Creekside Meadows Farm is beginning its sixth season in the Cazenovia community this year.
Owners Tricia, Matt and Cameron Park started the farm many years ago in Lafayette. After moving and expanding the farm at their current location near DeRuyter Lake, the Park family began offering a community supported agriculture program (CSA) five years ago originally with all their grass-fed meats.
“We are really excited at the success of the CSA and offering it for the fifth year,” Tricia Park said in a release. “The CSA is a mutually beneficial as members are supporting the farm right in their community as we grow food for them and they enjoying the bounty of the farm directly from the farm.”
This popular program has since expanded into a whole-farm CSA with all products produced on he farm including seasonal vegetables and herbs as well as year-round offerings like 100 percent grass-fed start-to-finish beef; pasture-raised pork, chicken and turkey; maple syrup and handcrafted soaps.
At any time of the year, CSA members can join at the level of membership that fits their household and receive a debit card to be used to make purchases of any of the farm’s products. Members have complete flexibility to choose what, when and how much to purchase throughout the year either at the farm or at the farm’s booth at the Cazenovia Farmers Market.
Unlike other CSA programs, Creekside Meadows Farm does not require members to pickup a box every week or take items they don’t want. The CSA is completely free choice so members can choose from a variety of offerings that they like and need at any time during the year and in any amount.
Memberships range from $500 for Beginners to the $3,000 Foundation Level. Every membership includes a 10 percent bonus so a $1,000 membership purchase becomes a $1,100 debit card. Members can join at any time of year but if they join at the $1,000 Bounty Level before April 1, they receive an extra bonus.
Tricia, Matt and Cameron Park are trained Holistic Management practitioners using planned livestock grazing management, farm-made compost for fertilizing, cover crops for additional soil building, no pesticides or herbicides and utilize many other organic practices on the farm that are always monitored to be beneficial to the ecosystem on the farm.
“We love educating the public about what we do, sharing the farm and building strong lasting relationships,” Tricia Park said. “Our members value the way we grow food for them, knowing we are using holistic regenerative practices, protecting the water and air, improving soil fertility naturally and managing the farm to also provide habitat for all sorts of wildlife.”
The farm and farmers have been often featured in publications like Acres USA, the Post-Standard, Syracuse Woman Magazine, Country Folks, Cornell Small Farms Magazine and on local TV. They have trained and mentored dozens of beginning farmers, hosted many farm tours for beginning farmers, experienced grazers and a recent group of veterans who are beginning farmers. The farm also hosts farm tours and events during the year for the local community and customers alike.
“Our son, Cameron, is the second generation on our family farm and integral to its future,” Tricia Park said. “We are also a veteran-owned farm, proud to carry the Homegrown by Heroes label on all our products and often supply Clear Path for Veterans in Chittenango.”
More information is available at CreeksideMeadowsFarm.com. Find Creekside Meadows this winter at Cazenovia Farmers Market at the American Legion, the 20/East Farmers Market in Nelson at Spruce Ridge Greenhouse and every Sunday in March at their farm store, located at 2242 Reservoir Road in New Woodstock.
Stop in to visit the farmers, find out more about what they offer and how buying more of your food locally is a benefit to the local economy.
