
Social distance, social solidarity, and supporting our local food system
We’re living in strange times. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we live and relate to each other. This time of upheaval has also been a time of reckoning. Social distancing measures are an act of social solidarity. The time apart has highlighted how we need each other more than ever. And the chaos all around us has asked big questions about our global food systems, the capitalist structures we live in, and what we can do as individuals to make big impacts in our local communities.
As of March 16, 2020, hua foundation closed its office and halted its public programs as part of measures to flatten the curve. While in isolation we’ve been hard at work organizing in the community, doing what we can to support our collaborators in a time of massive uncertainty and upheaval. We are continuing to work with Brave Child Farm to steward our annual Choi Box Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program this year. And we’re making adjustments in how the program rolls out to maximize safety for our members and farmers.
Becoming a member of the CSA program this year will have big ripple effects that extend beyond your own kitchen. You’ll be supporting two local farmers whose families and children depend on the success of their harvests and the support of their CSA members. Members will buy CSA shares from Brave Child Farm, a small local business that, like other businesses in the region, is facing exceptional precarity in these times of economic uncertainty. And you’ll have the assurance of 16 weeks of fresh, local produce of exceptional quality, delivered directly from their farm to our weekly neighbourhood depot—a promise of steady abundance in a time of scarcity and unknowns.
We’ll be managing the weekly CSA depot differently this year than in previous years, when weekly stops at the depot were also anticipated weekly occasions to meet and chat with other members. This year, our depot will take place on Thursday evenings in the Chinatown/Strathcona neighbourhood. We will continue to practice physical distancing and vigilant hygiene practices. We will follow recommended hand washing procedures with soap while maintaining physical distance with members at weekly depots. Instead of the farmers’ market-style CSA depot that we have held in previous years, we will provide CSA members with a new clean, dry, recyclable box containing their CSA share each week to minimize the presence of exposed surfaces and the creation of shared high-touch areas.
Now more than ever, we need to support our neighbours and our local food system. Our CSA program often reaches maximum capacity fast. Act now to secure your spot this year.
We currently do not have any shares remaining for CSA Summer 2020.
Please join our waitlist by completing this form here.
- We will accept waitlist requests in the order they are received.
- Our season is expected to start in mid-June, so you will hear from us by then if any spots become available.
Questions about the CSA?
What is the Choi Box?
The Choi Box is hua foundation’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Hua started it in 2015 to support Asian diasporic farmers in the Metro Vancouver area. In five seasons of stewarding the Choi Box CSA, we have had the pleasure of working with various farmers to bring fresh, organic-practice, and culturally relevant produce to CSA members picking up weekly shares in Chinatown.

Why Choi?
Choi (菜) is a Chinese word for vegetables. While most people may be familiar with bok choi or pak choi, there exists a beautiful variety of choi that can be grown locally in and around Metro Vancouver (see our Sprouting Choi Guide for details).
The Choi Box is hua foundation’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Hua started it in 2015 to support Asian diasporic farmers in the Metro Vancouver area. In five seasons of stewarding the Choi Box CSA, we have had the pleasure of working with various farmers to bring fresh, organic-practice, and culturally relevant produce to CSA members picking up weekly shares in Chinatown.


Membership Details
>Members will pick up their choi weekly on Thursday evenings between 4:30 and 7:00pm in Vancouver’s Chinatown/Strathcona neighbourhood at a location to be determined at a later date. We are currently assessing our options for CSA pick up sites in response to the evolving situation with the COVID-19 pandemic and the changes it has spurred in how we engage with community.
>In the event that members are unable to pick up their weekly share or ask someone to pick it up on their behalf, they will forfeit their share for that week. Given recent changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, hua foundation cannot under any circumstances hold or deliver unclaimed weekly shares. We will donate unclaimed shares to community services in need.
>The season is expected to run from June 14, 2020 to September 24, 2020 for a total of 16 weeks. The final dates will be set based on actual harvest schedules and will be provided to members one month in advance of the first CSA pick up date.
>Each share costs $30/week for 16 weeks, with a one-time $20 administration fee that supports hua foundation in carrying out this work, plus a one-time $24 fee for cardboard packaging that will minimize CSA members’ exposure to high-touch surfaces during their weekly pick-ups. The total cost of a share for the 16-week season, including the administration and packaging fee, is $524.
What does a weekly share look like?


◦ 5-8 farm items
◦ Members receive a new, clean, recyclable cardboard box to take their veggies home each week

What Membership Looks Like
Questions about the Choi Box CSA program?
Text and graphics by Joyce Liao