Frequently asked questions

‘CSA’ stands for ‘Community Supported Agriculture’, a phrase implying a deeper connection between a farm and consumers than simply the purchase of a box or tote of vegetables. Members make a season-long commitment to the farm, enabling the farmers to focus on producing the best possible produce they are capable of. Both the farmers and the consumers can enjoy the mutually beneficial relationship that can ensue from such an arrangement—you get to know and appreciate where your food comes from, and we can know on whose tables our produce ends up!

As a member of Springdale Farm you would receive a weekly (or every other week) tote of diverse vegetables, all grown with the expressed goals of maximizing nutrition, freshness, and flavor, while at the same time grown using techniques and practices that ensure the long-term viability of the farm, and the farm's soil and ecosystem. Members of a CSA acknowledge that they are taking on some of the risks, and responsibilities, of food production and environmental stewardship by their direct support of a particular farm.

Our main season runs from the first week of July, and lasts for 20 weeks, until the end of October. A separate Late Fall share is then available, carrying on with (three) bi-weekly deliveries for the rest of November, and December. From January through early spring we offer home deliveries, or pick-up at the farm, for the stored and processed items available at that time of year.

The difference is in both the total amount of vegetables, and the variety of veggies received. The Small Share is intended to feed 1 (possibly 2) adults, with each Small Share tote usually containing from 6-8 different vegetables. The Medium Share is designed to feed 2 (possibly 3) adults, and will typically have 8-10 different veggies. The Large Share is intended to feed 3 (possibly 4) adults, and will have the most variety, with 10-14 portions of veggies.

Every tote that you receive will be customized based on your preferences. Here’s how we will do that: when you sign-up for your share, you will be asked to rate all of the vegetables we potentially will grow, on a scale from 1 to 5, with ‘1’ meaning you would never want to receive that vegetable in your tote, and a ‘5’ meaning you would be most happy to receive that vegetable. That list will be stored by ‘CSAware’, our software system. Then with each delivery, CSAware will generate lists for all of the Small, Medium, and Large totes, based both on your preferential lists, and also on what will be ready to harvest on the farm, which we will input into the system. You will receive by e-mail that list of proposed veggies three or four days prior to the delivery of your tote. Thus, every one of your customized tote’s contents will include more of the higher-rated veggies, less of the lower-rated veggies, and none of the least favored veggies.

Upon receipt of your e-mail with your suggested list, you then have two options. You can either do nothing, in which case you will receive the exact vegetables on the list that you have received, or, you could swap out one or a couple of veggies for some others that might be available. So, for example, despite loving tomatoes, and having rated them as a ‘5’, you might decide that you needed to take a break from them, and choose to remove them from your share and replace them for some carrots, or salad mix. This will depend on what is available in extra quantities that week from the farm. Some changes may result in an additional charge depending the value of your items. If you would like to purchase additional items beyond what your normal share includes, again depending on what is available, you may add them. Since your credit card will be on file, the billing of that extra order will happen automatically without either you or us needing to enter additional information.

Simply give all of the vegetables a rating of “3”. When you receive the weekly (or bi-weekly) e-mail with CSAware’s proposed list of contents of your upcoming share, you can either disregard the e-mail entirely, or you can still utilize changing items or purchasing other items option if you would want!

The total amount due would include your regular vegetable share, any of the add-on share (eggs) when you sign up. To pay by credit card, you will need to give your credit card information upon signing up, and you can either pay the entire amount due so that you are done with it, or you can agree to pay in installments. If you choose the installment plan, each installment will include a maximum of 4 deliveries of your chosen share, and whatever add-ons you sign up for. So when you sign-up, under the installment plan you will be charged for the first four deliveries of your shares (including any add-ons). Thereafter you will be charged for 4 deliveries upon completion of the first 4 deliveries. And that process will continue until all deliveries are completed. (3 installments plus an additional charge of the remaining two weeks would be needed for the 18 weekly shares, and three installments (2 deliveries + 1 delivery) for the 9 every other week shares.) Any purchases during the season of additional fruit or vegetables will be on a credit card basis only. The Fall Share can be purchased toward the end of the summer season, we will send an email when it's available). However, no installment plans are possible with the 3- every other week delivery of Late Fall Shares.

Throughout the season, in addition to listing what extra produce will be available from our own fields and greenhouses, we will occasionally make available fruit, meat, syrup, honey and other items that we source from other local farms and orchards. We like to help other local, and organic, (and usually small) farms, most of which do not produce enough to supply the larger stores and wholesale accounts, and by helping them direct-market to you, we can all benefit. You will receive e-mails about those offerings, and can very easily order those items with just a couple clicks from your phone or computer.

Every tote delivered to your pick-up site will have a sticker with an individual’s name on it, and the list of contents of the tote. So you will only need to look for the tote that has your name on it. If you ordered an egg share, they will be included with your other vegetables in your share. You may possibly receive an additional tote if the items don’t all fit in one tote, but if you do receive more than one tote, they will each be labeled as “1 of 2” and “2 of 2”, so you know you should be on the look out for an additional tote. When you have found your tote, then you will need to place its contents into a bag or container that you have brought with you. You will not be taking the tote with you! Once it is empty, the tote or box can be stacked neatly for safekeeping until we come to retrieve them. Please bring back any egg cartons that we give you along with you the following week to be reused. Please do not bring back other containers that you may get from other stores!

Emergencies happen, and this certainly can happen to any of us once in a while! One possible solution would be to have a friend or family member pick up your tote for you. If you choose this option, be sure that that person knows how the pick-up system works, especially that they take only the tote with your name on it! If this is not an option, you should contact your pick-up site host — prior to the end of the allotted hours -- and ask if they will keep your tote until you can make it to the site. They may try to accommodate your special situation, but they may not; that is their prerogative. (We will give you the contact information for your pick-up site when you sign up for your share.) The actual time and details of your arrangement to retrieve your tote will be up to the pick-up site host, so you need to follow their suggestion. At any rate, if you do not reach out before the end of the allotted time, you should definitely not expect the pick-up site host to still make your tote available to you. But if you contact them earlier, they will likely try to help you get your share, either by allowing you to come after the allotted time, or perhaps on the following day.

If you will be away from home for whatever reason, or simply do not need a tote for a week, here is what you can do: If you already know prior to the end of the customization period — which is 2 days before the scheduled delivery date — that you don’t want a tote for that week, you can either Re-schedule your tote to be delivered on another date, or you can put the delivery on Hold. ( Instructions to do either will be shared with you after you have signed up.) Members who are paying by the installment plan will not be charged for shares that are successfully placed on “Hold”, while members who have already paid for the entire season will be credited for the successfully Held shares. If you want to stop your share from being delivered after the customization period has already ended, then you can call, or send an e-mail to the farm, but if we have already packed and/or loaded your share, which we do the day before the delivery date, you will not be able to receive another share to replace it. Depending on when we receive your request, we may still be in the process of delivering your tote, in which case you could either send someone else to pick up your share, or simply allow the pick-up site host to donate your share to another party. At any rate, we will let you know whether your tote is still getting delivered.

Please do! You would be more than welcome to come visit us, and the farm! We enjoy getting to know our members, and individual visits can be arranged apart from the open house and/or work days that we may schedule during the season.