CSAs, Farms and Farmers' Markets

See also: Local Food or think about growing your own Kitchen Garden.

Pittsburgh Farmers' Markets

The farmers' markets in Pittsburgh generally run from May to November.

• Pittsburgh Public Market
  A new indoor, year-round public market in the Strip District located in the historic Produce Terminal Building, operated by Neighbors in the Strip. Scheduled to open in September of 2010.
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Here's your shopping list of 100-plus farmers markets
  This listing from May 12, 2011 is the region's most comprehensive and up-to-date list of local farmers markets and includes an interactive map.
• City of Pittsburgh Farmers' Markets
  Held in several locations on various days.
• Farmers' Market Cooperative of East Liberty
  The Farmers' Market Cooperative of East Liberty is a permanent, indoor farmers' market open every Saturday year-round, from 5 am to 12 noon.
• Farmers@Firehouse
  A mostly organic farmers market located in Pittsburgh's Strip District. 2216 Penn Ave., 9 a.m-1 p.m. Saturdays.
• Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank Farm Stand Project
  The Food Bank sets up Farm Stands to provide fresh, Pennsylvania-grown produce at affordable prices to low-income neighborhoods that have limited or no access to farmers' markets and grocery stores. A list of farm stands is available.
• Grow Pittsburgh: Farmer's Markets
  A list of farmers markets with days and hours in the region.

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CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture)

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Farm to table: Community supported agriculture [CSA] lets you share in growing, eating locally
  March and April is time to sign up if you want a produce subscription via a community supported agriculture program. This Thursday, March 26, 2009, series of articles highlights CSAs in the Pittburgh area.
  • How to pick a CSA plan that will suit you
  • Find a CSA Farm
• BuyLocalPA: Farms offering CSAs in Western Pennsylvania
  If you want to support your local farmers by buying a share in their production (Community Supported Agriculture or CSA), check out this list.

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Pittsburgh Area Farms

If you miss the farmers market, you can drive out to these farms and purchase fresh produce there.

• Beccari's Farm and Market
  Oakdale, near Heidelburg, south of Pittsburgh.
• Brenckle's Farm and Greenhouse
  Brenckle's Farm serves Cranberry, New Sewickley Townships, and Beaver Valley and offers a CSA.
• Cherry Valley Organics
  Cherry Valley Community Farm is a certified organic producer of specialty cut flowers, berries, herbs, and vegetables.
• Churchview Farm
  Tara Rockacy works at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh but also runs Churchview Farm, a third generation sustainable family farmette in the south hills of Pittsburgh. Read more about her in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "On a hilltop in Baldwin, Churchview Farm sustains a family enterprise and its new subscribers".
• Emerald Valley Farm: Artisan Cheeses
  Artisan cheeses made with all natural, whole, raw milk, no added hormones, no food coloring or preservatives. Located in Scenery Hill, southeast of Washington, PA.
• Frankferd Farms
  Frankferd Farms, located in Saxonburg (North of Pittsburgh), is an OCIA certified organic farm and flour mill and also offers an organic foods warehouse. You can buy retail or order from their warehouse for pickup or delivery. Or you can form a buying club with your neighbors and friends!
• Friendship Farms
  Located east of Pittsburgh in the Laurel Highlands of Westmoreland County, Friendship Farms sells beef, jam, bread, and native plants.
• Garden Dreams Urban Farm & Nursery
  Would you believe there is a farm in Wilkinsburg? It also sells seedlings in the spring!
• Green Circle Farm
  eggs, chicken, beef, lamb, and turkey
• Harvest Valley Farms
  Family farm in Valencia just north of Pittsburgh. Fresh Vegetables & "Pick-Your-Own Pumpkin" in October. They also offer a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program in which you can buy a share that will give you fresh fruits and vegetables each week.
• Jamison Farm
  Jamison Farm in Latrobe, Westmoreland County produces certified humane lamb that is purchased by some of the most prominent chefs in the country.
• Janoski's Farm & Greenhouse
  Located west of the Pittsburgh International Airport in Clinton PA. Hozak Farms is located nearby.
• The Kretschmann Farm
  The Kretschmann Farm, located near Zelienople, about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh, provides Pittsburgh area customers with organically grown produce, fruits, and meats. They offer subscriptions (CSA) to be delivered to your neighborhood or business.
• Meadow Rock Farm & Gardens
  A family owned and operated farm in Butler, offering CSA subscriptions.
• Morris Farm
  A pick your own farm in Irwin, PA, east of Pittsburgh.
• Paradise Gardens and Farm LLC
  They sell organic harvest shares (CSA) and also goat cheese, milk, yogurt, and ground meat at the farmstore, through the CSA, and in Pittsburgh. Located in Reynoldsville, Jefferson County.
• Sand Hill Berries
  Sand Hill Berries is a family owned and operated small fruits farm in Mt. Pleasant, Westmoreland County (southeast of Pittsburgh), specializing in red raspberries, red currants, black currants, gooseberries, yellow raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries.
• Schramm Farms & Orchards
  Located in Jeannette, PA (Westmoreland County outside of Murrysville), east of Pittsburgh
• Simmons Farm
  Located south of Pittsburgh on Route 19.
• Soergel Orchards
  Located north of Pittsburgh in Wexford
• Trax Farms
  Located in Finleyville, PA, 12 miles south of Pittsburgh on Route 88
• Triple B Farms
  Located 15 miles southeast of Pittsburgh near Elizabeth, PA.
• Weatherbury Farm
  Weatherbury Farm grows Grass-Fed Beef & Lamb, as well as heritage grains, as featured in this August 2011 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article.
• Wil-Den Family Farms
  Located in Mercer County, north of Pittsburgh, Bill and Denise Brownlee raise "pastured" pork.

