Aren't you glad we arranged for winter weather to begin just as the winter CSA season begins? Wow! I don't know how much colder this is than normal, but it has caused a scramble on the farm to prepare for winter weather! I promise I won't normally write this much but I hope to get you as much info as possible on how this will go. You might flag this message so you can look at it later.
Thanks so much for joining us for the winter CSA! You're a die-hard local farm supporter! Your friends won't believe the amazing green stuff you are getting fresh all winter!
Weekly Routine.
Those who were with us for the summer CSA will find many similarities as far as the weekly routine. Every Saturday evening (on weeks we'll have a CSA delivery) evening we'll send you an email with the subject line, "Time to customize your share" which show your preliminary share contents based upon the preferences you set and the items we have available that week. You'll have until Monday evening to customize your share. You can follow the link in the email or log on directly to Harvie and swap items in or out of your share. You can also purchase extra items if you'd like. We plan on offering items from other local farmer friends as we can make them available. Every Wednesday Harvie will send you another email telling you the final contents of your share (it should be what you selected but if we run short on something and have to make a substitution, you'll find out then). This email will also include customized recipes based upon what will be in your personal share. Wednesday is also the day when Harvie will process your card for that week's share (no billing this first week because you paid for the first week when you signed up for the season. Then that Thursday (or Friday if you selected Farm self-serve) you can pick up your share.
Pick up Dates. Unlike the summer CSA, the winter CSA has some breaks in it. It's basically every week, but there are some weeks we'll be taking off either for holidays or to give the veggies time to grow. We'll be harvesting a share for you every week between now and the week of Thanksgiving, then off for Thanksgiving, then three consecutive weeks before taking off for Christmas and also off the following week for New Year's. Then just every other week the months of January and February then back to every week starting in March. Did you follow me? No? Confused? The Thursday dates for CSA pickup are as follows: 10/29, 11/5, 11/12, 11/19, 12/3, 12/10, 12/17, 1/7, 1/21, 2/4, 2/18, 3/4, 3/11, 3/18, 3/25, 4/1, 4/8, 4/15, 4/22 (for Friday pickups it's the following day). I hope you can remember this so you don't go to pick up a share that we haven't harvested! If you set some calendar reminders that might help. You'll only receive the automated Harvie emails on weeks that we ARE having pickups so that's also a really good clue. If you aren't sure, you can always log in to Harvie at https://www.harvie.farm/login then go to "deliveries" tab and you can see all of your upcoming delivery dates.
Pickup Locations:
Your weekly emails from Harvie will show your pickup location and time for that week. It should normally be the same each week unless you've made a location change for that particular week or for all future deliveries. You can make location changes when you log in to Harvie. Here are all of the winter CSA locations and times as well as the particular pickup procedure for that location.
Unity Village/Lee's Summit: Thursdays 3:00-6:00pm. 14209 E 96th ter KCMO 64139. This is a self-serve porch pickup from a generous CSA member. Find your share based upon your name on the label. Remove the bagged share from the flip-top plastic tote and nest your empty tote with the other empties. (Please Don't take the gray plastic tote home. We don't have enough of these totes for you to take it home. Just take the contents of the tote in the large plastic bag liner). Shares that aren't picked up here will be kept by our site host to do use as they wish.
Overland Park: Thursdays 4:30-6:30pm. 11653 Grant Dr. Overland Park, KS. This is a self-serve porch pickup from a generous CSA member. Find your share based upon your name on the label. Remove the bagged share from the flip-top plastic tote and nest your empty tote with the other empties. (Please Don't take the gray plastic tote home. We don't have enough of these totes for you to take it home. Just take the contents of the tote in the large plastic bag liner). Shares that aren't picked up here will be kept by our site host to do use as they wish.
