CSA Member Agreement

We, the farm, wish to provide you with fresh, local, certified organic, seasonal food and you, the member, wish to receive a portion of our harvest. This agreement outlines our shared commitments to that relationship.

Intro: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a mutually beneficial relationship between our farm and you as our customer. Rather than simply purchasing food, our customers become “members” of this CSA farm who receive a portion of the farm’s harvest.

Farm Contact Information:
Blooming Glen Farm
Tom Murtha and Tricia Borneman, farmers and owners
98 Moyer Rd, Perkasie, Pa 18944
email: info@bloomingglenfarm.com
phone: 215-257-2566

Length of Season: Our CSA runs for a total of 24 weeks, starting late May and going into early November.

Pick-up days: Members are responsible for picking up their share at the farm on their designated pick-up day, either on Tuesday or Thursday, between 1-7 pm. *You may do any of the pick-your-owns until 7:30pm, however please check in and get your pre-crated share before 7pm.
Full share members pick-up weekly.
Half share members pick-up every other week, on their assigned A or B week.

U-Pick crops: Throughout the season your share will include various “Pick-your-own” crops. These are items that are easy to pick, but too time-consuming for the farmers to harvest cost-efficiently.  In addition to vegetables and herbs, this also includes pick-your-own flowers for at least a total of 8 weeks (or 4 for half shares). For insurance reasons, you will need to bring your own clippers for harvesting.

Flower shares: For those who are not interested in vegetables, you may purchase JUST the 8-week PYO flower share which will run from early July to late August. You will be notified of the start date via email. You may come to the farm once a week for 8 weeks to pick a large flower bouquet (we will provide a vessel). You may pick the flowers at the farm Tuesday and Thursday’s 1-7pm. You will need to bring your own clippers for harvesting.

What if I go on vacation? One option is to “Share your Share” with a friend. You can have someone else pick up your share while you are gone. However, you are responsible for explaining the pick-up location and procedures to your substitute. Another option is to change your pickup day from a Tuesday to a Thursday or vice versa. Half share members will also have the option of occasionally flip flopping their week from A to B or vice versa if their pick-up falls on a week that you are away. Just let us know by email by 7pm Friday the week before you wish to switch. Unfortunately, because we harvest a precise number of shares each harvest day, we cannot accommodate last minute switches. Cheese share members must let us know of any pickup switches for the following week by THURSDAY at 7pm.

What happens to my share if I forget to pick up? Blooming Glen Farm has partnered with Rolling Harvest Food Rescue. Rolling Harvest Food Rescue collects donated produce from local farms and markets and distributes immediately to the non-profit hunger-relief agencies helping the neediest families in our community.  If you have not made prior arrangements for someone to pick up for you, or to switch pick up days, at our discretion, some or all of any unclaimed shares will then be donated to Rolling Harvest, or to a local volunteer who will distribute them to families in need. Please note that once the pick-up is over, pick-up is over. If you forget to pick up on Tuesday, that does not mean you can just show up on Thursday, or vice versa. We harvested for you; it is your responsibility to be there to pick it up. We are not able to hold food for you to pick-up at a later time or day.

Pick-up protocol or “what do I do when I get there?”:
Closer to the first CSA pick-up you will receive an email with any specific information you may need for picking up. Since 2020 and Covid, we now pre-package your shares for you in a crate. You will wait in line, check in, and receive your crated veggie share and any optional share add-ons (for example, cheese, mushrooms, fruit, eggs). You will need to bring your own bags, box, cooler or baskets to take your produce home in. You will unpack the crate at your car, and immediately return the empty crate to a designated pallet in the parking lot.  If there are any pick-your-own crops that week, you will be given instructions when you check in, and after receiving your share, you can then head out to the field to pick.

Our growing practices:
We follow organic growing practices. We strive to be good stewards of the land by maintaining and enhancing soil, water and air quality through sustainable farming practices. We encourage and support a small farm ecosystem of diverse plants, birds and pollinators. Our crops are grown without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides or genetically modified organisms. We use compost, cover crops, mulching and crop rotation to encourage healthy soil and plants and to build long term fertility. We believe a healthy body is inseparable from a healthy soil. Our farm has been growing since 2006 and is certified organic through Pennsylvania Certified Organic (PCO).

Harvest expectations: The list below outlines some of the vegetables we hope to have and when you may see them in your share. This list is based on our best estimate and experience, but of course weather, pests, and other events will affect actual production and timing. Items marked with a * are pick-your-own crops.

Late Spring/ Early Summer (weeks 1-7): arugula, *beans, beets, bok choy, broccoli raab, cabbage, carrots, celery, collards, cucumbers, escarole, fennel, garlic scapes, green garlic, herbs, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, new potatoes, radicchio, spinach, spring radishes, scallions, spring onions, *strawberries, *sugar snap peas, summer squash, swiss chard, hakurei turnips

Mid-Summer (weeks 8-16): *beans, beets, celery, *cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, kirby cucumbers, eggplant, fennel, garlic, hot peppers, lettuce, melons (cantaloupe and watermelon), onions, sweet peppers, potatoes, summer squash, spaghetti squash, swiss chard, plum and red slicing tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, tomatillos, herbs and *flowers

Late Summer/Fall (weeks 17-24): arugula, beets, bok choy, broccoli, broccoli raab, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, collards, celeriac, celery, eggplant, escarole, *flowers, fresh ginger, garlic, herbs, hot peppers, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, melons, onions, peppers, potatoes, radicchio, spinach, summer squash, sweet potatoes, swiss chard, tomatoes, tomatillos, turnips, winter radishes, winter squash.

