Online Farmers Market & CSA (updated 01/17/2010 )

Our 2010 CSA is now full. However, we are accepting new

COD online market shoppers in January and February.

Email randy@starhollowfarm.com for more information.

From April through December we operate an outdoor farmers market in Adams Morgan, but all year long we run our online farmers market and web-based CSA, also for pickup in Adams Morgan. There we hand out boxes from our truck parked on Columbia Road adjacent to the market site. Pickup times vary with the season. In the winter (January through March) we hand out orders from 10 AM until 1 PM. From April to December, the months of the outdoor market season, the pickup times are 9 AM until 1 PM.

Our ONLINE FARMERS MARKET & CSA are discussed together as the CSA is web-based and ordered each week from within the online store. In terms of how they differ, it is mainly that our CSA members make a commitment to buy at least $300 worth of produce (the fee to join the CSA). Non-CSA members (i.e., COD orders) pay as they go, and pay a $3 packing/delivery fee with each order. Once inside the store, there is no difference between what either category of customer can shop for. If there is an item available, click on it and it's yours!

We have operated our online market for 5 full years now, and it's worked pretty well for us and our customers/members. We've filled over 20,000 orders for many satisfied folks.

ONLINE FARMERS MARKET: This is our online store (which, like most online stores, is a "shopping cart system") where you can go and shop for our produce online mid-week, then pick up your order in Adams Morgan on Saturday morning. Our online store is open 24 hours per week, from Wednesday mornings at 7 AM until Thursday mornings at 7 AM.  This is because we're not reasonably certain what will be ready for the weekend until Tuesday sometime, (and it takes several hours to "build" the store Tuesday evening); and we have to leave ourselves time to pick and prep all the produce for you and box up your orders. One of the most time-consuming aspects of the online market is "portioning" the items so they can be sold as units. This means weighing out an item into a 1-lb. or other size portion -- not always an easy job! Portioning and packing your orders take three or four or five of us all day Thursdays and Fridays. That's why the store's open only a short time. Beginning January, 2010, we'll be coming down every other Saturday, not every Saturday as we have in the past.

HOW OUR CSA WORKS: With our CSA, which runs year round, you sign up (more on how to do that below), then must go into the store each week you want a box and place your order. You can choose our prepacked CSA harvest box, shop entirely “a la carte,” or combine the two. If you don't want a box any week, you don't do anything. (Each Wednesday morning about 7 AM, when we open the store, we send out a “reminder email” to all the folks on our email list, with info about this week's produce, and a link into the online store.)

OUR PRODUCE: Not all the produce we provide is from our farm. We are a small farm and couldn't do it all. But we are located near a vegetable growers cooperative and live pretty near some old orchards and other small farms trying to make a living doing small-scale agriculture, so we are happy to provide you with a nice mix from all of those sources, from people and farms we know, in addition to our own produce. All CSA produce will be locally or (sometimes in the dead of winter) regionally grown.  Some is organic; some not. Each week the front page of the store (the "Storefront") includes a message about produce and what's going on on the farm. If your order a Harvest Box (the prepacked box of items we choose), we include a "menu sheet", showing what you are getting, including brief suggestions for preparation of unusual items.

HARVEST BOX SIZE: People regularly ask how many people the box will feed. The contents are based on the dollar value of the box: it may vary from $15 to $18 ($20-$25 in the winter, when we're only coming every 2 weeks), and usually contains at least 8 different items. We always try to have something green, and some tree fruit. Everything else varies with the season. How many will that feed? People's food usage varies so widely I can't say. (I could consume a small share by myself in half a week, but some couples say they can barely finish one in a week!) Try a box and determine for yourself if it's adequate for your needs. If not, adjust according to your needs by adding additional items a la carte.

CSA SIGN-UP: If our CSA sounds good to you, or you have further questions, email us (randy@starhollowfarm.com) and type "CSA info" in the subject line. I'll let you know if we are currently open for more members or not. We have a member limit, but the way our year-round store works, everyone is on a different schedule. If we are open for more members, we'll let you know that you can send us a check for $300. Once we receive it, you are a member and can begin ordering. Chris will keep track of your account in our accounting program and let you know when it's getting low. (Basically, you create a debit account with us and it gets used up however quickly or slowly you order.) Some folks run through four shares in a year, others take a year to use one up.

Thanks for your interest, and feel free to email with questions,

Randy & Chris Treichler, Star Hollow Farm
 

Photos (L to R): Chris & Randy, the truck in Adams Morgan.