Program Areas
Interactive Areas
Site Information
a community farming cooperative
GROWN
Locally
Food Basket
The
Concept of
the Food Basket
The
GROWN Locally Food Basket was originally designed from listening to folks
in the area who were intrigued by our Farm Shares program which has been
operating for 8 seasons, but were, for different reasons unable to participate.
Some of the reasons they stated were that they had their own gardens and
would not need many of the products we would pack in a share box, they
had a few particular mouths to feed in their household, they would be
out of town enough during the season that they would not be able to get
enough value from a weekly dellvery or that their food needs differed
enough from week to week that they felt they could not utilize a share
box.
So, our decision was either to write off these folks - who would have purchased items from us, but would not have purchased a share - or to find a way to address their particular needs and desires. The GROWN Locally Food Basket is what we have developed, with some wonderful help from SARE from whom we received a start-up grant, as a solution for folks who, for whatever reason, would not have been shareholders in Sunflower Fields Farm Shares, but want to purchase fresh. local foods.
Through the Food Basket,
families can now order their products on a week by week basis according
to their needs by logging onto this website and choosing prducts from
our current inventory. In addition, Food Basket members can place standing
orders for products they know they would like whenever we have them availbale
and can also place once-a-season orders for bulk produce to can or freeze.
As growers, we are climbing out on the "grow on spec" limb a bit more than with our Farm Shares program, so to help ourselves, we are asking Food Basket members to fill out a pre-season survey thet lists all our products and tell us what they might be needing, in general amounts, during the season. This gives us a pretty good idea of what we will need to supply so we are not caught short or have huge over-run.
The basic concept of the GROWN Locally Food Basket allows more choice - choice being the important word in all this - for families wthout making this an unreasonable burden for the farmers. Many people enjoy our Farm Shares program with regular delivery, the variety of fresh vegetables and the "surprise" each week. But others are finding that the Food Basket matches the needs and tastes of their particular situation. No matter which program you choose, you will get our best - best food, best effort, best service - because you are our best resource. Thanks!