Trust that you are enjoying your CSA experience with us thus far! The new farm is cranking out lots of great food for you and we are so glad to have you sharing in the harvests. It is important that you get YOUR full potential out of YOUR CSA. To make sure you are getting exactly what you want, be sure to optimize your CSA experience. This will prevent wasting food and less money spent at the grocery store. There are lots of delicious spring crops to choose from right now. Most of them will be finished soon and not available again until the fall when the weather cools down again. It is a pleasure to eat with the seasonality of our climate, but I will be missing all the fresh greens come hot summer weather.
We are personally members of our own CSA with a Farmers Bounty Share and all of the add ons. We usually have no problem eating through it every week, but it takes a little planning and time to prep/cook. It was kinda hard at first, but now we have it down and it is second nature. When it comes down to it, just EAT IT!!! There have been a few weeks over the years when we get our share and still have items left from the previous week. Our goal is to always finish what we have before our next share, and if we haven't yet, we simply cook up and eat what was left. Not going to pretend we dont sometimes get carry out food after long tiring days, but it never makes us feel good mentally and physically and is expensive. Taking the thought and time to eat real healthy food that is worth the effort to keep you nourished and feeling good!
We understand it takes time to adapt to new sytems, but we know you will appreciate these options when you take the time to dive in and check them out. Our goal is to make eating local an easy and pleasant experience. Through talking members, we find that those who are using all the capabilities of our system and adding items every week are the most satisfied!
1. Set your preferences. To create your custom share each week, the Harvie software utilizes the produce preferences you provide. Harvie takes the list of produce supplied by our farm and looks for products that you have rated as "Include every time it's available!". If it finds an "every time" item, it is added to your share. If not, it goes back through the list looking of items rated "I like it". If none are found, it starts at the top of the list again looking for items rated "Sometimes". Once again, if none are found, it starts at the top again looking for items rated "I'll eat it". You will never receive items you've marked as "Never include in my share". So as you can see, setting your preferences is pretty important in making the best box for you.
https://harvie.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021794754-How-do-preferences-work-
2. Customize your share each week. Once your box is created, you receive a weekly email listing exactly what you will receive in your box. You can leave as is or trade items out if they are not what you want that week. You can also add on extra items. Maybe you need another bag of salad mix, some honey or kombucha, or extra apples. Just add on any extra you want for that week's box.
https://harvie.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/1260802865550-Customize-Your-Share-Version-2
3. Reschedule, change a delivery location, or place a hold when you have a conflict on your regularly scheduled pick up day. When you place a hold, you will not be charged for a box that week.
4. Read the emails for information, storage suggestions, cooking tips, and recipes.
5. Check out Harvie University for customer FAQs.
https://harvie.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/categories/115000048773-Harvie-University-Members
6. Store your produce in a bag in the fridge. You will be surprised at how long our produce keeps when stored correctly.
Be sure to read your label carefully, bring your own bags, and leave ice packs, liners, and boxes upon pick up. Pick up your box on your pick up day and during your pick up time. Home delivery members should provide a cooler with ice packs and leave out packaging for our delivery drivers to pick up and reuse.
This is going to be a great season. We were optimistic, though slightly nervous, moving our operation to a new location. There were lots of risks and unknowns involved, but it was totally worth it. The crops are all very healthy and it is a relief knowing that we will have more than enough food to feed all of our members this year! Thank you for believing in us and making the world a better place by supporting your local farmer.
You can reach Ben at 301-471-2699.
Be Healthy, Be Happy,
Farmer Ben and the Sayler family
