I personally enjoyed Farmer Jim's weekly emails, I did not find them to be advertising at all but quite informative. Sure he had other products to sell, I liked learning about them and making a decision whether or not I wanted to buy, what's the harm in that? I'm sure other CSA's do the same thing~
I loved the weekly delivery to my door! Sure the times varied but I expected that due to traffic, weather, construction etc. I almost always had my bag by 2pm. Sure beats having to drive on a sunday to pick up my food.
Okay, variety wasn't the best but I believe mother nature played a big role in that, that is part of the risk you take when joining a CSA. It forced me to be more creative with food. I had no idea how many ways I could use apples in cooking! Not just for dessert thats for sure! Probably got a bit more Swiss Chard than I would like but never too many potatoes! I have months worth of mashed potatoes in the freezer to enjoy! The squash is excellent, great radishes and how about that beautiful huge pumpkin we got last week!! The strawberries, snap peas, basil, corn to name a few were all very good!
My 7 year old loved opening the bag each week to see what surprises we had from "the farmer". He still talks about that sweet corn saying "the farmer sure does grow good corn!"
So there you have it, a little fair balance. I think we are a bit spoiled due to access to a variety of foods at the grocery stores. If that's what you want than joining a CSA may not be for you. For me, knowing that my food is locally grown and free of harmful chemicals is worth it!
Thanks to you farmer Jim and all the rest that do their best to provide our families with the best possible foods, I appreciate all your hard work!
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I have also subscribed to other CSA's, and agree that the variety and quantity was less than desired with Wellhausen. I was atracted to this CSA because of the delivery service, but found that the amount of food and variety was lacking. I will not renew next year, and will probably go back to my previous CSA. Wellhausen really needs to step it up if they are charging so much, i could have easily bought 2x as much (and have) at an organic farmers market. so ,if this is your first experience with CSA's I applaud you for buying locally, but know that there are better(and less expensive) options out there :)
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I have to agree with Tracy. My husband and I have been members with Wellhausen for 3 years now. Some years you get a lot of produce and more variety. Other years, not so much. It's part of investing in your local farmer. This year was a little light and the variety was lacking, but last year was very good. I bet next year will pick back up. My own garden was a bit lack luster this year-Mother Nature is not predictable. Jim and his family give 110% effort and I appreciate it. The cheese and beef we bought this year were very good!