Shares for Farm and Local Pick Up
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At the farm, we offer Community Supported Agriculture shares to over 300 households. Our harvest season runs from June through December, and shareholders can join for either a twelve week share, a twenty-five week share, a once-a-month share of the harvest, or a December share. Share pick up days are Tuesdays and Thursdays 2-7pm, and Saturdays 9am-1pm. Shareholders come for the share once a week, and can come whichever day is convenient in any given week. We also deliver pre-boxed shares once a week to central locations in Greenfield (MA), Keene, and Brattleboro.
Our shares contain eight to nine different crops each week. Picadilly shares are designed for one household, and feed 2-4 people on average. Shareholders who come to the farm can choose their eight to nine items “Mix and Match” style. Here’s how it works: we bring in the day’s harvest, with anywhere from 15-30 different crops in the mix. Shareholders choose what they’d like, within a few parameters that we define, customizing the share each week to their own tastes. Some crops may be limited, while others abundant, depending on the week and weather.
The entire share is grown on our family farm, and is certified organic. The harvest changes as the season progresses, from tender spring greens, sweet strawberries and crisp carrots; to mouth-watering summer melons and tomatoes; to crisp autumn broccoli and sweet roots and squash. We take special attention in our planning to grow an abundance of the “basics” all season long, with a well-varied smattering of less common crops. Though the New England harvest season typically rises to a brilliant crescendo in the late summer and fall, we plant our fields with a view toward a steady season-long harvest, and a consistent share size, all season long. In the winter, we take the opportunity to reflect on the year’s lessons, including feedback from shareholder surveys, so as to tweak our growing plans for the coming season.
In addition to the produce we harvest for shareholders, we also plant a shareholder Pick-Your-Own Garden. This one-acre field features green beans, peas, herbs, cut flowers, cherry and paste tomatoes, edamame, hot peppers and strawberries. We do invite all shareholders to come out to the farm to enjoy the Pick-Your-Own Garden, and to join us for farm potlucks and harvest days.
Every Saturday morning, we email a weekly newsletter to shareholders, listing and describing what is in the share. We include farm news, recipes, and ideas for using the less common veggies in the share.
All of this adds up to a pretty lovely share of the harvest, and we hope you’ll join us! As a shareholder, you support every aspect of operating our farm – from paying a living wage to ourselves and our farm crew, to caring for the soil with the long view in mind, to growing our food with organic and other best practices. Thank you!
Share Options for 2015
The Full Season Share runs twenty-five weeks, from the beginning of June through Thanksgiving. The cost is $600, with a sliding scale from $550-$700 available. We ask that shareholders pay $600 or higher, unless you are low income. We have several payment options, detailed on the sign-up form, with the requirement that share is paid in full by the first share distribution in June. We offer the subsidized end of the sliding scale for sign-ups through April 15, 2015.
The Summer Share runs twelve weeks, from the end of June through the middle of September. The cost is $340, with a sliding scale from $300-$365. We ask that shareholders pay $340 or higher, unless you are low income. We have several payment options, detailed on the sign-up form below, with the requirement that the share is paid for in full by by the first share distribution in June. We offer the subsidized end of the sliding scale for sign-ups only through April 15, 2015.
The Once-a-Month Share. This now-popular share includes six share pick ups over the course of the harvest season, shareholders choice of pick-up day each month. The cost is $165, and must be paid in full by May 31. This share includes the full barn share and the pick-your-own share on the day of the pick up. Once-a-Month Shareholders will receive the farm newsletter every Saturday of our 25 week season, and are welcome for any shareholder events on the farm. Once-a-Month Shares make great gifts, and are also nice for gardeners who want to occasionally add Picadilly produce to their own harvests. Once-a-Month Shares are limited to one share per household, and are for on-farm share pick up only.
The December Share includes two pick-ups of a pre-boxed share, for $80. Each of the two share distributions fills a 1 1/9 bushel box. Shares are available for pick up on the farm, or in Keene at The Work’s Cafe. Pick up dates are the first and third Thursdays in December. We email a newsletter from the farm with each share, including information about the vegetables and our favorite recipes for serving them up. We harvest each crop as it is ready, for distribution and for storage in appropriate conditions. The precise mix of veggies that fills each box depends on the weather conditions, both throughout the growing season and in December.
Frequently Asked Questions about Picadilly Farm Shares
What if I miss my share pick up? Missed shares cannot be picked up in future weeks. If you are unable to pick up your share in any given week, you may certainly send a friend or neighbor to the farm in your place. Know that the farm’s harvest is never wasted – twice a week,the surplus from our harvest is donated to the Winchester food pantry and The Community Kitchen in Keene.
Can I have a Mix and Match share if I pick up off the farm (in Keene or Brattleboro)? We send a pre-set box to shareholders at off-farm pick up sites. These shares include our pre-determined mix of 8-9 items, plus a Pick-Your-Own item for half the season (or more). Off-farm shareholders are welcome to pick up a Mix and Match share at the farm whenever life allows, and to harvest from the Pick Your Own garden.
Can I do Pick-Your-Own if I usually pick up off the farm (in Keene or Brattleboro)? Yes! In any week, you may come to the farm for the PYO. You may also pick up your share at the farm, instead of receiving the pre-packed box, just by emailing Jenny by Monday evenings.
Can we share a share with a second household? Please consider having your own share. We have designed our system for share pick-up at the farm with one household in mind for each share, and we prefer that each household with two adults (or more) buy their own share. We realize that there may be reasons to share a share – single person households, or shareholders who travel a lot, for instance. If you do share a share among multiple households, please do so with attention the impact of two on a system designed for one, as well as the following reminder: we expect that shareholders take their entire weekly share in one visit to the farm – please do not come to the farm and take a partial or “half” share, leaving another half for your share partner to pick up at another time. Please come to the farm with your share partner, alternate pick-up weeks, or split the share at home.
If your share is pre-boxed and delivered to one of our pick-up sites of the farm, splitting the contents of your box has no impact on the farm, as long as everyone who ends up doing the pickup has been introduced to the established systems of which box to take, and where put empty box returns.
