Beans & Bagels Partners with Organic Farm for Veggie Pick-ups

Beans & Bagels, a coffee shop with a sustainability mission, will be a place where locals can get fresh, organic vegetables starting in June. 

The shop, at 2601 W. Leland Ave., will become a community-supported agriculture pick-up location for 20 weeks this summer.

A CSA is a farm where shareholders buy in to receive bundles of produce each week. The movement allows people to know where their food comes from and connect directly with farmers. 

Manager Adam Snow said he’s tried to partner with CSAs for the last three years, and now the idea is a reality.

Peasant’s Plot is a CSA in located in Kankakee County with eight pick-up locations around Chicago, and now two in Lincoln Square. Julia and Todd McDonald bought the organic vegetable farm in 2007 and have been running the CSA ever since. 

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Each Tuesday, after a pick-up station at the Lincoln Square Farmers’ Market in the morning, the McDonalds’ will drop off veggie packages at Beans & Bagels. Pick-up availability for members will be from 2 to 7 p.m. and bundles include four to seven different types of freshly-harvested organic veggies.

The coffee shop will house the produce in their garage and have room for up to 40 accounts, Snow said. Beans will also incorporate the products on their menu. 

“We’ll make specials immediately and anything extra we’ll pickle and preserve to have in the winter,” Snow said.

For Snow, the CSA works into a larger mission of sustainability for Beans & Bagels he’s been trying to cultivate for the last 3 years. The shop already composts their waste, and is certified free of Styrofoam products. 

“The idea with the crew that I brought on was to engage directly with the community, not only with events but with the menu—kind of feed more people and feed them better,” he said. “We’ve been trying to implement more organic produce, organic meats and convert to an all-organic and fair trade coffee.”

Participants can buy in the CSA at an individual or family share cost. One package a week for 20 weeks costs $340 a year for an individual and $680 a year for the family. Peasant’s Plot also welcomes visitors and will work out payment plans in exchange for labor on the farm.

Read more about Peasant’s Plot and Beans & Bagels.