Since May 2024, Groot Eiland has launched its new self-picking farm in Ganshoren called CSA THEO.  You can be part of this sustainable urban agriculture project on the grounds on Bosstraat (behind the railway), and come and harvest as many as 50 to 60 different varieties of vegetables year-round, grown by a passionate team.
 Would you also like to enjoy locally grown organic vegetables? 
You can still register for 2024! 
Click here to register 

Or join us for an on-site information session:
Sunday 1/9 - 2PM
Sunday 8/9 - 2PM
Wednesday 11/9 - 5PM
Sunday 22/9 - 2PM
> Rue au Bois - 1083 Ganshoren
reservation via theo@grooteiland.brussels

WHAT IS A CSA AND WHO IS THEO?
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) brings consumers and local organic vegetable producers together. It is a partnership where responsibilities, risks and abundance are shared. 
CSA has several goals, including promoting contact with the earth and the seasons, ensuring product quality, striving for sustainable living and ecological resilience. We are also building a strong and supportive community around the self-picking garden.
The community supports the farmer through an annual subscription. As a consumer, you share in the harvest, but also in the costs and risks. At the beginning of the season, you buy a harvest share. This entitles you to a share of the yield, more than 60 different fresh, tasty and seasonal organic vegetables, first-class produce from your own cultivation.

Theo Hoogstijns was known as the "last farmer of Brussels" and died in 2018. He owned pastures along Avenue Charles Quint on the border of Ganshoren and Sint-Agatha-Berchem. Although Theo Hoogstijns was not really the last farmer, he was perhaps the best known.

WHAT IS A SELF-HARVEST FARM AND HOW DOES CSA THEO WORK?
On a self-harvesting farm, the farmer is responsible for growing and caring for the crops, but the members harvest themselves. In the field, you will find all the information you need to harvest independently. At the reception, there is an information board with the current offer and location on the field. Using flags and pictograms at the beds, you can see what, how much and how to harvest. Explanations are given about which crops can be picked and what to watch out for so as not to damage the plants.
The field is accessible seven days a week, from sunrise to sunset. Members can drop by whenever they want. Our newsletter keeps you informed of the field's offerings, recipes and news. Together, we organise harvest parties, events, member meetings and workshops. It is a wonderful place to unwind, with play space for children. Here, everyone learns what ends up on their plates.

BECOME A MEMBER
Members commit to the whole season. This runs from the beginning of May to the end of April. The basic price is €429/year* per adult ages 18 and above. Children from age 5 pay €21 x child age. Children in co-parenthood pay 50%. We ask that the whole family signs up.
It is possible to pay in 4 instalments, in 4 consecutive months from enrolment.
*Our prices are indexed annually 

SOCIAL PRICE FORK
To give everyone access to fresh vegetables, we work with a social price range. The first basic or target price is what we need on average to get out of costs: €429 per adult. There is 1 lower price for people who are struggling financially: €386. Children from age 5 pay €19 x child age. 
There is 1 higher price for people who can support this solidarity system: €472 per adult. Children from age 5 pay €23 x child age.

CSA is based on a solidarity principle and trust is always placed central here. There are no precise criteria to decide which price category you belong to. The social tariff is there to lower the threshold and facilitate access to quality food without stigmatising.  So it is up to everyone to decide for themselves whether their personal situation allows them to pay more or less. We assume that people who become members come to harvest regularly. Our cultivation plan and therefore our costs are calculated accordingly. For all three prices, the offer is the same: fresh organic seasonal vegetables year-round. 

General terms and conditions