A subscription to local, seasonal eating. Sustainably-grown veggies, fruits, and food products from mid-Michigan farms!
Veggie Box is Allen Neighborhood Center’s multi-farm CSA, which unites dozens of local small farms to feed a common community. When you sign up for a Veggie Box membership, you’re choosing to make a season-long commitment to local eating in a way that prioritizes ethical sourcing and the interconnectednes of your local community, without sacrificing convenience.
Spring (Feb-May)
Summer (May-Sep)
Fall (Sep-Dec)
How It Works: Veggie Box invites neighbors into a more committed and thoughtful relationship between food, land, and community.
Each week, we source the best in-season produce from an array of local farmers, pack it carefully into a box with recipes and prep tips, and distribute these boxes to Veggie Box members at the Allen Neighborhood Center. Veggie Box runs three seasons (spring, summer, and fall). To participate, members register and pay before the season starts, and then pick up their distribution every week on Tuesday or Thursday.
What It Costs: The Summer 2024 rate is $350 for the season ($25/week), plus any add-ons you select. We offer several payment schedules to accomodate a variety of budget planning, including SNAP.
Veggie Box will never be the cheapest way to get groceries, but we believe the benefits of local, sustainably grown produce are worth it. Our rates are similar or a little less than a farmers market or an organic grocery store. We strive to structure pricing in a way that balances affordability to our members with a living wage for our farmers.
Reduced Cost Veggie Boxes
Michigan Farm to Family: Our reduced cost Veggie Boxes are made possible by the Michigan Farm to Family: CSA program. Program
participants using Michigan Bridge Cards (SNAP/EBT) pay 25% of the retail cost for the
Weekly Farm Box, and the program pays the 75% balance. It’s a great way to save money and
get healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables, recipes, and more for your family while supporting local
farmers. Michigan Farm to Family: CSA is a Michigan Fitness Foundation program funded by the USDA
National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the State of Michigan.
Subsidized Veggie Box: We offer a limited number of subsidized memberships each season for neighbors experiencing hardship.
Donate: Donations of any amount to the Subsidized Veggie Box fund are always welcome!
Add-On Items: In addition to fresh produce, we also offer optional Veggie Box add-ons. These items can be selected at registration to make your weekly distribution an even better one-stop source for delicious local meal ingredients. Prices and distribution schedules for add-ons vary; see Registration form for current rates and offerings.
Add-on offerings may include: brown cage-free eggs, fresh baked bread, locally roasted coffee beans, herbal teas, organic dry beans, real maple syrup, kombucha, cheese, honey, and meat.
What are members saying about Veggie Box?
- “This is the most banging CSA in the area.”
- “We plan our meals around veggies now which is fun! We are trying new recipes and feeling more intentional about including veggies in every meal.”
- “I love the challenge of using all the ingredients in the box each week.”
- “I love that you choose farmers who grow real food, it has actual flavor! Not even organic at the store has the same flavor as the produce VB provides. It has really opened my eyes to biodynamic farming and the massive differences in growing practices and the effect on not only the food grown, but my and my family’s health and how much produce we actually eat. ‘d like to give a huge thank you for understanding this and making real food happen for us.”
- “We are part of an integrated local system of interdependence and support, it’s not anonymous corporations but real people and real human and environmental benefits!”
Contact Us
If you would like to become a member or if you have any questions, contact 517.999.3923 or email foodhub@allenneighborhoodcenter.org