I’ve subscribed to a farm share for over a year, but a discussion I had last week about farm shares got me thinking more about them. Is this the right farm share for me? The discussion was a quick one about farm shares in general, what they are, what a few ones are that are in our area, and how they work.
The farm share that I receive from Live Earth Farm offers various sizes of produce boxes that contain between 9-11 vegetables and fruit. mostly vegetables. When I first started subscribing to it, they offered small, medium, and large share boxes. I subscribed to the medium box and found that even with three teenagers, I couldn’t possibly use/eat all of the produce that came each week. After my initial few weeks, I scaled back to a small farm share box and I still find that I can’t eat or use all of the produce that comes in it unless I cook it all and make soup or freeze some of it for later. I also get an extra fruit share which usually has three things in it and that always gets eaten first (except when it contains apples). Every other week, I get a loaf of homemade bread, which I usually finish or freeze.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Farm Share:
Location and Type of Farm – Does the farm you are considering specialize in a certain type of food? Meat, vegetables, fruit? Do they have any alliances with nearby farms that may provide things they don’t? All good things to consider when choosing a farm to buy from.
Size and content of Farm Share – What size farm share is available? Is it always the same week after week? How many items does it contain? What kind of variety does it have? I got tired of having so much lettuce (I really need to find a better way to eat salads and make use of all that lettuce.) I don’t mind getting kale week after week because I use it in smoothies. I did mind getting lava beans week after week, those required a lot of work to be edible. A friend of mine turns her veggies into soups to use them all. I started doing that with all of the tomatoes I received and it makes great tomato juice and soup, as well as a base for pasta sauces. I roast a ton of veggies too – carrots, beets, squash, peppers – just add a little bit of olive oil and garlic salt.
Fruit or veggies – Does the produce box contain only vegetables or does it contain a mix of fruits and vegetables? The one I get has a mixture, mostly veggies with a few fruits. We tend to eat more fruit so I purchase the additional fruit share each week, which contains three fruits (and usually contains more fo one of the fruits included in that week’s farm share). That usually works out well unless it is apples. I don’t eat that many apples (allergy issue that I am ironing out), so I tend to make these into applesauce which I can eat and the kids love.
Additional produce – What else is available to you in addition to your weekly share? Live Earth Farm opens up their web store at a certain time each week so that whatever you purchase can be included in your farm share for that week. This include jam, more of some of the fruits and veggies included in the share for the week, plus bread, eggs, and tomatoes (that have been cooked and put in jars).
Other foods – Are other foods available with this farm share? Some farms form an alliance or co-operative with other farms to sell their produce in addition to their own. One of my friends in the Pittsburgh, PA area now gets milk, yoghurt, and eggs delivered. Some farms have meat available (pork, beef, goat, chicken, etc.). My brother bought a third of a pig, which, although provided what seemed like a ton of bacon, required much more freezer capacity.
Flexibility in choosing produce – Does the farm allow you to choose your produce or do you just get what they send you? The one I have just sends me stuff and I can use their web store to order more of what I do like.
Delivery – what delivery options are available to you for the farm share? Do they use a drop zone (a specific place where you go to pick up your produce each week)? Or do they deliver to your door? Or can it be delivered to your office? The service I use has a specific house near where I live that is used as a drop zone. I can go there between 12-7 pm on Wednesdays to pick up my food. They have a particular protocol to follow when picking up the produce. We have to break down the boxes, only take what is listed next to our name, and mark off that we picked up our food. Sometimes as the last person picking up my food, I have gotten more (or less) than what was on my list, but I uses that is a hazard of getting there last!
Forgotten pick-up – Also consider what happens if you forget to pick up your share or are out of town that day. I have had my mom or my brother pick up my farm share when I am out of town and I let them have what they want from it and if anything is left just stick it in my fridge. I’ve forgotten twice to pick up my farm share and the homeowner called me and I picked it up the next day. I didn’t consider having it delivered to my office because I worked in San Francisco and took BART to work. I didn’t want to be carrying all of that stuff on BART, during commute hours so I stuck with trying to get home before 7 pm on those days I needed to pick up the farm share.
Price and payments – there are a couple of financial considerations to look at closely. What is the price – is it cheaper or more expensive than your local farmers markets? Do they offer different payment options? Some services use a pre-paid plan, others allow you to pay monthly or quarterly. Can you pay by credit card, paypal, or through a direct bank payment? What works best for you? Farmers make an upfront investment in producing crops that is why most services are pre-paid, or spread out to allow the farmers to use that money up front and give you produce when it is available.
These are the main factors I used in considering which farm share to go with. I did a four week trial at another farm and then I asked others what they used, liked and why and I found my current farm, Live Earth Farm. Occasionally, I’ve thought about not subscribing and just going to a farmer’s market each week, but I find that I like getting a box without having to think about it. At first I thought Wednesday was a weird day to get it but I’m getting used to cooking most everything on the weekends to eat the coming week. I find that most of the fruit has been eaten within a day or two and that we have to work to eat all of the veggies.
If you have a farm share or start using one, let me hear about it – tell me what you like or don’t like, what works, and what doesn’t.
