Shilofarm CSA

crops

FAQ    Answers to questions…

Any CSA is intended for people who love to get hands on with fresh produce. Your box will show up on your porch, and then you start – first – clean (there may be passengers!) and bag and chill the greens, store the roots and fruits as needed. The first question to answer – what was in the box, and the second is what would be great to make? The CSA has lots of varieties and types, all of which change with the season.

Growing our crops is almost a year long process – something that fits the four-season model we follow. Of course, the main season is the real heart of the garden – but the other seasons all have a purpose and meet the needs of some members.

  • Four seasons:
    • Winter – a very difficult season, mostly very cool season crops grown in the greenhouse. Six weeks in 2025 as above.
    • Green – early cool season crops – Asparagus, lots of greens. Some berries may show up near the end, depending on how cold April is, and if we can keep the birds out. Boysen and Raspberries…
    • Main – June till mid-September (16 weeks)- This is the ‘main’ garden time, with the most variety, the highest volume, and those wonderful summer veggies.
    • Xtended – 8 weeks from mid-September till the first week of November. Squash, late cool season crops, and Squash. Did we tell you about Squash?

Start of Winter Season (6 weeks)

Week 8

Feb 17th

Start of Green Season (8 weeks)

Week 14

March 30th

Start of Main Season (16 weeks)

Weed 22

May 25th

Start of Extended Season (8 weeks)

Week 38

September 14th

  • Delivery or farm call:
    • Delivery is  Wednesday for Lacey, Friday for Olympia. Usually try to leave the farm by noon to put things on your porch.
    • Farm Call is Tuesday from 3-5PM. Note that FarmCall is able to support partial season membership easily. It is also a call first arrangement so that some pre-picking can be ready for your visit.

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Per Box

with delivery

Personal

$27.50

$30

Full

$37.50

$40

  • Main Season Partial Season Membership
    • We have 4 week windows in each season – it seems onerous for some to lock up veggies all summer when travel and such come… if you want to sign up for some 4 week windows, well, that can be done. We do ask that you sign up for at least four, and let us know early enough to plant accordingly. Obviously…

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Key Produce

W1

leafy greens, radishes, salad turnips? (only 2 weeks)

W2

leafy greens, radish, turnip, Nantes carrots – if they make it…

G1

leafy greens, herbs, bok choi, cabbages, root crops

G2

possibly add asparagus, maybe some berries?

M1

more berries, maybe rhubarb, brassicas, early taters, cukes, toms, beets?

M2

add summer squash, carrots, tomatoes

M3

peppers, eggplant, apples, beans

M4

add corn…

X1

melons, if we are lucky.

X2

add winter squash, sweet potatoes

  • Varieties:
    • There are two common misunderstandings about a CSA, First, it is not a farmer’s market. That is, you can’t ‘just get what you want.’ The idea is that each delivery is basically going to be containing some of the same sort of things (lettuce, for example), and some things you may never of cooked or eaten (Turnips come to mind).
    • The Second misunderstanding is that you can just leave it on the counter till you get to it to eat it in a few days. That can be a very bad experience. There have been known to be live passengers on some produce, for the worst thing. The second thing is that quite a few of the greens really hate to be cut and in the open warm air. You should know if you sign up that you need to grab your box, wash and store appropriately. It is especially nasty to get a box back to the farm which was filled with rotted veggies. Ugh.
    • There is a degree of selection available each week. That said, it relies on a distribution of what is ripe across the whole of the members. A member is given a list at the beginning of their membership to tell us favorites and “never evers,” which allows the farm to plan accordingly.


Boxes of Goodness ready to go