- Is everything organically grown?
- How and when do I pick up my weekly share?
- What if I cannot come on my regular pick-up day?
- How much food is in a share?
- What is a Swap Box or Exchange Table?
- Can you tell me about being a member of a Vollmecke
co-op group?
- How many times will I be asked to pick up at the farm as a
member of a co-op site?
- Do I need to pay for my share all at one time?
- May I come with my family to see and participate in the activities
at the farm?
- What are the Farm Rules for visitors?
- May I volunteer to help at the farm?
- May I harvest some crops for myself?
- Are there special events for the members?
- What is seasonal eating?
- Is CSA seasonal eating right for my lifestyle?
We grow all of our vegetables without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, genetically modified organisms, or sewage sludge. We use crop rotation, cover crops and compost extensively to enrich our soil so it will support a teeming soil biology that, in turn, supports healthy plants. We describe our growing as natural.
In our orchards, we practice IPM (Integrated Pest Management). We choose to apply cultural techniques where possible, allowing us to minimize the number of sprays needed per crop. We monitor special traps baited with a pheromone lure to determine if we have an insect infestation that might concern us. This helps us to determine the best timing to apply a control, if need be. When we find it necessary to spray, materials are selected on the basis of safety and minimal impact to the environment. We might choose to spray an organic material or, if deemed essential at times, a non-organic material. We regularly apply sprays of organic nutrients along with application of our own compost to the base of the trees to enhance the health of the trees and minimize insect and disease issues.
At this time, we have chosen not to seek organic certification. Being “certified organic” would not change our growing practices in any significant way; it would, however, mean a tremendous amount of paperwork and the cost of the certification process would increase our prices. We prefer not to do that.
We feel the trust in, knowledge of, and access to the farmers who grow your food makes certification unnecessary. Why pay for something you don’t need? Unlike the grocery store, if you have questions about our growing practices, just ask us directly. And you can come to the farm to see exactly where and how your food is grown. We’ll show you LIVE soil, a beautiful sight these days!
When you complete your Share Pledge form, you will be asked to select the location and day when you will pick up your weekly share. Here are the details:
Vollmecke Farm Location
Come to the farm on the day of the week that you select, either Tuesday or Friday.
On Fridays, we suggest that you bring your own box or container for ease of collecting your pre-harvested produce. You will pack your own share by choosing from the bulk container. A chalk board will list the week’s produce and the amount of each item that will comprise your share.
If your pick-up day is Tuesday, your share will be awaiting you, pre-packed in its plastic share box. We re-use these boxes, so you'll need to return the empty box the following week when you pick up your share or plan to move your produce into your own bags at the site and leave the box.
A few crops will be designated as PYO (Pick-Your-Own), such as cut flowers, strawberries, blackberries, red raspberries and pumpkins.
Other Pick-Up Locations
If you will be picking up your share at one of our other locations, you will find your weekly share awaiting you, pre-packed in its plastic share box. We re-use these boxes and have a limited quantity of them, so we ask that you off-load your share items into your own bags at the site, or return the empty box when you pick up your share the following week.
Plan on visiting the farm when pick-your-own crops are available.
Harvesting takes place according to the number of members expected on a given day. If you cannot come, send an authorized friend or relative and make sure they know about pick-up time and procedures. If you miss a week, your share will not be wasted. It will be donated along with our regular food donations to one of a number of shelters we work with. It is not uncommon for us to donate more than 1 1/2 tons of food per year to local shelters in Chester County.
A share is a generous amount of produce for two adults who eat a lot of fruits and vegetables or a quantity sufficient for the needs of two adults with one or two young children. If you have a large family or do a lot of entertaining, you may want to consider purchasing an additional share. You may also harvest some additional crops when available.
Some single people or individuals who travel often find that a full share is a little too much for their needs. In this case, we suggest splitting a share with a friend or neighbor or, if asked, we will try to team you up with someone with a similar situation.
Remember, too, that if you feel a share is more than you can eat in a week, you can always freeze portions and have them available for the wintertime.
Here is a typical example of what might be included
in a week’s share
during different times of the season:
Note: Quantities are approximate and may vary from week to week
Typical Early Season Share:
· Radishes: 1 bunch
· English Garden Peas: 1-1/2 lbs.
