How It Works

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The Process

These instructions will step you through the sign up process.

1. Find a Delivery Location

You’ll need to know where you would like to pick up your food before you create your account. If you’re a corporate participant, just use your work location.  If you’d like a home delivery email us with your address.  Detail directions to pick up location are sent after purchase.

2. Order Food

Under the Order section.  We use PayPal for the ordering process but you don’t need a PayPal account.

If you would like to order multiple items make sure you use the Continue Shopping button on the PayPal site.

3. Create an Account

Under the Log In section.   Tell us who you are and where you would like to pick up your food.

4. Manage Account

After you’ve been receiving the best local organic food for a while you might need to make some changes to your account. Maybe you moved and need to change your pick up location or you have a vacation coming up and you’d like to stop your deliveries for a couple weeks. You can make those changes here.

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FAQs

1. What is a CSA?

   CSAs provide consumers with the opportunity to buy local, seasonal food directly from area farmers. By making a long-term commitment, we support our farmers through good and bad times allowing them to be sustainable year to year.

   Freshness Farms’ CSA provides a weekly or bi weekly delivery of locally grown and produced fruits, vegetables, bread, egg, honey, meat, dairy and more.

2. What does Organic Food mean?

   Organic food is grown on farms committed to farming in accordance with certain standards. The standards generally consist of using naturally produced fertilizers and non-chemical means of pest control. There are different levels of certification and standards worldwide and within the United States.

   Organic food from other countries meets the standards of the origin country. Make sure you understand what that means to you before you buy food from other countries. USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) organics allows the use of some pesticides that are proven to be non harmful. California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) further commitment to producing organic food has led them to time honored traditions of farming. They do their best to re-create a more complete eco-system on their farms by luring back the birds, bats and bugs that help control pests in a more natural, less harmful way.

   In the last 20 years, organic farms have been relatively small family run operations. Larger companies are now
   entering the field of Organic Farming due to the potential market share, which is growing at a rate of around 20% a year. Now more than ever it is essential to support small family farms that adhere to higher standards of quality food and stewardship of the land ensuring their long-term sustainability.

3. What does Local mean?

   Local fresh fruits, vegetables, milk and eggs are typically produced within a 50 mile radius. For seeds, nuts, beans, grains; local is considered to be within a 300 mile radius.

4. Why buy Local?

   Buying local produced food, and any product for that matter, keeps your dollars at work in our own regional economy. It helps to keep members of our community employed. Food produced locally will always be fresher and of better quality simply because it isn’t traveling from some far away place for days. The vegetables and fruit can be harvested when ripe since travel time isn’t a consideration. Local foods drastically cut our use of petroleum products such as oil and gasoline. There is also no need for protective packaging. Buying food from a CSA is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint.

5. Can we choose which produce to receive in our deliveries?

   We at Freshness Farms are committed to trusting that the best bounty is chosen by the farmer based on seasonality, weather conditions and availability. This allows for a creative way of looking at food (please see Top 10 Tips).  However, we want to provide you with food that you like.  Your on-line account has a section where you can tell us what your “Likes” and “Dislikes” are.  We will do our best to provide you with your needs.

6. Can I skip a delivery or change a pick up location?

   Freshness Farms has implemented an on-line system allowing you the freedom to manage your delivery schedule. You may choose to receive a delivery two times in one week, every week or every other week (bi weekly). You may skip any delivery with 48 hours notice. You can also change your pick up location, all with a click of your mouse!

7. What if I am no longer at the corporation to which Freshness Farms deliveries?

   If you are a current participant and no longer work at the organization we deliver to, just pick a different location that works for you. If there isn’t a convenient location, send us an email and we will work with you to ensure that we can continue your deliveries.

8. Are there safety concerns with using reusable bags?

   We wash our bags once a month to ensure that there will not be any concerns. You should always wash your produce before using it. Even produce bought from the store labeled “pre-washed” should always be washed for your family’s safety. If you wish to receive your produce in a one-time use plastic bag, just contact us.

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1. Know that cooking from a Freshness Farm bag means eating the freshest, local, seasonal produce harvested at its peak in flavor and quality. The best food you and your family can eat.
2. Embrace the diversity o four locally grown fresh vegetables and fruits and the opportunity to experience new tastes. Develop your culinary creativity by experimenting with ingredients in different ways. Try cutting up fresh strawberries in a green salad or cooking a dish from a foreign land.
3. Start weekly meal planning when you get your delivery. This way you’ll know exactly what fresh veggies you have on hand.
4. Switch from being dish-driven to ingredient-driven. Let the farm bag ingredients inspire the
   meal rather than starting with a specific dish in mind.
5. Be flexible. When your family requests certain dishes for dinner, have them focus on a category or country, rather than a specific dish. For example, ask for Italian food rather than spaghetti with marinara sauce. This makes improvisation easier but gives it a direction likely to please your family.
6. Improvise using the fresh seasonal bounty as your guide. Substitute farm bag produce for similar recipe ingredients. Enjoy spinach in fresh salsa instead of cilantro. Add those radishes to the guacamole. Use leek instead of onions in a recipe.
7. Create a “favorites” list and post it in the kitchen. Document cherished dishes, use the list as a starting point for brainstorming which special meals to make with this week’s harvest.
8. Focus on using what’s in the bag, and make sure cravings get satisfied. If someone has a taste for a specific dish, like broccoli cheddar soup, make a note on a post-it, and stick it on the fridge as a reminder to prepare the dish as soon as broccoli arrives in the bag. Make a trip to the farmer’s market or store for ingredients when a craving can’t wait.
9. Utilize the many tools available for inspiration. Search online using ingredients and/or a category as keywords, for instance, “spinach recipe” or “carrot soup recipe”. Subscribe to favorite cooking blogs for a steady stream of creative culinary ideas. Libraries have extensive cookbook collections. Check out a stack and browse the indexes by ingredient.
10. Stock the pantry and refrigerator with staples. Make sure lack of staples does not get in the way of spontaneous farm bag cooking opportunities.

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Weekly ideas and recipes for cooking from a Freshness Farms bag can be found at the blog -
Four Cooking Together.

Kitchen staples to have on hand (add your own favorites) –

• Pantry – *olive oil, *vegetable oil, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, salt, ground pepper, spices, canned beans,
  vegetable/chicken broth, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, rice, pasta, beans, all purpose and whole grain flours, sugar,
  baking soda and powder, potatoes, garlic, onions
• Refrigerator – butter, milk, eggs, plain yogurt, Parmesan cheese, Dijon mustard, carrots, celery, lemons, limes
• Freezer – peas, nuts, infrequently used spices

*If bought in large containers, consider storing majority in refrigerator to avoid rancidity.

A few favorite cookbooks (available at many libraries) –

• Bittman, Mark, How to Cook Everything
• *Garten, Ina, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
• *Oliver, Jamie, Jamie’s Italy
• Waters, Alice, The Art of Simple Food
• Madison, Deborah, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
• *Moosewood Collective, Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites
• Reichl, Ruth (editor), The Gourmet Cookbook

* It’s worth checking out all the fabulous cookbooks by these authors.

A few favorite cooking blogs (there are many more) –

• Four Cooking Together
• 101 Cookbooks
• Albion Cooks
• Chez Pim
• Chocolate and Zucchini
• Orangette
• Smitten Kitchen
• Tastespotting

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