Frequently asked questions
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is an alternative, locally-based model of food distribution in which small-scale farmers and local customers join forces to create a better food system. You purchase a “share” in our farm, and receive a weekly share of the season’s bounty. Your payment in advance provides funds to purchase seeds and growing supplies in the spring, when most of farmers’ costs occur, as well as the freedom to spend the harvest season growing food instead of finding customers. In exchange for this commitment, at a reasonable price, you get to enjoy produce that is of exceptional taste and freshness, and you will also enjoy knowing just how your produce dollars are supporting a local farm. It’s a farmer-friendly, community-oriented model centered on the sharing of both the risks of the season, and the bounty.
Over 150 varieties of vegetables, herbs, and flowers
We offer our shares in two sizes. The Full Share designed for a 2-3 person family or 1-2 hungry vegetarians. The Half share is designed for 1 person, or 2 people who don’t eat as many vegetables.
While we do have some choice built into the weekly shares, we encourage shareholders to make use of our “swap table.” You are welcome to trade ANY vegetable for another similarly sized item on the swap table.
Some items will have options for you to choose between where you take one or the other.
CSA members have access to the pick-your-own field Monday-Saturday during daylight hours. We grow flowers, peas, beans, cherry tomatoes, tomatillos, husk cherries, hot peppers, and a variety of herbs.
Our weekly newsletter is filled with farm news as well as recipes and helpful cooking tips to expand your knowledge about the less familiar vegetables in the share.
Receive six months of freshly-harvested vegetables grown using organic methods;
Save money over comparable farmers’ market or supermarket produce;
Learn how to cook with a wide variety of fresh vegetables;
Build a relationship with our farm, the community, and the source of your food;
Enjoy our 65 scenic acres, including a children’s Discovery Garden and a nature trail that meanders through wetlands, woodlands, and pasture;
Meet our flock of laying hens;
Help support our mission to engage and educate the community.
We are not certified organic, but we follow organic growing methods. Our farmer is happy to answer any questions about our growing, harvesting, and livestock management practices. Direct inquiries to farm@philliesbridge.org
In effort to make things more convenient, we now have 3 options for rescheduling your CSA pick up!
OPTION 1
Have a friend pick up for you. This is the easiest option! Just tell your friend to give YOUR name at pick up and let us know they are picking up for you. If you’d like to let us know ahead of time (not required if a friend is picking up!) that you will not be coming and/or that someone is picking up for you, you can click the button in option 2 and follow the prompts on the form.
OPTION 2
To reschedule your share pick up, please click the button below. Please reschedule 2 days beforehand. We harvest according to the number of members scheduled to pick up on a given day, so it helps us avoid wasting food and labor if you reschedule ahead of time.
When you reschedule, we will prepare your share for the date you select. We need to know ahead of time that you are coming in order to have a share ready for you. Please don’t come to the farm to pick up on a different day unless you have rescheduled.
You can reschedule by clicking here. Unfortunately we are not able to accommodate special requests outside of our regular pick up times (Tuesday 3:00 – 6:00 or Saturday 9:00 – 12:00.) *PLEASE NOTE If you reschedule your pick up day, your fruit share may not be available, as these items are fresh and do not last in our cooler.
OPTION 3 (not recommended for members who live far away)
We now have a limited number of pre-packed shares in our cooler available after hours until mid morning the day after CSA (10 AM on Wednesdays and Sundays). These shares are first come, first served, so it is possible that they will be gone by the time you arrive at the farm. Accordingly, we do not recommend this option for members who live far away.
Our staff will not be able to respond to emails or calls to let you know if there are any shares left in the cooler, but if you’d like to stop by and see if any are left, you are welcome to! Our gates are open by 9 am and close at 6 pm. The shares will be packed in blue bins labeled, “extra small/big share”. PLEASE NOTE Fruit shares will not be available for pickup in the cooler.
You are welcome to arrange splitting a share with a friend. We do not coordinate the splitting of shares.
No. Shareholders are not required to work. If you would like to volunteer, we are a non-profit organization and we offer volunteer opportunities to match the skills and availability of every member. Please contact info@philliesbridge.org and let us know how you’d like to help!
Yes. We offer our CSA shares on a sliding scale. Learn more about sliding scale shares HERE.
The pick your own field is located adjacent to the driveway, in front of the parking area. There is a kiosk for scissors and hand sanitizing in front of the field. Please check the board in the Harvest Building before heading out to the Pick Your Own Field to learn what’s available and please also read the signs before picking. Please only pick items that are labeled as OPEN, as other items may not be quite ready to pick yet. Pick Your Own access is available to CSA Members only from Mondays through Saturdays 9 am – 6 pm. Thank you!
Please note that for food safety reasons, as well as the safety of our members, we do not allow dogs in the pick-your-own field or in the vegetable fields. Feel free to bring your dog for a walk on the nature trail, though! Leashes are required. We have an off leash dog living on the farm, please be mindful of this if you choose to bring your pet outside of normal pick up hours.
Please visit our staff page if you’d like to learn about the farm staff you’ll be meeting, and please visit our board of directors page to learn more about our board members!
Yes! You can learn more about our sliding scale share program and how to apply by clicking here.