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Pennsylvania

• Buy Fresh, Buy Local
  "The Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaign is a common marketing campaign being developed across the nation by the Food Routes Network. Buy Fresh, Buy Local aims to create a common branding identity for local foods so that consumers can easily identify food that is fresh, flavorful, and local. In Pennsylvania, Food Routes is working with PASA, Farm to City, and the Philadelphia Fair Foods Project to reconnect consumers back to the land."
• Robyn Van En Center Center for CSA Resources
  This is a resource center for Community Supported Agriculture, in which community members buy a share of a farm and in return get weekly produce. It is located at Wilson College in the Fulton Center for Sustainable Living, in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

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Nearby Farms and Markets

If you happen to be visiting one of these cities in the summer, here are attractions worth seeing.

• Baltimore: Lexington Market
  An historic food market founded in 1782, and open Monday - Saturday.
• Cincinnati: Findlay Market
  Findlay Market is Ohio's oldest continuously operated public market (build in 1855) and one of Cincinnati's most cherished institutions.
• Cleveland: West Side Market
  A covered market operational since 1912, at the corner of West 25th and Lorain in the Ohio City Neighborhood
• Columbus: North Market
  Central Ohio's "SUPER MARKET" since 1876.
• Lancaster Central Market
  The country's oldest farmers' market, in the heart of Amish country occupies a beautiful 109 year old red brick building chock-full of local character.
• Northwest Pennsylvania Growers Co-Op
  The Northwest PA Growers Co-op is a cooperative of farmers from Butler, Mercer, Lawrence, Crawford, Erie, Clarion, and Venango counties. There website contains lots of recipes for using their produce.
• Ohio Proud
  Search for a farmers' market, roadside market, or Christmas tree farm in Ohio at this site from the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
• Reading Terminal Market
  An historic farmers market built in 1892 in Center City Philadelphia.
• Washington D.C.: Dupont Circle Farmers Market
  Operates year round on Sunday mornings from 9/10am to 1 pm. You can also check out the new Farmers Market by the White House.
• West Virginia Farmers' Markets
  From the West Virginia Cooperative Extension Small Farm Center.

