How to have a farmers market delivered straight to your doorstep this spring

Imagine receiving a box of veggies, fruits, meat, poultry, fish, or cheese each week at your home, direct from the local farm or boat. No trip to the grocery store required. No trip to the farmers market even. That’s the concept behind a farm share.

A farm share, also called community-­­supported agriculture (CSA), is a weekly production distribution that brings the bounty of New England farms to urban and suburban areas by offering direct-to-consumer boxes of goodies. Customers pay at the beginning of the share period for a specified number of weeks, and then can either have their products delivered or retrieve them at a local farm share pickup location.

A farm share delivery.

This is Island Creek Oyster‘s third year participating in a farm share program, and they’re offering two different shares. The first is called the shell share. It emphasizes a different shellfish each month, including shrimp and lobster, depending on what’s fresh, but always includes a dozen oysters to start. Their second offering is the chef share, which features a main seafood protein, a recipe from a local chef and restaurant, accompanying ingredients from local purveyors, and information about where the ingredients are sourced from. The chef share is designed for four to enjoy and includes oysters, as well.

“This is really as direct-to-consumer as it gets, with customers receiving their product within 24 hours of  the seafood coming out of water,” said Nicole Kanner, who represents Island Creek Oysters.

Island Creek is just one of the local vendors that will be at New England’s Farm Share Fair, an informational fair at which consumers can learn more about share programs, this Wednesday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at The Amory in Somerville.

The Farm Share Fair will give consumers the chance to learn where their food comes from by meeting the farmers responsible for the farm share products. Attendees can take the farm-to-table experience to the next level by shaking the hand of the person who will be harvesting their food this season, trying their products, and signing up for their favorite shares.

Island Creek oysters.

“People have it in their mind that a farm share is only vegetables, but we offer shares of all kind,” said Mindy Harris, who has been producing the Farm Share Fair for the past five years.

Harris said fairs from previous years have featured produce, poultry, wine, chocolate, maple, and honey. A full list of vendors who will be attending this year’s fair is available on the Farm Share Fair website.

(Wednesday, March 29 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.; The Amory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville; farmsharefair.com)