Reviews for: Schreiber & Sons Farm
Eating a variety of whole foods such as vegetables and fruits is the key to good health and the prevention of many chronic diseases. The reason I recommend this type of CSA in my healthful eating classes, is that it enables you to broaden your vegetable palate. Although you have a "choice" option, I recommend just going with what is fresh and available. That way, you eat things you might not ordinarily select and get a broader variety of phytochemicals and nutrients. You also get a variety of legumes including dried garbanzos, lentils and split peas. The taste is far superior to canned.
Alan and his staff are delightful, knowledgeable, customer focused and make the CSA a real community. He holds several fun events at the farm so you have the opportunity to meet "your farmer" and learn how the food is grown. The asparagus tasting and melon tasting events are fun. Who knew there were so many varieties of melon and asparagus!
The drop off sites are conveniently located. I bring reusable bags and simply transfer my bounty into the bags and leave my box (so I don't forget to return it each week). I keep the produce in those special "green" bags and I have not had a problem with spoilage. I get a small box for 2 adults and we always eat it all. I love to cook and to have such a variety of organic food, locally produced is a real gift.
Do something to improve your health and the health of your friends and family. Join this CSA. Eat food ( from a CSA), not too much, mostly plants!
Nancy Lyons, RN, MN Food for Life Instructor and Schreiber CSA enthusiast!
We're hooked! We love our CSA experience, even though we're generally a meat-and-potatoes family.
Freshness and flavor, first. The spinach and fresh greens are so good, they rarely make it past the first 48 hours after box pickup. Peppers, asparagus and heirloom tomatoes have convinced us to eat in season, or not at all. And the cantaloupe? It's only May, but my mouth is watering in anticipation.
Responsiveness, second. Alan and company do their very best to work out any problems--and we should know. Our home has hosted one of their drop sites for a couple of growing seasons; it's nice to know somebody listens when a member has a problem.
That's why some of the previous reviews--written at times when we've been a member--really surprised me. On reflection, I think the issues they raise are more those of "CSA newbies" who may not understand what to expect.
Yes, this produce is coming straight from a farm, so it will contain garden dirt. (That's why God invented kitchen sinks, if you know what I mean!) A good salad spinner makes short work of it.
I appreciate the fresh herbs, and even though our household of two holds a medium share, it's easy to dry or freeze any extras for later use. (Household tip: place fresh-chopped herbs in ice cube trays and add water. Place in freezer; dump cubes into plastic bags when frozen hard. Add to soups, casseroles or sauces for instant fresh flavor!)
Wilting? Well, we live in an area that sees 100+ degree days. A nice soak in the kitchen sink refreshes just about any wilted veggie and makes it cleaner to store in the refrigerator.
Bottom line: if you're eager to live the CSA lifestyle--and have no illusions that you're getting supermarket-packaged produce--you can't go wrong with Schreiber and Sons.
As one would expect, the harvest is small in the beginning of the growing season and expands as time goes on. I appreciated the different varieties of vegetables that have been included - some that I have never tried before.
It worked best to clean the produce as soon as we picked it up and to then refrigerate immediately. Carrots (and similar vegetables) do better if you cut their leafy tops off prior to storing. Some vegetables came with little worms inside, but I wasn't disturbed by them.
There were, however, two things that have bothered me about this CSA. One is that there is such a large variety of produce in each box that there is only a very small amount of each item. And although we opted for the small box, I would often be surprised by the fact that we'd get 2-3 carrots per week (for example). So, depending upon your own needs, that might be great for you. It wasn't great for my own family because there were several things we would have liked much more of and other vegetables we would have liked to have less of. A good solution for us, then, would be to use their "choice" option. (It costs more for this option, however, and I am aware of other CSAs that allow choice as a fundamental part of the process without having to charge additional funds.)
The second thing that surprised me about this CSA is fruit...there wasn't much of it. I do not think this particular farm grows much fruit at all and will occasionally purchase it from other farmers to include in the box. Since it costs them extra money to do so, I don't think they opt to do it very often. My children love fruit and I was expecting there to be more of a balance between fruit and vegetable offerings.
If you want to familiarize yourself with the variety that this particular CSA offers, go to the Richland Farmer's Market and visit their stand. They are usually near the roundabout and have the vegetable stand with all of the baskets around it.
So to sum it up, I did like this CSA. (LocalHarvest's 3 stars = "liked it")...however...
1.) I think the emphasis on variety can interfere with having sufficient amounts of individual vegetable items
and
2.) There is not enough fruit for my family.
I chose to buy a medium, organic share as there are 4 adults in our family ($800). The QUANTITY we received was enough for about two meals per week. The QUALITY was not what I expected; produce was picked up at 4pm but was dirty, limp and seemed less than fresh. The produce frequently did not last more than a few days before it spoiled. Although our boxes did have a great VARIETY, and we really enjoyed the fresh herbs, but the quantity was crazy! You can not fill my box with bunches and bunches of dill and basil, NO substance and expect me to be happy (the same goes for ornamental squash and indian corn, a little is great but NOT IN PLACE OF FOOD!) Therefore, the VALUE of joining this CSA is NILL unless you are doing it for a tax write off as a charitable donation.
Visit one of our local Farmer's Market for better quality, selection and value.