What’s a CSA?
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a system by which consumers become shareholders of a local farm to share its risks and rewards. Our CSA members are the backbone of our farms. Your support gets us growing in the Spring and your enthusiasm sustains us throughout the season. In return, we share the bounty of our harvest.
Although we are more flexible than your average CSA, we are not on online grocer. When you sign up for a “share” of any item, at any frequency, you are committing for the duration of the respective season. We do not offer refunds on shares, though we will give store credit in certain circumstances. You can always select “Single Delivery” if you’d like to try an item.
WHAT CAN WE EXPECT IN OUR VEGETABLE SHARE?
Each week, for twenty-six weeks, the four contributing vegetable farms harvest their best, most abundant produce and put together a bag of seven to ten items. Typically each share contains salad greens, braising greens, an herb, and a selection of whatever other vegetables are in season. The selection of vegetables change throughout the season: in spring you can typically expect lots of leafy greens and some storage crops (potatoes, sunchokes, carrots); in summer peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash come into season; fall is the most abundant time with everything imaginable in your bag.
Veggie shares (full and half) are available for weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly pickup.
We also offer various pastured and grass-fed meats and poultry, cow and goat dairy, free-range and organic eggs, fruit, flowers, mushrooms, micro-greens and a multitude of value-added products. These are available for weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or one-time pickup.
Why Summer and Fall Shares?
We'll have veggies the whole year (June-November) but thought breaking it up might be easier on the piggy bank. You're welcome to purchase both shares now, or to start with the summer share and see how you like it... There's no deadline to purchase a share, but the earlier you do, the easier it will be for us to grow for you and we do sell out. Sales from the shares fund spring production expenses.
*For questions about fruit, meat or any other type of share, drop us a line!
What Is The Weekly Market?
The Weekly Market consists of everything other than veggie shares. You can add these as “shares” that you’ll receive with your veggie share, or as stand alone item (for weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or one-time pickup). If you want to order without getting veggies, you need to choose the “Build Your Own Share” option on CSAware. Any weekly market items you order will be combined and delivered with your veggie share, if you have one. If not, they will be delivered (to pickup locations or your home) as ordered. The website inventory is continually updated, but it is possible that things may shift and items may not be available. If that is the case, we will notify you and either deliver the following week or issue a refund.
Payment Options
By selling membership in advance of the growing season, community supported agriculture reduces the burden of up-front costs for the farmer. Your membership fees paid up-front provide us with money to purchase seed and equipment before the season starts, and we appreciate your commitment. If you cannot afford to pay for the entire share up-front, we offer a payment plan, direct-debited weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, depending on your schedule. Home delivery of shares or a la carte items is available to Upstate members and city people on a case by case basis. The 607 CSA now offers sliding scale veggie shares. We hope to be able to accept SNAP benefits very soon.
There is no deadline to purchase--we will prorate your payment if you join in the middle of the season. Keep in mind that the earlier you purchase, the easier it will be for us to grow for you, as advance sales fund our spring production expenses.
More information on the sliding scale can be found HERE.
Pickup and Delivery
Your CSA share and/or weekly market items will be delivered to one of our pickup locations on Tuesdays (unless otherwise noted). If you are Upstate and have paid for home delivery, your share will be dropped off at your home. If you are using a pickup location, you are responsible for picking up your share each week during the posted pick-up hours. Shares that have not been picked up will be disposed of as the location manager sees fit.
Please observe our drop site rules, which are as follows:
Bring a tote! Please bring a generously sized reusable bag or two to carry your shares home in. We use fairly flimsy (but compostable!) bags for shares, and they are not always strong enough to make it home. As well, your a la carte items will often be loose, so you’ll need a container for them.
Pick up your share within the time frame stated. Fresh produce will decline quickly if not picked up in time. Not all pick up sites have refrigeration, and while we do our best to pack items in coolers, they thaw quickly, especially in summer.
If you cannot pick-up your share, you must arrange for someone else to pick it up for you. You are responsible for explaining the pick-up location and procedures to your substitute. You can try reaching out to the location if you can’t make it by the end of the day on Tuesday, but they aren’t responsible for keeping things overnight. Please keep that in mind.
Be respectful of our drop site hosts’ property.
If you or the host cannot find something, or there seems to be a mixup and you haven’t been notified, please contact us at the 607. The pickup locations likely do not have the info. They are volunteering time and space for the cause in exchange for a veggie share. Please be courteous to them.
Follow any additional rules posted at your drop site.
If you forget to pick up your share, it is forfeited to the pick-up location to use however they see fit.
If you are going away on vacation, you have a few options:
have a friend pick up your share
reschedule your share on your CSAware account calendar by clicking on the date and following the prompts to the left
donate your share to our Food Justice programs (you can cancel delivery of a share in your CSAware account and we will donate the funds)
You can also change your pickup location on your CSAware account dashboard. As with other changes, this needs to be done by Wednesday at 9pm for the change to be in effect for the following Tuesday pickup.