I should ask my friends who have various farmshares how well they like them, which I could do just by going around and asking them, or I could do it here. So
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This is my third year with Brookfield farm. They do squash, melons, carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, cauliflower, beets, cabbages, kale, swiss chard and peppers really well. Lettuce and kohlrabi has been dismal, and their corn is hit or miss. Tomatoes were ok, but they had an even shorter than usual season for them this year. No peas, beans or strawberries without driving out there. No parsley or scallions, tomatillos one year out of three (so far).
Their misses usually seem to involve shipping veggies that are past their prime, or unripe, in the name of making a balanced box. It took me a full year to spin up to the idea of getting most of the cooking greens blanched and frozen immediately after getting them home. I still had optimism failures with the eggplants and turnips this year.
Re: Brookfield FarmchenoamegOctober 23 2008, 20:18:57 UTC
For me the best thing about Brookfield is the bulk order; I can usually lay in a winter's worth of turnips and carrots (although not potatoes this year, sniff)
This year was a reasonably low production year, they have a nifty chart listing what the haul was. Which I can't find, so I link you to this pretty picture of the seasonal foods instead. http://www.brookfieldfarm.org/share.html
Re: Brookfield FarmpekmezOctober 24 2008, 01:54:58 UTC
I use brookfield too. I've used them for long enough that I think they're what introduced me to cooking collard greens, turnips, rutabagas, and kale!
I wish they'd do peas, beans, strawberries in the shares, and hope they bring back the edamame. They don't do fruit besides watermelons and canteloupe (and the on-the-farm-only strawberries), and they don't do shallots. Herbs are rare if you don't go out to the farm.
I haven't had too many misses of the sort cfox mentions, except for one time when I ordered 10lbs of bulk tomatoes and didn't realize they were getting themselves kind of bruised and would need to be cooked right away or lose some yield. (what went wrong with your turnip, cfox? mine (then one I've gotten before today, at least) was fabulous.)
They're not actually a CSA, but Boston Organics is what we use and has been working very well for us. They deliver to your door, always bring organic things, and try to make those organic things local whenever possible. Also, they're year-round. And, they let you have as detailed a No-list as you want. So of you hate brussel sprouts and never want to have to encounter one in your veggie and/or fruit box, you can tell them so and they'll just add more of other stuff.
I use red fire farm. The only produce that has been questionable was the corn with bugs in, and if you lop off the ends with the grubs or freeze the corn, that takes care of it. Oh, and the fields got flooded, so some of the onions are rotted inside. (it is to weep.) I don't know how our quantity or price compares with other farms. The pick your own is a pretty long drive, though.
I still didn't do that much because I had an ew reaction. My drop is at stata, but you can also get it at wholefoods.
They have a long waitlist, though, and aren't increasing the number of shares, so you may not be able to get in for 2009.
Off-season, I use bostonorganics and I like it. The price is comparable, about $30 a week.
I'll add another vote for BostonOrganics. I split my share for a year with a friend, and then we split it at the house for a few months before we realized it didn't work as well that way. They have nice in-season stuff; it's all organic, but some stuff isn't local (mangos, kiwi, bananas, citrus, etc), though they try to make it as local as possible. You can get boxes of various sizes weekly or biweekly, with all veggie, all fruit, 2/3 veggie, 2/3 fruit, or half and half, quite easily, and they'll deliver to your door in the right areas (and can go to back doors/porches too). The one caveat is that their winter lineup can be a bit boring if you get tired of broccoli (get used to broccoli every week) and root veggies. But I liked them a lot, and it might be worth poking them if you can't get a share this year, or need a source of nice produce over winter when a share doesn't work out.
It's mostly beef pork and lamb, with a smaller quantity of chicken. The meat is so good I don't order hamburgers at restaurants anymore. Plus the farmers are nice and try to customize each meat order to our liking. And they write these lovely newsletters telling us what all the animals are up to.
(Bonus -- the animals are all happy and not drugged for any reason; when an animal gets sick they have it treated by a vet but then take it out of the food chain. The cattle are pastured and eat almost exclusively grass (they get warm maple sugar water poured over their winter hay as a treat). The pigs are grain fed, and the chickens live in a bus that they drive around the property giving them new areas to graze.)
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Their misses usually seem to involve shipping veggies that are past their prime, or unripe, in the name of making a balanced box. It took me a full year to spin up to the idea of getting most of the cooking greens blanched and frozen immediately after getting them home. I still had optimism failures with the eggplants and turnips this year.
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This year was a reasonably low production year, they have a nifty chart listing what the haul was. Which I can't find, so I link you to this pretty picture of the seasonal foods instead. http://www.brookfieldfarm.org/share.html
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I wish they'd do peas, beans, strawberries in the shares, and hope they bring back the edamame. They don't do fruit besides watermelons and canteloupe (and the on-the-farm-only strawberries), and they don't do shallots. Herbs are rare if you don't go out to the farm.
I haven't had too many misses of the sort cfox mentions, except for one time when I ordered 10lbs of bulk tomatoes and didn't realize they were getting themselves kind of bruised and would need to be cooked right away or lose some yield. (what went wrong with your turnip, cfox? mine (then one I've gotten before today, at least) was fabulous.)
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Check 'em out!
http://bostonorganics.com/
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https://www.inseason.us/
It's a farmer's market that delivers to your home via bicycle messenger.
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I still didn't do that much because I had an ew reaction. My drop is at stata, but you can also get it at wholefoods.
They have a long waitlist, though, and aren't increasing the number of shares, so you may not be able to get in for 2009.
Off-season, I use bostonorganics and I like it. The price is comparable, about $30 a week.
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The pickup is once a month (I get mine at Arlington Center). 10lbs is $80/month. (I get a 25lb share, which works out to $7/lb).
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It's mostly beef pork and lamb, with a smaller quantity of chicken. The meat is so good I don't order hamburgers at restaurants anymore. Plus the farmers are nice and try to customize each meat order to our liking. And they write these lovely newsletters telling us what all the animals are up to.
(Bonus -- the animals are all happy and not drugged for any reason; when an animal gets sick they have it treated by a vet but then take it out of the food chain. The cattle are pastured and eat almost exclusively grass (they get warm maple sugar water poured over their winter hay as a treat). The pigs are grain fed, and the chickens live in a bus that they drive around the property giving them new areas to graze.)
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