CSA Delivery to your home
Hello --
I have read the posts about CSAs on the site -- thank you for all the information.
I'm wondering if any would delivery to my home. I used to do Farm Fresh to You but was really disappointed by it. Any others?
Thanks,
Sarah
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Just curious- what disappointed you about FFTY? I've been using their service for 4 years, and I've been pleased so far (and I live in SF).
›4 Replies-
re: rahir
Robert Lauriston
Feb 14, 2008 09:20 AM
A real community-supported agriculture (CSA) program is a direct relationship between subscribers in a few cities and a small family farm nearby. To minimize the amount of labor required, boxes are usually picked up at a few dropoff locations.
Farm Fresh to You delivers to a huge area, from as far north as Windsor and Roseville to as far south as San Jose. That demans more produce than they can grow on their farm (Capay Fruits & Vegetables), particularly in the winter, so they purchase from other farms. So it's a sort of hybrid of CSA and delivery service. They also have a straight delivery service for fruit and nuts, and a produce store in the Ferry Building.
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re: Robert Lauriston
Umm... Yeah, I understood that four years ago. In fact, I enjoy being able to support other farms near Capay, too. One of the big reasons why I went with FFTY was that they deliver to my home. With the other "dropoff location" CSAs, I'd have to take 2 buses (I live in the city, so no need for a car) over 20+ blocks to get my produce home every other week. During rush hour, this is just about impossible. I've been happy with the quality and quantity, plus I know love chard, kale, tomatoes (I grew up on Florida tomatoes which tasted like water), and strawberries. But thanks for dispelling the myths of what a CSA is. Guess I don't belong to a real one after all!
ETA: Om Organics defines CSA as, "CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) programs are a way to get affordable, organic produce delivered to your home, or to a drop-off point in your neighborhood. Each delivery contains a selection of produce from one or more farms."
Seems FFTY fits the bill. You may not like Capay (as noted in your previous posts), but they are a CSA. Many of the other CSA's in SF have numerous drop -off sites (Check Eatwell's site, for example). It's many more than "a few."
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re: rahir
Hey Rahir --
I used FFTY a few years back so things may have changed but sometimes it felt as if they had just gone to a local supermarket and bought organic items. I would get tomatoes in the plastic box. Spinach in the sealed plastic bag. Part of the reason I am interested in this is to cut down on waste and FFTY just wasn't helping. Occasionally I would get fruits clearly not grown anywhere near CA -- like organic Dole bananas. I asked about it and they told me that most of their produce was local but customers didn't want to go without fruits like bananas. Fair enough, but it wasn't what I was into.
I'm glad you're enjoying it though.
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re: SarahKC
Robert Lauriston
Feb 23, 2008 09:55 AM
I doubt that many CSA customers would complain about not getting imported fruit. A more plausible explanation is that FFTY just ran short and substituted bananas from their "snack pack" stock.
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re: Mel
They don't deliver to your home, but I know in Palo Alto area Two Small Farms has a TON of pick-up sites. I know of at least seven super close to me. They are alas on winter break. They begin again in March and I highly recommend them, as long as you don't have an aversion to getting a little different produce (e.g. you won't just get green beans, broccoli, lettuce and carrots. They do a lot of heirloom varieties...
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Full Belly Farm will deliver to your home for an additional fee.
From their web site...
"An order of produce costs $17 per week. The cost is $16.50 per week if you pay for three months in advance ($214.50 for 13 weeks), or $16 per week if you pay one year in advance ($784 for 49 consecutive weeks). Home or office delivery is available on Tuesday and Wednesday in selected East Bay locations for an extra charge of $6 per week."
http://www.fullbellyfarm.com/csa.html
