Two Gander Farm

+ Becoming a Part of Our Farm

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a 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. By selling membership in advance of the growing season, 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. Our CSA runs for 23 of weeks, from the first week of June until the first week of November. Members are responsible for showing up at their chosen pickup location every week to pick up shares of freshly harvested produce.

+ Share size, value and contents

We offer two share sizes for you to choose from, depending on your household size and frequency of produce use.
On-farm pick "free choice" CSA share info: Full shares are $1107.45 (avg. $48.15/week), 11-12 items per week. Half shares are $810.75 (avg. $35.25/week), 7-8 items per week. For on-farm pick-up, the price includes U-Pick crops when in season.

We do our best every season to plan for well rounded shares with appealing diversity. Our expected CSA crops listed on the Summer CSA page on our website is based on our best intentions, but of course weather, pests, and other events can affect actual production.

Shares being picked up at the farm are "free choice" market style pick-up to offer a full range selection of products for our members.

Bryn Mawr Farmers Market pick-up info: This is a full service, free choice and custom packed CSA share option delivered to the Bryn Mawr Farmers market every Saturday for 23 weeks, from June-November. CSA members select their produce online each week using credits assigned per item. Fully customized pre-packed shares include an administration and service charge that gets divided over the 23 week CSA season.

Full shares: 42 credits per week allocated to each week's share for 23 weeks. Avg. 10-11 items per week. Total cost=$1242. Full shares are suitable for families of 4 or more.

Half shares: 28 credits per week are allocated to each week’s share for 23 weeks. Avg. 7-8 items per week. Total cost=$891.25. Half shares are suitable for an individual, or couple.

We send out a newsletter every Monday listing expected items for the week. We strive to ensure this list is correct, but reserve the right to substitute or change the quantities of any items as needed due to weather, yield or other factors.

+Payment

We use a program called Farmigo to help manage the financial interactions between our customers and our farm. With it, Two Gander subscribers have online access to their own accounts. We accept payment via Paypal (credit card), or mail-in paper checks. You can pay in full, or spread payments out over 3 installments. The first installment will be due at the time of sign-up, the remaining two will due on the first of the month for the two months following first installment payment.

If you choose to mail a check instead of subimitting an e-check, payments are due within 10 days of sign-up to hold your spot. Checks can be made out to Two Gander Farm, and mailed to Two Gander Farm at 110 Buck Road, Downingtown, PA 19335.

If you are signing up after May 1st, payments will be due in full.

+ shared Risk/shared reward

Sharing in the Risk of Crop Failure

We promise to do our best to provide you with a bountiful share each week. Despite our best efforts, it is possible that extreme weather, insects, disease or other production factors could effect product diversity or quantity. This is the nature of farming, and involves things beyond our control. By joining our CSA, you are agreeing to share the risk of crop failure with us and other members. In the event of a total crop failure, our procedure is as follows: If only a small portion of crops fail, we compensate for the failed crops by filling your share with other crops grown on the farm that are ready for harvest at that time. We may cover for a crop loss by buying in from other local farmers if we find it necessary. If we choose this route, we will always communicate which items were bought in, and where they came from. In this case, we try to buy from other certified organic growers. This may not be a feasible option for all crops because of cost or widespread failure.

Sharing in the Reward of Crop Surplus

In addition to our CSA, our farm sells to farmers markets, restaurants, and wholesale distributors. There are some specialty crops that we grow that do not get offered through our CSA, such as microgreens, ginger and turmeric due to space limitations and cost of production. We balance priority of the CSA with our other markets. This allows us to select a consistently full and diverse share to our customers while avoiding over-delivering any one product. If we experience a surplus of any crop, we will certainly share this with you. Sometimes this means more produce than you can handle. If this is not desired, you do not have to take it. If you wish to purchase bulk quantities of produce for home processing (canning, pickling, freezing, etc) we are willing to offer those items at a wholesale cost for our CSA customers if quantities are available.**

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+ Refunds/Cancellations

We plan our yearly farm production around a set number of shares, and we rely on our CSA members’ financial commitment for the full season. However, we understand that life can change. We issue membership refunds on a case by case basis. You are able to transfer membership to another person if you move, or find that CSA is just not for you. Please read our policies carefully before you join and ask any questions not addressed on our website. ​ If you have any issues with your membership, please reach out to us so we can address any problems as soon as they arise. We would much rather work out a problem than lose a member. We are committed to providing you with the highest quality produce possible, and would like the opportunity to address any concerns.
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In the event that Two Gander Farm is unhappy with a member’s participation in our CSA, we reserve the right to cancel membership and refund the remaining balance at our discretion.

