By:
Akiva Jackson
(Dec 23, 2024)
Thanks for an amazing season, we look forward to next year. Not only was the produce great, the people were very nice and helped me get a makeup at a different location when I missed a share.
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By:
Emily
(Jun 9, 2010)
I've been a CSA member for two summers and am always sad to see the season end. The share includes a generous portion of vegetables (my husband and I split the share with another two adults), and everything is very fresh and tasty. Red Fire does a great job of mixing up what you get each week as well (e.g. if we got a huge head of kale last week, there probably won't be any kale this week). Even with the tomato blight last year, I still felt like we got ample produce; which is impressive, as they ordinarily plan for tomatoes to be a big portion of each share.
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By:
JoAnn Bizon
(Jan 3, 2010)
We have been members of Red Fire farm for some years now. We began as a farmstand membership and quickly switched to a CSA. My husband and I are very plesed with the quality and variety of produce that we receive each week. We have two boys and we are happy to know that they are eating chemical free produce. Some people think the share is expensive, but if you calculate it compared to a grocery store's organic items- it is really not. We enjoy produce all summer and I freeze whatever we don't use immediately so we have vegetables all winter. I do not buy vegetables at the grocery store anymore. I tried to serve green giant vegetables recently and my boys noticed the difference immediately and would not eat them claiming they didn't taste good. Our new snow day ritual is to make soup using whatever vegetables are in the freezer. My family of 4 is pleased with Red Fire Farm.
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By:
Courtney Koslow
(Dec 30, 2009)
I have been a Red Fire Farm CSA member for 3 years and have been very happy with the experience. We are a family of 2 and are always pleased with the quantity of vegetables as well as the quality. Having our fridge regularly stocked with an amazing array of veggies has forced us to cook even more than we already did and to rediscover vegetables that we didn't realized we liked. While we likely spend more on vegetables then we would going to the supermarket, we now know where are produce is coming from, are supporting local agriculture, and likely save money overall by going out to eat or ordering in less. It feels great to break free of supermarkets during the growing season, and into the Fall.
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By:
Barbara Garvey
(Dec 30, 2009)
How fortunate we in the inner city are to have Red Fire Farm come to us. Within driving distance for those of us who have cars available, we can benefit from the choice of "pick your own" as well as delivery to our farmers' market.
And what a choice! As a person who has always enjoyed the fruits of a back yard garden, my grandfather even had a grape arbor, but who can no longer maintain such a facility, I am blessed to be able to get fresh and high quality vegetables and fruits.
Better still, the folks who serve the stand tell us about the veggies new to us and there are recipes on the website which make your mouth water while you read them.
The big grocery stores will always be with us but I feel a bounden duty to keep this valuable enterprise going successfully. May their tribe increase. Barb
By:
Noah
(Dec 30, 2009)
We have tried 3 different Boston-area veggie CSA options, and we like RFF best. These are the reasons. (1) RFF gives you the best mix of the highest-quality organic produce around, including all the best varieties. You don't wind up throwing out rotten veggies that you can't use. (2) The JP pickup at Harvest is well organized and friendly. (3) The opportunities to visit the farm, do you-pick, and attend festivals are wonderful. Bottom line: if you want a CSA that provides the best organic produce gown in Massachusetts, choose RFF.
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By:
Anna Perreault
(Dec 29, 2009)
I have been at this farm for two seasons and absolutely love it. This is the third CSA in this area that I have tried and is my favorite. I felt the amount and variety of produce was awesome. Even with the tomato blight, I still felt full all season. The atmosphere of the barn is always welcoming and Deb is always super sweet. I think I will weep if the plans to move to Montague go through in a few years.