· Snow Peas: ¾ lb.
· Spinach: ¾ lb.
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· Green Onions: 1 bunch
· Bok choi: 1 large or 2 baby
· Lettuce:
1 head |
Note: Pick-your-own strawberries available at a special membership price.
Typical Mid-Season Share:
· Peaches: approx. 3 lbs.
· Swiss Chard: 1 bunch
· Peppers: 3
· Green Beans: ¾ lb.
· Beets: 1 bunch
· Melons:
1 cantaloupe or specialty melon |
· Summer Squash: 2
· Red
tomatoes: 3 lbs.
· Heirloom tomatoes:
1 or 2
· Potatoes: 1 qt.
· Herbs: 1 bunch
· Cucumbers: 2 |
Note: Pick-your-own blackberries available at a special membership price.
Typical Late Season Share:
· Apples: approx. 3 lbs.
· Tomatoes: 1 lb.
· Cabbage:
1 head
· Parsnips: 1 lb.
· Carrots: 1 lb.
· Kale or other cooking greens:
¾ lb.
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· Herbs: 1 bunch
· Peppers: 3
· Onions: 1 lb.
· Garlic:
1 bulb
· Winter Squash: 2
· Potatoes: 1 qt.
· Apple cider: 1/2 gallon
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Note: Pick-your-own red raspberries available at a special membership price.
Remember:
Farming is both dynamic and unpredictable. Extreme weather conditions such as late or early frost, too much or too little rain, rain at the wrong time or a hail storm, may interfere or alter crop quality and availability. Being a CSA member means sharing in the risks as well as the bounty. Nevertheless, be assured that even in the most challenging of years, we will work hard to provide you with quality produce to the best of our abilities. The farm’s investment in greenhouse, irrigation and cooling facilities and our co-operative production with a few neighboring farms greatly reduces the risk to members and farmers alike.
A “swap box” or “exchange table” space is provided at each pick-up site to give members the ability to customize their share according to personal preferences through exchanging one of their items for another. For example, you might trade your cabbage for spinach, or trade a bunch of beets for an extra melon.
The farmer often experiments with growing new crops or varieties of crops, so the swap box or the exchange table will sometimes contain items not found in the weekly share. This offers interesting share options. We ask that members be fair to those members who will come later in the day by exchanging items of like value.
All of our co-op group members are participants in this new "food community." Each one needs to work willingly with their host to fill all the farm pick-up dates to make sure member shares get from the farm to their pick-up site on time. Some members' schedules might be more flexible than others, so they generously offer to visit the farm additional times during the season for the pick-up.
Benefits of picking up the group's shares is the chance to pick-your-own strawberries, raspberries, blackberries or peas, and a chance to cut your own bouquet of flowers.
Another benefit of a farm visit is that the members can choose to purchase from the array of natural farm products we have available, like local beef, cheese, yogurt, honey, fruit butters and apple sauces. Members might wish to bring a cooler in order to take frozen products home safely.
If it becomes challenging for the group to fill each pick-up date, members might opt to pool some funds and hire someone to pick up the group’s shares at the farm that week. Sometimes it’s necessary to get creative and think "outside the box."
The number of pick ups you will be asked to make at the farm depends on the size of the group. If your group has 11 members, each one will be asked to pick up the group’s shares at the farm and deliver them to your location twice during the 23-week CSA season.
If your group has 16 members, most members will only have to pick up at the farm once. Some members will make the trip twice. If a membership share is split, each split partner will be expected to take a turn. It is up to the group to decide who might come once and who might do the group pick-up twice.
Whomever is picking up the group’s shares and delivering them to the pick-up site will also be asked to transport the previous week’s empty share boxes back to the farm.
Although we encourage lump sum payment to keep our administrative costs down, we do offer a three payment installment plan. See the Share Pledge form for the details.
Yes. We encourage participation and realize that a garden/farm is a valuable educational opportunity for children as well as for adults. Harvesting and weeding are wonderful ways to participate and work side-by-side with family and other members.
Special Note: Proper supervision of children is necessary at all times. Safety is paramount. To ensure the safety of all visitors please read the Farm Rules (below) and share them with your family and/or fellow visitors.
