But addressing some of the comments of this writer:
'Selection was poor' - We grew over 70 different varieites of produce last year. This year I am taking that number to over 100. We will have over 8 varieites of tomatoes, 16 varieties of lettuce, 7 varites of summer squash, 5 varieties of carrots, 6 varietes of cucumbers, 7 varieites of peppers, cilantro, 2 kinds of parsley, 4 kind sof beets, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, 3 kinds of chards, Collards, Sweet Corn, Eggplant, 3 kinds of Kale, Leeks, Spring Onions, Sweet Onions, Red Onions, Snow, Snap and English Peas, Spinach, Pumpkins...ETC....as well we have 12 acres of fruit trees, 4 acres of raspberries and strawberries
Our farm had a horrific hailstorm that we informed all of our members the day after (August 14th and anyone interested I will be glad to share pictures if you will email me) We had 6 inches of hail on the ground a day later! Even though everyone that signs up agrees to they "understand the risks inherant with agriculture" With most CSAs this would have whiped the possibility of a harvest out. But our team really came together and replanted fields, cleaned crops to generate new leaves or fruits..........and got back on the beam and delivered FULL, generous boxes after a few weeks. Even the week of the hail we came up with good full boxes from product that wasn't fully demolished,....some had a scar or two ...or a ripped leaf but it was still good food. We did fully lose all of the tomatoes, peppers. After a month we had beautiful produce again and continued to the end.
'Honor system' Yes it is an honor system. We had VERY FEW issues ever.....and if something went wrong we made it right with that person! Including us taking people an extra box to their home. If people don't pick up during the scheduled pickup times our hosts were authorized to give the food to the food bank. Seems pretty right to me that the member is responsible to pick up at the right time. Personal repsponsibility.
'It is a rip off' - At the end of the year I calculated what the retail value of the produce that we gave over the course of the year. For our 'family share' I calculated that value of $1,166. We sold that same share for $720. A savings of of ~40% AND it was all organic, local and in most cases waaaaaay fresher than ANY store. And, it supports a local farm!!!! instead of trucked in product from California