Randle Farms Meat Share

We will again be offering a meat share, from September to December. We will offer 20 shares, and sign-ups are starting now. We will continue sign-ups throughout August, or until we are filled. This meat share will be a little different from the ones offered in the past.

Here's how it will work:

  • - Each shareholder will receive approximately 15 lbs of meat each month: 8 lbs chicken, 4 lbs ground meats, and 3 lbs prime cuts.
  • - Chickens will be whole, either fresh or frozen
  • - Ground meats will include beef, lamb, pork sausage, and mutton sausage
  • - Prime cuts will include lamb, beef, pork, and rabbit
  • - This share season will last from September - December, totalling 4 pick-ups and approximately 60 lbs of meat
  • - The total cost is $400, based solely on the value of the meats. Your spot will not be reserved until this is paid in full.
  • - You will be purchasing a share of our harvest, so while we can garuantee the total amount of meat in each share, there's no way to tell how many steaks, for instance, we'll have. We won't know the number of steaks, chops, etc until all the animals have been harvested.
  • - We will not be offering half shares at this time, but we will be happy to work with anyone who wants to split a share with a neighbor or friend.

    • How you'll pick up your share:

  • - When: The 2nd Wednesday (3pm - 6pm) and the following Saturday (8am - 12pm) of each month
  • - Where: At the farm only, due to the inclusion of unfrozen meat (there will be NO in-town delivery, even if you are also a member of the vegetable share)
  • - We will send an email out before each pick-up as a reminder. It will also be posted on the website.
  • - All shares not picked up will be forfeited. If you are unable to pick up your share, please make arrangements for someone else to pick it up for you.

    • Why you should join:

  • - We'll be offering cuts that can't be bought from our store front, like steaks and pork chops.
  • - You'll be reserving those harder to get items, like lamb chops and chicken.
  • - We'll be including new recipes from our kitchens and the chefs that use our meats in their restaurants, so you'll never get something you don't know how to cook.
  • - You'll be investing in what we do on Randle Farms. Whether you support our farming practices, want to buy local, or you just like how our food tastes, being a part of this share garuantees that we will be able to continue doing all of those things.
  • - You'll be joining a community of people who care about their food and the land it comes from. This is a great opportunity for like-minded folks to meet, swap recipes, and share the gifts from the good land.

    • Checks should be made payable to Randle Farms and can be dropped off at the farm or mailed to this address:

  • 9215 Lee Road 54
  • Auburn, AL 36830
    • Franklin and Anne will be organizing this meat share, so if you have any questions, please send them through the Contact Page. We are looking forward serving and forming relationships with each of our customers this season.

    Randle Farms Vegetable Share

    We offer a spring/summer and fall/winter vegetable share. The share includes vegetables typically grown in our region and a few things you might not have tried before. Eggs and herbs are also a part of the share, as well as blueberries during the summer. Sign-up for the vegetable share is first come first serve, and we do not maintain a waiting list. To be informed of the next registration period for the vegetable share, sign up for Farm Updates on the left side of the screen. For more information, contact us.

    What Is Community Supported Agriculture?

    Community Supported Agriculture is a system in which consumers receive food directly from the farmers who produce it. But unlike a farmers' market system, supporters of community agriculture actually share in part of the farmers' risk. That is, they pay in advance for a portion of the farmer's total crop. Crops that do well will be abundant in the share, crops that do less well will be less abundant. For their part, the farmers have a stable income that doesn't depend on sunny weather on farmer's market days.

    Why would anyone support CSA farmers when they could just as easily go to the supermarket or pick what they wanted from a farmers market stand?

    CSA members receive their produce at prices that are slightly cheaper than the farmers market.

    CSA member's food is typically produced via sustainable methods. Unlike typical monocrop production systems, CSA member's fruits and vegetables are produced as part of a large cropping system which relies on crop rotations and other natural methods to break weed and pest cycles. While CSA members might like mizuna lettuce in their shares each week, they accept that a variety of greens and crops are necessary to help their farmer maintain a cropping system that does not rely on pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. They know that the maintenance of this system is essential to their having favorites like mizuna lettuce for years to come.

    These types of systems help protect our water supplies from pesticides and silt, and don't contribute to pollution resulting from transporting food cross-country.

    CSA supporters have a say in not only in how their food is produced with regard to the environment, but with regard to society. They can mandate that farmworkers earn fair wages and have good working conditions. Too much organic produce in our country is produced by farmworkers who earn substandard wages. Paying nonliving wages to workers ultimately hurts the surrounding community. For example, workers who cannot afford preventative health care often are treated in emergency rooms which cannot turn patients away for inability to pay. This results in higher health care costs for everyone.

    Because their food is produced nearby, CSA members' food also may be more nutritious as it does not have to be picked "green" for long-distance shipping.

    Finally, producing food locally results in a greater percentage of dollars remaining in the local economy. What's more, buying food directly from the farmers who produce it ultimately reduces the need for federal farm subsidy programs which have encouraged resource exploitation and concentrated land ownership.