There's nothing like farm-fresh food this time of year, and as more and more New Englanders are discovering, there's a new way to buy produce that can be very competitive with supermarket prices.

If you and your family love a wide variety of fresh organic produce all summer long, you could easily spend $40, $50, or $60 a week at a big, expensive supermarket. Or, you could spend $31 a week a Tangerini's Spring Street Farm in Millis, Mass.

Specifically, you could buy what's known as a “community-supported agriculture far” share, a 1/350th share of what they bring in from their fields each week for 20 weeks.

Tangerini’s is one of more than 380 farms across New England that now offer this plan. The appeal to farmers: They get paid at the beginning of the season and stay out of debt while they’re raising crops. The appeal to consumers: A variety of ultra-fresh produce every week through potentially November or early December while they preserve local farming in their communities.

At Tangerini’s, what your $31 per week gets you depends entirely on what and how much is ready for harvesting per week from the 40-acre farm. The week we visited, share owners got last autumn’s potatoes from cold storage, bok choy, garlic scapes (the green tops to garlic bulbs that can be sauteed or turned into pesto), scallions, kohlrabi and multiple heads of lettuce.

“Next week will be sugar-snap peas, lettuce," explained Laura Tangerini, who runs the farm with her husband Charlie. “Not everything can be grown all the time. So there is a real seasonality to the CSA. By early July, we're into the cucumbers and the summer squashes and the zucchinis. Fresh garlic will be coming out of the field … Cherry tomatoes start coming in, and the regular tomatoes, along with the peppers and the eggplant, melons, watermelons, and then it's lots of sweet corn in late July. Lots of sweet corn.’’ And on it goes through September and October with new crops of broccoli, then hardy greens like chard and root vegetables like carrots, turnips, and potatoes. Tangerini’s has even been able to harvest fresh produce as late as early December.

“Every week or two weeks, it's going to completely change, and so just about the time you've gotten your fill of cucumbers or tomatoes or whatever it is, we're on to the next thing," Tangerini said.

In all, it is 40 crops over 20 weeks. While your $31 may not buy so much early and late in the season, during peak harvest time, pount for pound, your $1 spent with a CSA may get you the equivalent of $2 or $3 worth of produce compared to supermarket prices.

Many people also find they save money because their produce lasts longer in the fridge than something picked days ago in California or Mexico. Fresh-picked lettuces and peas, for example, can last a week and a half, compared to supermarket produce that may begin to wilt after three days at home.

One good website for searching CSA programs near you is www.KnowWhereYourFoodComesFrom.com. It lists over 380 CSAs in all six New England states, including 56 more in Massachusetts like the one run by Tangerini’s and over 180 in Maine.

Tangerini and others will tell you, a CSA is not for everyone – especially if you don’t love chopping and cooking, if you’re not especially adventurous with produce, or if you just prefer and are willing to pay for the convenience of going to the supermarket and buying what you want when you want it, rather than having to schedule a weekly CSA share pickup.

“If you don't like to cook, if you're going out to eat multiple times a week it's not going to be for you," Tangerini said.

But for those who love working with a changing palette of fresh local produce, and knowing where their food comes from and who grew it, a CSA share can be a great option that just might save you some money as well.

With videographer Abbas T. Sadek and video editor Lauren Kleciak.