+ Vacation/Missed Pick-ups

If you cannot pick up your share due to vacation or scheduling conflict, you may arrange for someone else to pick it up for you if you still wish to receive your share that week. Many of our members let friends or family enjoy their shares while they are on vacation. You are responsible for explaining the pick-up location and procedures to your substitute. You don’t need to notify us- you just need to tell your replacement to check your name of the list in the sign-in area. If you can't find a substitute, you can place a hold on your pick-up on Farmigo member site, and we'll allow for a double share for you at a future date that you choose.

We are unable to accommodate pick-ups on alternative days outside of regularly scheduled times. Our pick-up area is only staffed on Tuesdays and Thursdays during normal pick-up hours, and display is only set up on those days.

Changing pick-up days: On-farm pick up days are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1-7pm. If you need to change your pick-up day temporarily, just send us an email at twoganderfarm@gmail.com to notify us that you will be switching days. We prefer that members stick to one day, but can accomadate occasional changes.

If you wish to change your pick-up day permanantly, this can be done through Farmigo member portal.

+ Shared memberships/pick-ups

If you choose to share a CSA membership with another family, one person will need to be the primary contact and be responsible for registering and paying for a subscription. You are solely responsible for coordinating and splitting all payments, pick-ups and share dividing with your share partner. Two Gander Farm is not responsible for any missed pick-ups or payments due to the splitting of a share.

There are two ways to split a CSA share: One is to alternate weeks with the other member if you are splitting a half share, or for full shares to be slit evenly between 2 members each week by splitting # of items. (Ex: each member chooses 6 items during pick-up).

U-Pick policy for split shares: only one family can pick per week/membership. We recommend alternating weeks for U-Pick for members splitting shares.

+ Share pick-up procedures and etiquette

You are responsible for picking up your share each week from your pick-up site, and observing pick-up site rules, which are as follows:

1. On-farm pick-up: please bring your own bags for pick-up. We do provide small bags for pick your own crops. If you are picking up at the farm, be mindful of small children and pets when driving in our out, especially when passing the U-pick parking. Speed limit in the driveway is 15mph.
2. Bryn Mawr pick-up: Bring your own bag and leave the box at the site or return last week’s box every week.
3. Pick up your share within the time frame stated. Please don't come early, it's in your best interest to come when the set-up is complete so you have a full selection.

Dog Policy: We love dogs, but due to food safety regulations, we cannot allow dogs anywhere inside food production area (which is anywhere inside of the deer fence). This includes the U-Pick area. Thanks for your understanding.

+ Communication

The best way to communicate with us is through email. You can contact CSA manager Deirdre Flemming at twoganderfarm@gmail.com. Please do not send us messages through our Facebook page. We will do our best to respond as soon as possible (we don't always have phones on us out in the field). Please update us if you change your email so you can continue to receive newsletters throughout the CSA season. Please let us know what you think! If you are dissatisfied in any way, or have suggestions, we want to hear about it. We are committed to providing the best CSA experience possible to our members!

Weekly Newsletters: When you sign up, you will be automatically added to our weekly newsletter, which starts a week before CSA begins. The newsletter comes out on Monday evenings, and will include a list of crops we will have available for the week, recipe ideas, or other farm related news.
We are currently using Constant Contact for generating newsletters- check your “promotions” folder if you don’t see our emails in your inbox. Add twoganderfarm@gmail.com to your address book to protect our communications from spam filters.

Reading the emails in advance helps families select the items they would like for the week. Many members come with a list of pre-selected items, which makes pick-up easier for them.

+ Your Privacy

We don’t share your personal information with third parties. Period! All CSA member info is stored on secure Farmigo registration site.