Frequently Asked Questions
Just about every question people have about Muddy Boots CSA is answered here. But, if you don’t see your question, please contact us and we will get you an immediate answer (and add your question to our FAQs!).
Purchase and Payment Questions
We participate in the NOFA-VT Farm Share Program!
The Farm Share Program provides fresh, local foods to Vermonters in need of financial assistance via reduced-price CSA shares. This program ensures that farmers (that’s us!) are paid in full. If you or someone you know would like one of our CSAs but are struggling to afford it, the Farm Share program might be able to help! NOFA-VT typically subsidizes 50% of your share cost.
Applications are open February 1st through March 31st. Apply today at NOFA-VT.
Please consider a contribution to help support this program
Would you like to contribute to the NOFA-VT Farm Share Program to help low-income households in our community join the farm? For donations to be tax deductible, make checks payable to the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT) and write Muddy Boots CSA in the check memo. NOFA-VT will match the donation, and grant it back to our CSA. Alternatively, you can add a contribution to our Farm Share account when you sign up for your CSA. This contribution will not be tax deductible, but might be more convenient if you are making a modest contribution.
You can sign up now for the first 12 weeks and then sign up later this summer for the fall share. Often people new to Muddy Boots aren’t sure if it is going to work for them so rather than commit to the whole year, they start with just a summer share.
We will start promoting the fall shares toward the end of July, but if you decide before then that you want to do the fall share you can always order it through the on-line form.
YES! We do offer a budget plan that you can learn more about on our pricing page. If you have any questions or special budgeting needs, please call Robin at 496-3567 or email her and we will work something out.
Questions About the Shares
The shares are planned out over the weekend, before harvesting, so that there is time to get the newsletter out. About 95% of the time, what we say we will have is accurate, but occasionally there are last minute changes. Sometimes this leads to disappointment and other times it is a pleasant surprise – it works both ways. We realize this doesn’t help if you are planning on getting a specific item, but please consider the list in the Tuesday newsletter as tentative – a good indication of what the share will include, but there could be some changes in the final share. If there are significant changes, we will post the final share for the week on our Facebook page on Wednesday morning.
It depends on the vegetable. Washed produce will spoil more quickly because of the moisture that is left on it. And, when it comes time for storage veggies in the fall, it is best that they be stored without any washing.
However, all loose salad greens are washed as are bunch carrots and beets. This means your kids can snack on baby carrots on your way home from pick-up.
We will provide more storage tips and information on washing veggies as the season unfolds. If you have any questions about whether you need to wash a specific item, ask when you pick it up.
Sometimes the large shares get more of certain items and sometimes the large shares get items that the small shares do not get. There are a few reasons for this:
- Sometimes the farmers only have enough of the item to provide them to the large shares.
- In other cases, the item may be valued at a price higher than the allowance for the small share. For example, during one week last season, the large shares all received a watermelon. Because of it’s relatively high value, it wasn’t practical to give the small shares a watermelon or the rest of the share would have seemed skimpy. State regulations prevent us from cutting fruits and veggies so simply cutting melons in half isn’t the answer.
- People who get large shares pay 50% more than the price of a small share.
Harvesting produce for 170 plus members is an all day chore on Tuesdays and manning the CSA pick-up takes another full day. Adding more days means that cycle would need to happen again each week and would add to costs which would need to be passed onto members. If Wednesday is a difficult pick-up day for you, consider using our CSA Hold Service. This way you could pick-up your share on Thursdays or even Fridays.
We try to give choices with some of the less popular veggies. But, if you find yourself with something you don’t want, check out the Trade Box. We “seed” this box with veggies at the beginning of the day and members can then trade out items they don’t want with something in the box they do want.
Questions About Pick-Up
Absolutely and there is no need to let us know when that happens. Just make sure the person picking up the share knows how pick-up works. Feel free to forward the person a copy of the Muddy Boots Newsletter – it will always have information on how pick-up works down toward the bottom of the page.
We offer a share holding service if you cannot pick-up your share on Wednesday. Here is how it works:
- Complete our Share Hold Request form. You will need to complete the form before 5:00pm on pick-up day.
- You will receive a confirmation email explaining where your share will be in the walk-in cooler. Please pick up your share by Friday at 6:30pm.
We always pack up a few extra shares and put them in the reach-in cooler.
To get to the reach-in cooler, walk to the back of the outside pick-up area. The reach-in cooler is on the left against the wall. You will see paper bags with shares in them. PLEASE only take a share marked EXTRA; the other shares with names on them are for people who have submitted a Share Hold Request.
The extra shares are available on a first come, first served basis. We apologize if there are not any available when you get to the farm.
If you don’t pick up your share, don’t worry, your food will not go to waste. Each week Community Harvest of Central Vermont picks up all of the remaining food and distributes it to local food shelves, schools and senior centers.
Please don’t contact Robin. She is not at the farm and doesn’t know the status of the extra shares.
Complete and submit the on-line CSA Hold Form letting us know that we should set aside your share for later pick-up. Submit the form by 5:00pm on Wednesday and it will be packed up for you to pick-up before 6:30pm on Friday. Alternatively, you could ask a friend to pick up your share for you.
