Official CSA Start Dates and How the Drop-Offs will Work!

Abby working hard on
the transplanter!

Hi everyone!  So, who's excited for the start of CSA season?!?!  I certainly am, and I bet you all are too!  We've got some exciting updates and some details worked out for how the drop-offs will go, so read on!

Official CSA Start Dates!

Alma:  Monday, June 22 from 5-6 PM, out in front of His Place. (200 W. Superior St, Alma).

Mt. Pleasant:  Tuesday, June 23 from 5-6 PM behind Herbs, Etc. (503 E. Broadway St, Mt. Pleasant).

Lansing: Wednesday, June 24 from 4:30-9:00 PM at the Soup Spoon Café.  (1419 E. Michigan Ave, Lansing).  

Okemos:  Wednesday, June 24 from 4:30- 6 PM at Mert's Specialty Meats (1870 W. Grand River Ave, Okemos).

St. Johns:  Wednesday, June 24 anytime after 3:30.  I'll send you guys a separate email with the address since it's at someone's house, and I want to protect her privacy. :-)

Midland:  Thursday, June 25 from 5-6 PM in the back parking lot of Eagle Ridge Church of God. (2808 Waldo Ave, Midland).

Midland hospital:  Thursday, June 25 anytime after 4:00, in the seating area behind the Center for Women's Health.  (There's a delivery area off of Campus Ridge Drive with a short delivery parking lane and a sidewalk that leads up to the back of the building.  There are some nice picnic tables in the shade, and that's where your shares will be.)  

And I get this question every year, so I'll preemptively answer it, in case you're wondering.  The Midland hospital drop-off is only for hospital employees, because they have regulations preventing non-hospital staff from picking up there.  So if you work at the hospital and would like to switch to this drop-off, let me know!  And if you don't work at the hospital, I'll have to keep you on the list for the regular drop-off!  Sorry! :-)

If you have home or workplace delivery, your share will be dropped off on the day for your town, and we'll likely be delivering it on our way to the regular drop-off.  So expect your share sometime between 3:00 and 4:30 on your drop-off day!  We'll drop off your share next to your front door, so if that spot is particularly sunny and you won't be able to bring your share in right away, you'll want to place a cooler out there so your veggies don't wilt!

How it Will Work

Every year, I have information in the newsletter about what folks can expect at their first drop-off.  It's old news for the veteran CSA members who know the routine, but it's useful information for the newbies, who aren't sure what to expect the first time they pull up to their drop-off location.  But this year, it will be a little different for everyone, and we're all figuring out this new way of doing things together!

For the Lansing, Okemos, St. Johns, and Midland hospital drop-offs, and for people with home or workplace delivery, it will be exactly like it has been in the past.  For the CSA first-timers at these drop-offs (Welcome!!!), here's what to expect!  Each weekend, keep an eye on the newsletter, because that will tell you what your options will be for your pre-packed share.  It will say something like, "Share A has these 7 items, share B has these 7 items, and share C has these 7 items."  Then if you have a half share, you'll choose one of those options, and if you have a full share, you'll choose two of them.  Just send me an email by noon the day before your drop-off (so if your drop-off is Wednesday, you'll want to let me know your choice by Tuesday at noon), and we'll bring you your preferred share.  If I don't hear from you, we'll just choose for you. :-)

For the Lansing and Okemos drop-offs, you'll arrive at your drop-off location during the specified time window on Wednesday, tell a staff person your name, and they'll get your prepacked CSA share for you.  Easy!  For you St. Johns folks, I'll be sending you a separate email soon, so be on the lookout for that!

At the Midland hospital, just pull up in the delivery drive off of Campus Ridge behind the Center for Women's health, walk up the sidewalk, and find your share on the picnic tables.  We'll have your share in a bag with your name on it, and if you have a full share, your two bags will be tied together.  I'll be sure to make the labels clearly visible without touching the bags, so you don't have to worry that other people have touched your bag before you got there. :-)

At the Alma, Mt. Pleasant, and Midland drop-offs, we'll be doing a hybrid between our traditional market-style drop-offs, and having prepacked shares.  You can pick up your share in one of three ways:

• We'll pre-pack your share for you at the farm, and you don't even have to get out of your car at the drop-off!  When you pull up, hold a piece of paper with your name on it out your window (the bolder, the better, so if you have markers around, that would be awesome!)  And we'll grab your share and bring it to you in your car!
• Or, you can choose to have your share pre-packed at the farm, and you can get out of your car, come up to a table where we'll have a lot of pre-packed shares set out, and grab your bag from the table and say hi to us.  We'll have the labels clearly visible so you don't have to rifle through other bags to find yours.
• Or, you can go through the line and pick out your veggies from the stations in the traditional way.  For the newbies, here's how it works.  We'll have all the produce set up on long tables, and there will be seven "stations".  At each station, there will be a sign telling you what the choices are for that station, and how many you should take.  For example, "Spring mix or Romaine, half share choose one bag, full share choose two bags."  Then you go on down the line, choosing your items at each station.  Then at the end, we'll have our Trading Station.  Normally, people can trade an item from one of the stations down at the end for something they like better.  For example, if you don't really want spring mix or romaine, but you'd love to grab an extra bunch of carrots, you can trade for some carrots that are down at the Trading Station.  These days, we're trying to minimize how many people touch an item, so if you want to trade, just let me or Fred know, and we'll take the item you want to trade down to the Trading Station for you, and you can choose the item you want.  That way, the only people touching your produce before you get it are the people who already touched it while we were harvesting and packing it at the farm. :-)

Safety Protocols at the Drop-off

• Please make sure you're staying six feet away from people!
• Please wear a mask while you go through the line or pick up your share!  If you're more than six feet away from any people or produce, then you can take off your mask if you need to.
• It's just fine to bring your reusable bags (we encourage it!), but once an item goes in there, you can't trade it for something else!
• Please make your selection before you touch any produce items!  If you want a specific head of broccoli or a certain tomato that's hard to reach, just let us know, and we'll grab it for you!
• We will be selling eggs at the drop-off!  If you know beforehand that you want to buy some eggs, email me and I'll email you an invoice with a payment link, or you can bring us an envelope with cash or check.  Or if you don't know beforehand that you want to buy some eggs, I'll write down your name and how many dozen you purchased, and I'll email you the invoice when I get home.
• Instead of having the sign-in sheet with the communal pen like we've always had, I'll be signing in folks this year!  This might get me in trouble, because I know for a fact that there are some people I've been seeing every summer for five years, whose names I wouldn't be able to conjure up.  So if that is you, I am so sorry!  This will be an embarrassing but necessary opportunity to correct this egregious error!

So that's it!  If there is anything that I've forgotten about, or any question that I haven't answered, send me an email!  And we are so looking forward to seeing all of you the week of the 22nd!!!