Frequently Asked Questions
How does the cost of a CSA share compare to shopping in a grocery store?
Earlier in 2008, Good Morning America did a segment on buying local food and how that could save you money. Now that fuel prices have gone so high, buying produce, even non-organic, at a grocery means you are paying for the fuel to ship that produce a long distance. A comparison of pricing, based on the same share content, was presented in the GMA piece, based on a week’s share in our CSA. To watch the video (4 minutes), click here.
However, in general, CSA shares may not be the cheapest. It depends on a number of factors. With CSA, your money goes directly to a local farmer, and in our case an organic farmer, to grow your food. Your money is not going to distribution, merchandising fees, trucking/fuel, etc. You are helping to sustain a local, independent farming network. For a more in-depth look at the cost and value of eating locally produced food, click here for Local Harvest’s Sept 25 newsletter.
Which vegetables can we expect?
It varies from season to season and even within the season. For example, in 2008 a hailstorm destroyed our farmer’s entire strawberry crop, so despite all the work, planning and expectations, no strawbs. To see exactly what veggies we got in 2008, week by week, click NEWS, just above the farm photo at the top of the page.
How many of each vegetable can we expect?
Although we can’t break it down by the vegetable, we can say that the value for your weekly veggies will approximate what you would get if you spent $25 on organic veggies at Whole Foods. Mother nature has a hand in this, too. The amount of any crop that makes it to harvest is affected by temperature, rainfall, other weather events (hail, early/late frost), pests and disease.
For a chart listing relative amounts in our part of the country, click HARVEST above. Unlike in the grocery store, there’s no way to know how many carrots you’ll get on a given week until they’re actually pulled out of the ground, often the day before you get them: that’s fresh!
Why do we get so many tomatoes all at once?
Why can’t we get apples in June?
When the veggies arrive is up to mother nature. Like flowers, vegetables have a season and there’s a time of year when they are ready to pick. They aren’t available year-round like in the grocery store, where they ship from other climates (over many miles and oceans). For a chart listing typical harvest times in our part of the country (Maryland), click HARVEST above.
Is everything organic?
All the vegetables are organic. Some of the fruit is grown using Integrated Pest Management (I.P.M.).
Where do I pick up my weekly veggies?
There are three pickup locations, Sandy Spring, Rockville and Kensington. You must always pick up from the same location. We don’t show the exact locations on the web for security. At the beginning of the season, we will email you the address of your pickup location.
In addition, in the future we will provide a button here on the web site that you can click to request the address and a map of your location. It will be sent to you via email.
Can I be notified whenever new info is added to the website?
Yes. Rather than checking the site repeatedly to see if anything new has been posted (i.e. the weekly veggie list), you can use something called an RSS feed. With RSS, instead of you going to a web site, the web site comes to you, sort of. The RSS feature only applies to the NEWS page of the blog, but that’s the page where you’ll find the weekly list of veggies and any announcements.
Instead of looking for updates repeatedly, only to find nothing new, we’ll notify you only when there IS something new. Watch this 3 minute video on how to set up an RSS feed in plain English. Don’t forget to turn your speakers on so you can hear it.
How do you get those CSA boxes open without ripping the tabs?
Rather than try to describe it, here’s a 45 second video that shows how.
What if my question isn’t answered here?
If you still have questions after skimming the FAQs, contact Erin. Scroll to the very bottom of this (or any) page to find clickable email ink and phone number.
