FarmShare is a collaboration between a farm and the people in the surrounding community.  When you become a FarmShare member, you agree to support the costs of running the farm in exchange for a share of the harvest. By contributing a membership fee in advance, you become a partner with the farmer in sharing some of the risk as well as the bounty of agricultural production.

     In Japan, where this concept first took hold, it was called“food with the farmer’s face,” emphasizing that food does not have to be a generic commodity transported many miles and produced under factory-like conditions.  FarmShare allows us to focus on our passion for working with the land to produce the most wholesome, life-giving, best tasting food possible, while building a strong bond with the members we are feeding.

     Members of the Laughing Earth FarmShare become an integral part of the farm. Even at the most basic, members pick up at the farm every week. In addition, we love when members make the farm their own.

     Join us in the garden for planting or harvesting.  Pick your own strawberries, herbs, and flowers.  Visit the animals on the farm and become familiar with the benefits of pasture-raised animals.  Join our member family for farm events!  Hay rides, harvest dinners, food classes….
 

HOW DOES IT WORK?

 ◊ Your pre-season payment purchases a “share” of our summer’s harvest.  Choose one of 2 pick-up days:  Wednesday evenings from 3-7 or Saturday mornings from 10-1. 

◊  Come to the farm once a week to fill your bag with the vegetables we harvest for you.  (If you cannot make a pick-up day, call ahead to change days, send a friend in your place, or donate to the food pantry!)

◊ All excess produce gets donated to our local Brunswick food pantry.

◊  Our season is June through the end of October, 22 weeks.  Weekly shares start small with greens in the spring, and are more abundant in summer with tomatoes, beans, cucumbers…. By the fall the shares are heavy with root crops and winter squash.  You’ll be eating seasonally, and we’ll help you with cooking ideas and recipes!

◊  A share is designed to feed a family of 2 or 3.  For 2024, a full share costs $650 and averages 1 FULL grocery bag of 7 different items per week for 22 weeks. We also offer a half share option, which is 11 weeks of shares (generally, every other week) for $360.

◊  Participate in our Community Food Project. We have established a special fund to be used to reduce the cost of shares to members with fewer resources. What a great opportunity for your family, church, or civic group to “sponsor” a family in need! Basically, if you feel you can pay more for your share, pay as much as you’d like. For those who find the share price too high for their budget, they just request whatever amount they’d like to have covered, and it is covered, no questions asked.

HOW DO I JOIN?

Fill out the form below. If you choose to pay via check, please send it to Laughing Earth, 3842 NY 2, Cropseyville, NY 12052.

For more details on how Farm Share works, check out the Member handbook

For farm updates, visit us on Facebook!

We are featured on Wellable’s “Best Farm Shares for Healthy Employee Diets”!