Whether you're continuing from our Summer season or just joining us, we're looking forward to delivering your first Fall box of veggies next week. There are lots of moving parts involved in a home-delivery CSA. Here are some important points that you'll want to know when receiving shares from us. Worth a read or re-read!
Evening Deliveries. We expect to be delivering to your door sometime between 6pm and 10pm. Exact timing will depend on a variety of factors, and it might take our drivers a week or two to get the kinks out of their new routes. Some notes:
♦ Please contact us with specific instructions, i.e., back porch, front porch, unlocked vestibule, leave with doorman, locked gate, etc.
♦ We generally won't ring a doorbell or call after 9pm unless we have a prior OK to do so.
♦ In general, where we don't make a direct hand-off or otherwise make contact, we'll send you a text message upon delivery.
♦ If you have a locked gate or lobby and are planning to give us a key, please give it to your driver or make arrangements with Robin. Don't mail it to the farm!
♦ Please think ahead about how we should handle deliveries when you're not there.
♦ Unless you are able to directly receive your box, we strongly urge you to put a cooler out (where feasible) to receive your share.
♦ If you have any problems or concerns on the night of your delivery, please call or text Robin at 708-370-8017.
Vacations and Missed Weeks. Please give us some notice if you will be on vacation or otherwise need to cancel your box for one or more weeks.There are no refunds for missed weeks. You are, of course, welcome to have a friend pick up your box or, with enough notice, we can make a drop off to an alternate Chicago-area home. We also have an arrangement to deliver produce to the Rice Home in Evanston that serves children awaiting foster placement; if you don't designate an alternate delivery for your box, it will be donated to the Rice Home and incorporated into their daily meals and snacks.
What is it and what do I do with it? Our
website has a wealth of information about most of the crops we grow. Under the
Recipes & More tab you'll have access to
♦ our Crop Calendar with links to a separate page for each, including photos to help you identify what you've received, as well as storage tips and recipes ♦ a handy Recipe Index with recipes categorized by crop, season, meal type, and more ♦ a list of Preparation Tips which itemizes various styles of cooking and information on various methods of preserving fresh produce
Newsletters. We'll send this "sneak peek" newsletter on Fridays (or early Saturday) so you'll know heading into the weekend what you're likely to see in your box the following week; consider it our best guess with several days left before your box is packed. On your delivery day, we'll send a newsletter with the actual contents of your CSA box, as well as information about what it took to get it there. Chris will share what's happening at the farm, and some of the challenges and joys of farming.
Boxes and Packing Materials. We'll pack your produce in a waxed box. If you leave a cooler out, we will remove the produce and place it directly in the cooler. Many items, especially lettuce and greens, will come in plastic bags inside your box or cooler. While this means that your produce won't burst forward in a colorful display like you may have seen in photos of CSAs, it will be packed appropriately to maintain its freshness and enhance its longevity. Please return the boxes the following week. We'd also like to receive back the pint/quart containers from strawberries and tomatoes, and any unlabeled jars from our products.
An expanded version of these New Member Logistics is on our website, and be sure to poke around the CSA Members tab for other information just for you.. Welcome aboard! 