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By:
Maggie McNally
(Dec 29, 2009)
Our first year was 2008 and we were hooked. It was our gateway drug to fresh, locally produced vegetables, and when the season ended too soon we knew we had to get more. 2009 was the year we went for the extended Red Fire Farm CSA share, and joyfully added eggs to the mix. When the offer of a deep winter share came to us, we jumped. 2010 will have us with the fruit share, too, because when you can get this variety of produce (and eggs!) fresh from the farmer, why would you do anything else? RFF is a blessing AND a curse, because when the season is up it leaves us jonesing for more, more, more. Why? Because of the variety and freshness. We're OK with sharing the risk with the farmers, and we love the surprises that each week brings. They challenge us to figure out what to do with each thing, and to order our selections according to how delicate/perishable it is. It forces us to think, and you know that is a good way to approach our food. RFF rocks!
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By:
Shoshana Friedman
(Dec 29, 2009)
My partner and I love Red Fire! We just signed up for our third year, and we always do both summer and winter shares. The produce is varied and abundant, and in our experience keeps very well. We can usually even store some for later in the winter. The staff at our pick up sight are fun and friendly, and we look forward to the pick ups every week. Pick your own strawberries is a highlight of our summer, and we currently have many large bags full of summer berries in our freezer waiting for pies and pancakes. We are grateful for the food and community, and know many friends who are similarly satisfied with and excited about Red Fire!
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By:
Melina Cha
(Nov 30, 2009)
I love being a part of a CSA but I felt that this one was lacking. The produce went bad extermely fast, and left be in need of a compost bin more then new recipies. The pick up's were unruly, and on one day came 30 min before closing and was left one spring (not a head) of brocolli.
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By:
scarlet ryane
(Oct 6, 2009)
I chose red fire farm this year because after doing my research this seemed to give the most and get the best ratings. But this year my husband and I have been underwhelmed. First, they charge much more than other CSAs and then charge for delivery, but they make us weigh everything and we have to stand in line while mothers allow their toddlers to weigh things and put them in the bag (i.e., s-l-o-w-l-y because their hands are tiny and they don't know what they're doing) when there are only 2 scales for sometimes 2 full tables of produce, all needing to be weighed. So, it takes forever to get out of there. Then, we're too far from the farm to go every week to pick produce that's available (which would make the high price worth it), but I've tried to find out what times/days this is possible and only get the answer "anytime" -- what does that mean? 8am on a weekday? 7pm on a Saturday? come on people, give us an answer. we have jobs. we need to know when to make the trip, which will be at least 4 hours driving! oh, and when we happened to be in the neighborhood around 5pm on a Saturday, I called and got no answer so we decided not to bother because the drive home would be so long if they weren't open. then, we had some produce that went rotten within a day. a DAY - that is impossible unless it had been picked a week ago and then stored badly. Not to mention that by volume, compared to costco, the fruit share has yet to amount to what we paid for it. I will say that the strawberries were exceptional. but i can go to their farmstand for those. And, we can get local organic greens at Stop n Shop, which might be better to do, support Stop n Shop's efforts to supply them. At any rate, we are most definitely looking for a new csa. if anyone has any suggestions, please comment.
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By:
kris
(Jun 4, 2008)
We joined Red Fire's CSA in 2007, and this was our first time participating in a CSA. We purchased a full sized share and the produce that we received was exceptional. The pick-up bags were always more than enough for our 3+ people. In addition to the standards, we were treated with lots of unusual varieties of veggies along with heirloom varieties of many of the standards (tomatoes, etc.). This was an excellent way to try out new vegetables & I often found myself consulting a cookbook or the recipe cards (which were provided by the farm) in order to find new ways to prepare our goodies that we were not familiar with. Communication from the farm, in the form of emails, regular newsletter and cooking demos, was great. My only complaints were an early pick-up time & the fact that we weren't able to sign up this year, as the CSA had filled up by the time we were ready to join. I'd really recommend the farm, based on the quality products & the values of this young farmer and his hard working crews.
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Comment
In more than four years of receiving produce from Red Fire Farm, I have never had such an experience. Rarely, the selection is not to my taste and I have limited my choices on that occasion. This comment seems so out of sync with what we have experienced over many years.