Quantities:
On-farm shares will receive 10-15 items (full share members pick up weekly, half share members every other week on an assigned A or B week rotation).

We promise to do our best to provide you with a bountiful share each week. The quantity of produce, however, may vary from week-to-week due to extreme weather, insects, or other production factors despite our best efforts. By joining our CSA, you are agreeing to share the risk of crop failure with us and other members. We grow a large diversity of crops for this reason, so if one thing suffers, there is something else that is thriving.

In order to be a healthy economically viable farm, it is important to have both a diversity of crops and a diversity of markets. In a suburban county where competition is high for land use between developers and farmers, we face unique challenges to maintaining profitability, and strive to provide a model of a successful small sustainable farm under these conditions.

In addition to our CSA, our farm sells at two local farmers markets. We feel growing for various markets provides us with abundance to provide a balanced and diverse CSA share- one that does not under or overwhelm our members, taking into account that too much food can be as much a detriment to membership as too little food. Please note that we produce some items in greater abundance, or specifically for, our other outlets, just as we grow some items in greater abundance, or uniquely for, our CSA members.

Periodically throughout the season we will offer bulk vegetables for sale at wholesale prices for those in our community interested in canning and preserving. These case quantities will not be included as part of your regular CSA share. Crops like plum tomatoes are grown specifically for this reason. If you are interested in purchasing smaller quantities of “extra” vegetables on top of your CSA share, we recommend you visit us at one of the weekly farmer’s markets we attend. As a valued CSA member you will receive 10% off your total at our farmers market booth.

Food Safety: We take the safety of your food seriously. No matter what the end destination for our product is, our post harvest handling procedures are the same. We maintain high standards of quality and consistency – all our crops are handled according to Good Agricultural Practices (food safety guidelines), and if necessary, washed in our pack area before being distributed to our members. For your added protection, wash all produce again before eating.

Farm visitors and on-farm pick-up CSA members are held to the same food safety standards as our employees, as much as is reasonably possible. We ask that you wash your hands before picking up your share and before harvesting any pick-your-own crops. A port-a-potty is located for your convenience in the parking area by the silo with an adjacent hand washing station. Please wash your hands after using the bathroom. Please no eating in the pick-up room or in the fields. You may eat at the picnic tables by the Discovery Garden. Please wash your hands after eating and before handling produce. Water bottles and containers to pick into must be plastic- no glass is permitted in the pick-up rooms or in the fields. We ask that you do not handle any produce if you are ill, and that any bloody cuts or wounds are bandaged and covered with a glove. Any type of product contamination, by bodily fluids or otherwise, should be reported immediately to the CSA pick-up room greeter. No dogs are permitted in the fields or in the pick-up room- if you require a service animal, please let us know. No smoking is permitted at the farm.

Payment: By selling membership in advance of the growing season, the CSA reduces the burden of up-front costs for the farmer. Your membership fees provide us with money to purchase seed and equipment before the season starts, and we appreciate your commitment. Though we offer a payment plan, we do appreciate payment in full by check whenever possible, and all balances must be paid by June 1st.

All payments are non-refundable. You may find someone to take over your share if you are unable to continue yours.

Communication:
The best way to communicate with us is via email. Our email is info@bloomingglenfarm.com. We will do our best to respond as soon as possible, but we are often in the field growing your food and not at our desk. You may log in to your membership account on the website at any point to check payment status, or to change your contact information.

We will communicate with you by email. When you sign up, you will be added to our email distribution list. Please read the weekly Monday email from us. Every Monday in season, you will receive an email (whether you pick up weekly or alt-weekly) with the share contents for that week, as well as recipe links and veggie highlights. We do our best to communicate news, photos and information through our blog and through social media (Instagram and Facebook). We also have a thriving private Facebook Group just for CSA members that we highly encourage you to join. Every week we will post a photo of that week’s share on the Facebook page on Tuesday (early afternoon) with crops identified. If it is important to you to have a few days notice what will be in your share, we suggest you register for a Thursday pick-up, as the Tuesday Facebook post of the share photo will be what is also in the Thursday share. We also post weekly recipes on the blog, and you may find it helpful to search by ingredient through archived recipes. The private Facebook Group is another great resource for recipe swapping with other members.

Summary of Terms and Conditions:

In becoming a member of Blooming Glen Farm CSA, I recognize that due to the inherent risks of farming there are no guarantees on the exact amount or type of produce I will receive.

As a farm member myself and any other members of my household who will be picking up a share, I am responsible for learning how the Blooming Glen Farm CSA works and the specific pick-up protocol.

It is my responsibility to pick up my share at the designated time, or to have someone familiar with the pick-up process do so for me. If I do not pick-up my share at the designated place and time, I forfeit my share. At the discretion of the farm, my share will be donated to a food pantry, composted or redistributed. If I need to switch my pick-up day, I can do so with advance notice via email, by Friday at 7 pm prior to the week I wish to switch. Last minute switches cannot be accommodated.

I understand that there will often be pick-your-own crops, which may lengthen the time it takes me to pick up my share. However, I am free to come back within a week to do my pick-your-own’s, on either a Tuesday or Thursday from 1-7 pm.

All parties who split a share should understand that they are entitled to just one share in common, to be collected on the indicated day by one share partner and divided off site.

I also understand that if I cannot continue my share, I will not be refunded the share price.