Prairie Village Leahy Chiropractic: Thursdays 4:00-5:30pm. West 95th Street #170 Prairie Villiage, KS 66207. Thanks to Dr. Leahy, this is a self-serve indoor pickup location. Please be considerate as this is a working chiropractic office. Please make sure to wear a mask to follow city ordinance and respect the staff and clients. Find your share based upon your name on the label. Remove the bagged share from the flip-top plastic tote and nest your empty tote with the other empties. (Please Don't take the gray plastic tote home. We don't have enough of these totes for you to take it home. Just take the contents of the tote in the large plastic bag liner). Be aware that you must pick up your share before 5:30 so they can close up and go home. Shares that aren't picked up here will be gladly taken home by the staff and eaten by them:).
Brookside: Thursdays 5:15-6:00pm. Central United Methodist Church Parking Lot. 5144 Oak Street Kansas City, MO. 64112. Farmer Dave will be there with the big white van for the drug-deal-looking exchange. Thanks to the church for letting us use their lot! Shares that aren't picked up here will be brought back to the farm and put in the little shed cooler next to the house. You can come get it whenever you'd like up until noon Tuesday when it will be donated to our local food pantry.
Lee's Summit: Thursdays 1:45-2:15pm. Connection Point Church Parking Lot 501 NE Missouri Rd, Lee's Summit MO 64086. I'm sorry the times aren't more convenient but we're on a tight schedule to make all the delivery locations in time. Farmer Dave will be there with the big white van for the drug-deal-looking exchange. Thanks to the church for letting us use their lot! Shares that aren't picked up here will be brought back to the farm and put in the little shed cooler next to the house. You can come get it whenever you'd like starting Friday morning up until noon Tuesday when it will be donated to our local food pantry. This parking lot will be the main Lee's Summit pickup location for the 2021 summer CSA (for that season the timeframe will be much longer and much more convenient).
Farm: Thursdays 3:00-6:00pm. Where the Redfearn Grows Natural Farms 26355 E Bundschu Rd, Independence, MO 64056. Just walk around to the left side of the house to the side door. Sheri will be there with to find your share for you. Shares that aren't picked up will be put in the little shed cooler next to the house. You can come get it whenever you'd like starting Friday morning up until noon Tuesday when it will be donated to our local food pantry.
Farm Self-Serve: If you won't be able to make it to another pickup location but can make it out to the farm sometime before the following Tuesday, this is a great option to move a particular week's delivery to so you can get it later, just make sure to do those changes in Harvie before Saturday evening. Fridays 7:00AM -7:00pm. Where the Redfearn Grows Natural Farms 26355 E Bundschu Rd, Independence, MO 64056. Your share will be in the walk in cooler (the one that looks like a shed) next to the house. Just open the door and find your share. Find your share based upon your name on the label. Remove the bagged share from the flip-top plastic tote and nest your empty tote with the other empties. (Please Don't take the gray plastic tote home. We don't have enough of these totes for you to take it home. Just take the contents of the tote in the large plastic bag liner). If you can't get it Friday, that's really no big deal. Your share will remain in the cooler and you can pick it up anytime you'd like before Tuesday at noon when we donate it to our local food pantry.
What if you can't make it? 3 options:
1) Send a friend to pick up your share and bring it to you if you can convince them not to eat it first.
2) Reschedule your share. You can log into Harvie and reschedule your share to a different pickup location or date. Just be aware that if you do this, you'll end up receiving 2 shares on whatever week you move that delivery to.
3) "Hold" your share. Also in Harvie you can put any particular delivery date on "Hold". Harvie limits you to doing this three times during the season. Putting any particular delivery on Hold will mean that you won't receive a share that week and you also won't be charged that week. You can put shares on Hold anytime as long as you are at least a week in advance. Harvie tech support is working on allowing you to do this later (closer to the pickup date but right now you need to do this before Saturday night for that week's delivery. If you know right now that you will be going out of town some week and wont' be sending a delegate you can go ahead and put that week on hold or reschedule it).
Got questions? You can always reply to any of these Harvie emails. You can email us directly at dave@redfearnfarm.com or give us a call at 816-457-1223.
Thanks again for keeping us going all winter. Farmers normally struggle to pay the bills during the long winter months, and you are helping us keep the lights on. We hope you enjoy a winter filled with great fresh food!
Your winter farmers,
Dave and Sheri
