement related to production and distribution from time to time. I agree to waive any claim for damages of any nature and to release, indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Auburn University, its Board of Trustees, Trustees individually, faculty, staff, and employees from any and all claims, actions, demands, or liability associated with the purchase or use of the produce. I understand that the garden manager will contact me via email in advance of any changes to this agreement.