What Makes us Different?
Farming experience. We have been a CSA farm for 26 years and farming for over 30. We have learned a lot in this period of time and continue to hone how we do things. We continuously work to improve both the farming side of things as well as to offer more choice and services to our members.
We have continued to add to our infrastructure for all these years. A deer fence was one really big investment. Next came a new high tunnel (season stretching growing house) and now more recently we have refurbished our irrigation pond. We have learned that we can’t change the weather, but we can try to prepare for those “less than perfect conditions”.
How else do we stand out?
Fruit. We grow both fruits and vegetables at our farm. Fruit is included in the cost of our shares. Cantaloupes usually begin ripening the middle of July; watermelons in August and early September. Though we have had our own orchards for many years we realized that the trees had passed their prime and it was no longer cost effective to continue with the orchard side of our farm operation. When available we include peaches and apples from time to time now from some of our orchard growing friends. These tree fruits are also available to purchase on a retail basis.
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Members can pick their own blackberries at a nominal fee. We currently do not grow strawberries but are sometimes able to get some from our local grower friends and offer them for sale on CSA pick-up day. We have a young blueberry planting in the ground but we are only harvesting nominally at this point. So far its been all work with anticipation for the future. Each fruit has its season — when there is an abundance you can plan on seeing it included in your share. Fruit will not be included on a weekly basis in your share. There are times when there just isn’t enough for everyone, so we offer smaller quantities for sale to those who wish to purchase or supplement their share.
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Sweet Corn and Potatoes. Some CSA farms don’t grow or include sweet corn or potatoes in their share offerings (these crops take up a lot of space and add complexity to crop rotations). Both of these crops are included in Vollmecke CSA shares.
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Choice. While one of the main tenets of the CSA model is members share the harvest, we realize that our members prefer to have some control over their share choices. On-site farm pickup shares are not pre-boxed. We offer Farm Market Style pickup, where you may customize your share from the choices available. We also offer a Swap Box to further customize your share.
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Payment Options Pay in full to receive the best price: Use afterpay to split up your payments. We accept payment via credit card, apple pay, googlepay and check.
Multiple Share Sizes. We have two different share sizes – pick the one that’s best for you:
A large share with a weekly pickup (to include 8-10 units; feeds 2 adults and 2 small children; 22 share distributions per season).
A medium share with a weekly pickup (to include 6-7 units; feeds 2 adults, or a small family that doesn’t cook often; 22 share distributions per season).
Make-Up / Deferred Day. We realize that many people like to go away at least once during the summer. Since you have paid ahead for your share, we hate to see you miss out on even one pickup if we can help it! So, we offer a make-up day, or the ability to defer one share, until the end of the season. Our regular season is 22 weeks, but on week 23 ( as long as you let us know via email before your missed pickup), you can come to pick up a deferred share.
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Pick Your Own (PYO) crops. We offer PYO cut flowers, which are included in the price of your share. PYO berries are available at a nominal fee for members. There are other times we may have other PYO crops. We will inform members of these opportunities as they come up.
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One-Stop-Shopping. When you pick up your share at the farm, you have the ability to purchase additional produce as well as other local, sustainably produced products such as Bailey’s Dairy products, Wild-Caught salmon, Elkins pasture-raised beef and local honey. Our own fruit butters , pasta sauce and our own Happy Hen eggs are available in the retail store. Purchase a share of these products to assure weekly availability. You have the ability to feed your family locally produced, nutritious foods while keeping your dollars local and directly supporting these other fine producers. Check out our Retail Sales for a full list of these producers.