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United States

• AMS Farmers Market Search
  Agricultural Marketing Service at the US Department of Agriculture offers a directory of farmers' markets as well as information on setting one up.
• Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
  "CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community's farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production. Typically, members or "share-holders" of the farm or garden pledge in advance to cover the anticipated costs of the farm operation and farmer's salary. In return, they receive shares in the farm's bounty throughout the growing season, as well as satisfaction gained from reconnecting to the land and participating directly in food production." This website from the National Agricultural Library includes an information center and a database of CSA farms.
• Epicurious: Farm to Table
  Includes a Peak-Season Ingredient Map with a state-by-state guide to what's at farmers' markets with each crop linked to recipes. Also contains Latin American and Caribbean Fruit and Vegetable Basics, Asian Fruit and Vegetable Basics, Herb Basics, and a Visual Guide to Salad Greens.
• Fondy Market
  Fondy Market is Milwaukee's largest farmers market. It has a TV show about using produce and offers their episodes online.
• Local Harvest
  "Local Harvest maintains a definitive and reliable "living" public nationwide directory of small farms, farmers markets, and other local food sources. Our search engine, built entirely over Open Source software components, helps people find local sources of sustainably grown food, and encourages them to establish direct contact with family farms in their local area."
• Project for Public Spaces: Public Markets
  The Public Market Collaborative is a network of individuals and organizations involved in the planning, design, development and operation of public markets. Look here for news about public markets throughout the US.

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Selected Books

For additional books browse Farmers' Markets.

Corum, Vance
The New Farmers' Market: Farm-fresh ideas for producers, managers & communities
HF5472.U6 C67 2001x
Are you interested in starting a farmers' market for your community? This book will tell you how to sell at the farmers' market and how to run a farmers' market.

Denevan, Jim
Outstanding in the Field: a Farm to Table Cookbook
TX715.2.C34 D36 2008
Learn more about the author Jim Denevan in this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article or check out his website.

Estrine, Darryl and Kelly Kochendorfer
Harvest to Heat: Cooking with America's Best Chefs, Farmers, and Artisans
q TX715.E835 2010
Here's a collection of recipes from top American chefs using the food that their local farmers provide them, including meat and cheese as well as produce. It includes very interesting, and rich, dishes.

Fletcher, Janet
Eating Local: The Cookbook Inspired by America's Farmers
q TX741.E235 2010x
This book focuses on CSA farms around the nation and how to use their produce. Learn more from this YouTube video of Janet Fletcher.

Good, Phyllis Pellman
"Fresh from Central Market" Cookbook
"Favorite recipes from the standholders of the nation's oldest farmers market, Central Market in Lancaster, Pennsylvania"
TX714.G65 2009
Finally! A farmers' market cookbook that's not from California!

Grant, Susan McKenna
Piano, Piano, Pieno: Authentic Food from a Tuscan Farm
TX723.2.T86 G65 2008x
Look here for recipes to use those Italian vegetables you pick up at the farmers market, like Tuscan kale (cavolo nero), spinach, chard, peas, fava beans, and herbs.

Hirsheimer, Christopher and Peggy Knickerbocker
The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market Cookbook
TX801.H58 2006
"A comprehensive guide to impeccable produce plus 130 seasonal recipes"

Madison, Deborah
Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets
TX715.M1157 2002
Madison's portraits of markets from Maine to Hawaii showcase the bounty of America's family farms and reveal the sheer pleasure to be found in shopping for and cooking with local foods.

Parsons, Russ
How to Pick a Peach: the Search for Flavor from Farm to Table
TX391.P37 2007
In this follow-up to his critically acclaimed "How to Read a French Fry," Parsons (food columnist for the L.A. Times) helps the cook sort through the produce in the market; reveals intriguing facts about vegetables and fruits; and provides instructions on how to choose, store, and prepare these items.

Patraker, Joel
The Greenmarket Cookbook
TX715.P3169 2000
"Recipes, tips, and lore from the world famous urban farmers' market." From Manhattan's famed Union Square Market.

Price, Jessie
EatingWell in Season: A Farmers' Market Cookbook
RA784.P738854 2009x
This book from EatingWell magazine offers up sound nutrition advice on why eating delicious fresh fruits and vegetables will help you live longer, feel better and keep the weight off. The book also includes tips on how to freeze and preserve bumper crops; techniques for roasting peppers and other ways to preserve your farm finds; profiles of local farmers; tips on planting your own kitchen garden, and more.

Sebak, Rick
To Market, To Market, To Buy a Fat Pig
(DVD) HF5472.U6 T624 2007x
In this PBS video released in Auguest 2007, Rick Sebak of WQED tours farmers' markets around the United States, including Cleveland's Westside Market and Baltimore's Lexington Market.

Last updated Monday January 09 2012.