Frequently asked questions
Ordering and receiving your veggies
Adding extras through our web store
Through strong partnerships with other farms, we also offer premium local, organic add-ons like mushrooms, grains, corn chips, honey, maple syrup and more! This makes it easy to source local products without combing through the hundreds of labels at the grocery store. We have a working relationship with all of these farmers and will feature their amazing stories in our newsletters. These items can be ordered and paid for by logging into our Farmigo online store, and your items will be delivered to your next CSA pick up.
Managing your account
About Community Supported Agriculture
Should I be worried about crop failure?
We have many tricks up our sleeves to cheat early frosts and late springs. However, Mother Nature can be unpredictable and sometimes things just happen. We do our very best to offer a huge range of veggies, but sometimes there may be a failure. i.e.: maybe the lettuce gets eaten by a flock of flamingos in the middle of the night and so you will not get lettuce for one to three weeks. OR, more realistically, the pest pressure could be really bad on say, eggplant, and we can’t harvest any that don’t have a big ol’ bug bite out of it. We are still going to send you these bitten eggplants with a big apology newsletter explaining why there is a bug bite, and how it is still OK to eat, and thanking you for understanding.
Market vs CSA
Our CSA accounts for 70% of our gross revenue. Though we will not be going to farmers markets in 2020, we will still be selling some veggies wholesale and through our on-farm store. We like to have these other sales channels so we can grow extra for the share. Growing extra gives us a buffer for the CSA boxes; if there is 20% crop failure, our wholesale and farm store will suffer, but we still have enough for the shares. If we based our whole plan on CSA we would not as easily be able to offer the variety we do. Keep in mind that if you come to our farm store and see something we are selling, but you did not get in the share that week, it is only because we did not have enough of that item to share among all the CSA members. For instance, when the beans first start producing, there would only be enough for 50 members. So, we wait until there’s enough for everyone and sell the smaller flushes through other channels first.
Are your veggies certified organic?
Yes! To underscore our guarantee that your food is safe, we certify our farm every year with ECOCERT Canada. They have rigorous inspections and protocols that follow the National Organic Standard. In many ways, our interest in regenerative agriculture means that we go above and beyond organic standards.
What is the value of a share?
In 2021, we raised our prices for the first time in a decade! But as always, we aim to give you 10%-15% more value than the market prices for your share contents. Because of the nature of farming, this means you will get a lighter basket in the spring and a more substantial basket as the season goes on. In June, the basket may only reach a value of $24, especially if there is a late thaw, but in August, the share will reach a value of $45. There also may be weeks when we have enough of a certain crop for half of our pickup locations, and the other pickup locations will get that item or one of similar value on a future week. We keep track of it all and make sure you get your money’s worth.
Packaging and zero-waste goals
Do you take back bottles and jars to be reused?
We are constantly working to reuse our packaging, so our answer to this question is always evolving. At the moment, these are the items that can be returned to your next pickup or delivery:
- Cardboard boxes from door-to-door CSA deliveries
- Glass bottles for Alska and Ferme et Foret maple syrup
We will update this list as more of our suppliers facilities allow them to reuse packaging.
My bulk greens are wilted! What do I do?
Greens are one of the biggest challenges of a plastic-free CSA.
Our greens are generally picked the day before you receive them. They get packed into bins with plenty of space to seal in the cool air, and then they're transported to you in our refrigerated truck. Then at the pickup location, your coordinator does their best to keep the bin closed to keep them fresh. Even so, just one hour in the summer heat will make even the freshest greens wilt. There is an easy fix though - when you get your greens home, plunge them into a bowl of cool water and let them sit for ten minutes. Spin them dry and store them in an airtight container. (Anything will do: mason jar, tupperware, reused plastic bag, reused clamshell container from the last time you bought greens at the grocery store, etc.). If you really want them to last, roll them in a slightly damp paper towel or tea towel and they will remain fresh for a week.
