​A Word about CSA in General and an Explanation of an Alternative ​

2022 Veggie season Pre-order Program

In a strict CSA model, the farm receives money up front from its customers and commits to distributing a certain amount of vegetables each week in return throughout the growing season. The advantage of this to the farmers is that we have capital up front to purchase the seeds and inputs we need after the long, lean winter. The advantage of this to the customer is that you get priority over all our other customers – neither restaurant chefs nor even the farmers themselves come before you!
 
CSA has evolved somewhat over the years, and requires less of a commitment from our members.
In the old days, members paid everything up front and went without if some crop failure occurred. Now, if we are a little short we try to make up the value to you.
In the old days, members had no choice as to what was in their shares – 12 kohlrabi? You’re welcome! Now, we try to make sure that you have some alternatives when we include the weird/less-universally-loved veggies in your shares.
 
 
Though we make some compromises to the CSA model so that it is more user-friendly and customer service oriented, and though we like to believe that everyone makes perfect use of each veggie every week, makes new and exciting recipes, and is never trouble by an odd or less-loved vegetable staring at them every time they open the fridge, we know that CSA does not work for everyone. So we are offering an alternative this season for those of you that feel burdened sometimes by the quantity or variety of vegetables you receive in your share. This year, we would like to offer a pay-up-front version of our Farmstand Pre-Order program. You choose wether you pay 30%, 50% or 100% of $500 or $1000 up front, and pay the remaining balance monthly over the following 7 month. In return, you have a certain balance each month that you can use to order through our Farmstand pre-order program. A disadvantage of this to you is that you will be limited in what we can offer you based on what we have leftover from CSA distribution each week – this includes add-ons like eggs and mushrooms. A disadvantage to us is that you don’t HAVE to take the 17 fennel we tried to put in your share that one week of the season when fennel’s coming out our ears (just kidding we would never do that!) An advantage to you is that you get to choose which vegetables you take home based on an availability list we send to your phone or email. An advantage to us is that we still receive some level of commitment/engagement from you, but don’t have to build "The Perfect Share" for you every week (we put a lot of thought into that – what can our members make with this combination of vegetables? Are there too many greens? Too many roots?) An advantage to you is that you don’t have to get exactly the same quantity of vegetables each week – useful if you travel frequently.  Also, Priority Pre-Order Members will receive our "Pick List" a day before any others that want to participate in the weekly Pre-Order Program.  
 
If you are generally very happy with your CSA share, we urge you to remain a traditional CSA member. If you are on the fence about whether to come back because you feel burdened by veggies you take home but never quite get around to fixing and eating, then please consider our Pre-order program.
To sign up for a Commitment Free version of our Pre-Order Program click below.  If we have any available produce after we meet out commitment to our CSA Members, wholesale chefs and Priority Pre-Order Members, then we will send out our "Pick List" to those signed up through our regular Pre-Order Program.  The list is sent out early in the week, you respond with any orders and then we have orders bagged and labeled with your name and total in the Farmstand cooler, ready for pick up during normal Farmstand hours starting at noon on Wednesdays.