Check the list at your pickup site to make sure you get what you are supposed to receive. You are responsible for making sure that you get all your food. When you come to pick up, we will ask if you have trades (if you emailed a trade, we will have your receipt ready). Anything with a price next to it is tradeable, and at the pickup site, we put a box around all the items you can trade as well. We’ll walk through with you and give you each item for you to pack in your bags, and then we’ll take care of your trades.
The list at your pickup site may be different from the list in the newsletter because sometimes, things happen–-deliveries don’t come as scheduled, deer eat the radicchio, a freeze comes, etc.
Speaking of bags, new members will receive two Fair Shares bags per membership fee paid. If you are sharing a full share, and want your share partner to receive their bag the following week, let us know at the first pickup, and you may want to bring an extra bag. Please bring your bags every week! If you prefer to use your own bags, a box, or a cooler, that is up to you, but please, keep something in your cars to carry your groceries home in for those unexpected days when something comes up.
The food lists will be numbered and labeled with a pickup group, and will include the producer and the item. For instance:
1. FSA
American Grassfed Beef–ground
Yellow Wood Kale
Yellow Wood Carrots
Del Carmen Black Beans
Marcoot Cheese Choice
MO Grain Project Wheat Flour
River Hills Poultry Alliance Eggs
Gringo’s Tortilla Chips
Family Harvest Salsa
Companion Bagels
The list above is in order of frozen (ground beef) to cold (produce, black beans, cheese, flour, eggs) to dry (chips, salsa, bagels). What, refrigerated flour? Yes! The flour and mixes we get are ground fresh locally and will keep longer and better if kept refrigerated. If there is any ambiguity in the list, just ask. And by the way, if you won’t be eating all your bread in a day, slice it and freeze it. No preservatives means it doesn’t stay fresh for a week.
Produce doesn’t always come in consistently from week to week, being subject to the laws of nature, but we attempt to give everyone a chance to try it all. Welcome to eating locally and seasonally. If you start feeling uninspired with certain foods, try new recipes, prepare dishes you can freeze for the winter, make baby food, give it to friends, feed your compost, donate it to food banks or leave it with us and we’ll donate it for you.