CSA Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if I have to miss a week because I am out of town or on vacation?
How do the pick-ups at the farm work?
How do the pick-ups in Glenwood work?
Do we have to work on the farm?  Do you have any working shares?
What will we get?  What is in a share?
Sample Weekly Share Pickups

What happens if I have to miss a week because I am out of town or on vacation?

No problem!  You are welcome to send a friend, relative or neighbor to pick up your share.  We love it when you send guests to experience a CSA pickup. They just need to sign in under your name so we know that your share is accounted for and then we can walk them through the process. 

We are also partnered with the local Food Bank.  You always have the option of donating your share to the Food Bank.  At the end of each pick up we will box up the donated shares and extra food and have it available for the food bank to pick up.

How do the pick-ups at the farm work?

When you arrive, we will ask you to sign in on the sign-in sheet and proceed to the table.  Then you will start at one end of the produce table and work your way through.  The produce will be displayed ‘market style’ with signs that will tell you how much you get this week, i.e. one head of lettuce, 6oz. salad mix, 4 tomatoes, etc.  There are some items that you will weigh out yourself, such as spinach, salad mix, snap peas, etc. There will always be Osage staff on site to help you and to answer any questions.  We ask that you bring your own bags to put the produce into, including bringing some smaller plastic bags for the smaller items.  We will always take any grocery bags that you want to donate and we will gladly reuse the organic twist ties that surround your bunches of beets, carrots or radishes. 

How do the pick-ups in Glenwood and Carbondale work?

The shares for the off farm pickups will be presorted and boxed in our reusable cardboard boxes.  The boxes will be stored in our refrigerated truck that will be parked at the Sunlight Ski and Bike Shop in Glenwood or at the Carbondale Community Food Coop in Carbondale.  When you arrive, please sign in and then collect a box from one of the CSA attendents.  Transfer the food from the box into your own canvas sacks, grocery bags, box, etc. and return the empty box.

Do we have to work on the farm?  Do you have any working shares?

At this time we do not have any working shares –only paying shares.  We may have working shares in the future, so if you are interested please let us know so we can keep that in mind for the future.  If you are interested in helping out on the farm, we will have volunteer days to help with the food we are growing for the food bank and Farm Gleaning Days at the end of the season to help clean the farm up and harvest everything before winter.  We will also be offering tours at the beginning of each season for you to come check out where your food is being grown.

What will we get?  What is in a share?

Part of being part of a CSA is learning about what grows seasonally and locally as well as taking on part of the risk of a farm.  We can’t guarantee certain veggies or quantities too far in advance and if caterpillars are attacking our lettuces or the tomatoes were hit with a virus and are being nursed back to health then those items might not be available for that week or even for several weeks.  Bugs are a natural part of growing and since our farm is 100% organic, we will not douse the plants with any poisons or pesticides.

Members also get to take advantage of our bounty.  When we have extra or unusual items, we like to pass that on to our CSA members also.  For example, we've given out squash blossoms, garlic scapes, 1 pound of basil, dried peppers, snap dragon stems, etc. 

That said, we can tell you what we are planning to grow and give you some sample pick up lists so you can get an idea of what your share may be like! 

For the Summer CSA Program 2010 we are growing: beans, broccoli, boc choy, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, cucumbers, eggplant, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, melon, onion (red, yellow and green), peas, peppers, potatoes, pumpkins, radishes, snap peas, spinach, sprouts, summer and winter squash, tomatoes, tomatillos, turnips and zucchini.   Within each crop we usually grow several varieties as well as some fun and interesting varieties such as purple carrots, peppers, beans and potatoes, mini stripped eggplant, specialty tomatoes and squashes and much more! Also, since we are a culinary herb farm, there will almost always be herbs included in the share! 

Here is a four-week sample share from our Summer 2009 CSA Program:

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