Clover Brings the Farm to You

Perhaps you grew up in a more rustic locale, where the approach of summer meant prospects of fresh juicy berries and vine-ripe tomatoes. Perhaps that just sounds deliciously un-HUDS-like. If you'll be around Harvard this summer, you may be in luck.

This year, Clover Food Lab is bringing produce from local farms to city dwellers through its Community-Sourced Agriculture program, which allows consumers to buy a share in one of the small farms and then receive a portion of the farm's crops every week during harvest season.

According to Clover's website, this model originated in Massachusetts in the 1980s to help farms expand and provide consumers with high quality produce.

"This model allows busy, urban consumers to pick up their weekly shares of fresh produce at a Clover restaurant, rather than having to drive to the farm," Ryan E. Heffrin '13, current intern at Clover's CSA program, wrote in an email to The Crimson.

Not only does the program serve consumers here in Cambridge, it is also mutually beneficial to the farmers involved.

"Farmers get money they can use to buy seeds, hire people, and prepare for the harvest season," Heffrin wrote.

The response to Clover's pioneering of the CSA program in the area has been strongly positive.

According to its website, Clover has extended the sign-up deadline until May 1 to accommodate the high demand.

To buy into this program, customers will have to pay anywhere from $300 to $700. Customers can always add on additional products, such as flowers, eggs, and fruit.

Clover has signed up over 150 customers for the program and hopes to add 50 to 100 more. Undergraduates may not be able to foot the bill to sign up, but perhaps a tutor or proctor can be convinced.

Fruit salad study break, anyone?