Please be respectful of your surroundings, the animals and other people during your visit. For your safety, we ask that these rules be followed:
- Parents need to supervise their children.
- No rock throwing.
- No chicken chasing.
- No running or playing in the growing fields.
- The pond, farm equipment, and the barn are off-limits to unsupervised children.
- Beware of electric fencing around the chicken coop. It will give a strong shock.
- Stay out of tall grass and un-mowed areas. There might be poison ivy.
- No parking in grass areas unless directed to do so.
- If you have a question, please ask.
- Have fun.
We welcome assistance with our work projects from time to time and know that our members enjoy participating. We plan to schedule special work days during the season when member assistance will be most helpful. We will send an e-mail and place notices at your pick-up location to announce work day dates and times in advance.
Although your share will be pre-harvested, you can always add to your share when Pick-Your-Own crops are available for harvest. Items available for PYO vary and will be posted at your pick-up site, or by e-mail announcement, or by mail for those who don’t use e-mail messaging. Examples of PYO crops that are included in your share are garden peas and PYO pumpkins. PYO strawberries, red raspberries and blackberries will be available at a special membership price.
During the season, we like to schedule a few events for all of our members to enjoy. These fun days might include hayrides, homemade ice cream, a bonfire, games, and picnics with lots of good, fresh food. We count on having lots of volunteers to participate in order to hold larger events.
Seasonal eating means consuming foods that are grown in your local area and eaten when they are just picked, truly in season. This way of eating assures peak flavor and nutrition. It goes without saying that produce that travels a mere few miles from field to plate is going to be fresher and healthier for you than something that has traveled more than 1,000 miles.
By eating local food in season, you become better attuned to nature and appreciative of its ebbs and flows. Did we have a warm spell in early spring that spawned an early harvest of all the green leafy lettuces and cooking greens? Was it hot or rainy during Spring planting, thus shortening a certain crop harvest?
Eating seasonally means thoroughly enjoying particular fruits or vegetables at their peak. You become so satisfied that it becomes an unworthy compromise to eat something that has been shipped in from some far away place. Toward the end of the season for each item, you can choose to let it go until the next year or you might creatively preserve the abundance by canning or freezing to extend your favorite quality produce into another season.
Our philosophy is: "Eat and enjoy everything thoroughly while it is in season and then wait until it comes into season again next year. Let your body tune into the rhythms of nature."
Picture yourself eating from your own garden at home, then look to the farm as a larger garden, from which you get more kinds and varieties of vegetables, as well as fresh fruits and herbs. Seasonal eating from your CSA is simply fresh-from-the-garden eating on a larger scale and with greater diversity.
If you’ve not eaten from a garden, seasonal eating can take some adjustment. But the rewards of eating things when they're at peak flavor and nutrition are immeasurable. As a CSA member, you will learn what is currently in season where you live and how long it’s available freshly harvested. You will appreciate eating fruits and vegetables while they’re truly fresh, then enjoying the nice memories of each until next year. You move throughout the seasons eating fresh, seasonal foods as they mature for the harvest. This is the adventure of eating well!
Here’s an example: Pea season generally lasts for four to five weeks, and includes all varieties like snow peas, sugar snaps and garden peas. They come ready at approximately the same time of year. Sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming to a CSA members to have so many different kinds of peas in their shares around the same time. Here’s what seasonal eaters will do: assemble an array of good recipes involving peas, reserve a little time to plan and prepare meals, think of meal construction with flexibility. And share the adventure of new recipes and new varieties of foods with their families.
As a seasonal eater, your perspective will evolve from "planning a drive to the supermarket to buy ingredients for a specific recipe" to, "What can I create from the ingredients in my share this week?" Involving your children in this process can be far less difficult than you think when your own attitude is wide-eyed and inclusive. In fact, many of our CSA member children who did not ordinarily eat peas love eating them after helping to pick and shell them.
Simply put, the first year of CSA participation might be more of a challenge for families who often travel, eat out or bring home "take-out" meals, than for families who like to cook at home, enjoy a wide variety of foods and know the benefits of cooking "from scratch." Once you get into the swing of CSA seasonal eating, it will be hard to imagine eating in any other way!
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