June-Oct 2024 Farm Share
If you’re looking for amazing weekly veggies and truly remarkable value-added products from our partner farms, we’ve got you!
Here at LEAF, we are proud that our youth crew touches every part of the process of our farm share - from growing, to harvesting, to packing boxes, to writing newsletters, and all the way to seeking your feedback and how to make it all better. We are excited to roll out a bunch of improvements and good ideas that came from you all. Read on for more details below! In the big picture, purchasing a farm share is an investment in you, our food system, and our future leaders.
All share options run for 21 weeks from June through October. (No more week off in the middle of the summer! You’ll get shares for the full season! Of course, we are still happy to donate your share to a family in need on your behalf anytime you want.)
What is a farm share?
Farm shares are a direct way to support your local farmers, like us! Farming is hard work (just ask our youth about hot summer days on the farm). Being a part of a farm share means investing in the farmer, the land, and the growing community. As a member, you receive an awesome haul of seasonal produce and a newsletter with recipes and stories of our youth. Members pay upfront or through payment plans so that we can purchase all the things we need to deliver fresh, nutritious veggies to you!
Becoming a LEAF farm share member means supporting your local food system and amazing young people. Farm shares are all about trust, and you can rest easy knowing that we have some darn talented young growers!
We love building relationships with our farm-share members! It’s important to us that we deliver quality products and professional communication. We also rely on our farm share members to give us thoughtful feedback and pick up their farm shares on time (our lettuce really likes that!). So that we are all on the same page, we ask that you read our Farm Share Agreement and agree to the relationship expectations (don’t worry, it’s only a few bullet points) before purchasing for your farm share. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out!
What’s in a farm share?
Think about the best tomato you’ve ever had. Our guess is you picked right off the plant and bit in like an apple (no judgy, we do that all the time). Farm shares highlight in-season produce each week to give you access to the freshest, most delicious vegetables all season long, just like that tomato.
In the spring you can expect delicious leafy greens (such as kale, arugula, spinach, or lettuce), spring roots, and the early season crops like peas!
As our growing season progresses into summer and fall, a typical weekly share will highlight our favorite summer veggies like peppers, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, more greens, as well as roots and alliums (beets, potatoes, carrots, garlic).
Everything depends on what is in season and the exciting veggies we grow! If you have opinions on what you’d like to see us grow…take it up with the farmer errr us (really do let us know, we always want your feedback)!
do you have any deals or promotions?
In fact, we do! If you’re a returning member, you will receive one week of the share for free! Be sure to check your inbox for details.
This year, we are also doing a Summer Farm Share Lottery. If you sign up for your farm share on or before the dates below, you will be entered into a drawing to win the corresponding prize (Hint: the earlier you sign up, the better the prize)!
February 1st - Dinner for 4 on the LEAF Farm!
March 1st - $30 gift card to the Grazery!
April 1st - One free week of the add-on of your choice!
May 1st - Free LEAF T-shirt!
Farm Share Options:
Base Box
Want an easy no-thinking required farm share? The base box farm share is for you. The base box is curated weekly by our farmers! Our team thoughtfully builds a beautiful box of diverse vegetables each week for you to enjoy. The contents of your box will be a bit of a mid-day surprise! You will be sent a newsletter with your share’s projected items the day that you are picking up your share. If you are somebody who enjoys the adventure of a more traditional farm share, then this box is a great fit. Pick-up locations in Carlisle, Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill, Harrisburg, and at the LEAF Farm!
Small Share - $20/box, $420 total
Regular Share - $30/box, $630 total
Free-Choice
Want a little more freedom, flexibility, and predictability in the veggies you take home? Then the free choice is for you. The free choice farm share is your opportunity to choose from a weekly assortment of vegetables, a few days in advance, and have a customized experience in what you take home each week! Pick-up locations in Carlisle, Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill, Harrisburg, and at the LEAF Farm!
Small Share - $25/wk, $525 total
Generally, these shares will get to choose 7 items (may fluctuate based on seasonal offerings). Sometimes, items will be limited to 1 per share and other times you’ll get to choose 2 of the same thing! We’ll have really clear instructions to navigate the Free-Choice Share. Another perk of the free-choice share is that you will get first access to new crops like tomatoes, broccolini, cucumbers, and more!
What’s the difference between A small and regular farm share?
The regular base box is our favorite way to experience the best the season has to offer. The regular share size is a good fit for a small family or a couple who likes to eat veggies.
A sample Regular Base Box might include the following items:
a bunch of kale, a bag of lettuce mix, a bunch of mini broccoli, a pint of green beans, two bell peppers, a pint of snack peppers, two eggplants, one pound of heirloom tomatoes, one bunch of green onions, and basil
The small base box or free choice share is ideal for households who might be a little anxious about getting a farm share or who want to experiment with local eating!
A sample Small Base Box might include the following items:
a bag of lettuce mix, a bag of spicy greens mix, a pint of green beans, two summer squash, two bell peppers, a pint of snack peppers, and a pint of cherry tomatoes
Our farm share is built on seasonality so that we can offer you the best of what’s available. Your share will change throughout the season based on the abundance of what the farm has to offer.
Where do I pick up my farm share?
Base Box and Free Choice Pick-Up:
Carlisle: 4:30 pm - 7:00 pm every Monday | Parking Lot of 64 E North Street, Carlisle, PA
LEAF Farm: 4:30 pm - 7:00 pm every Monday | 554 Warm Springs Rd, Landisburg, PA
Camp Hill: 4:30 pm - 7:00 pm every Wednesday | Exact location will be emailed to you after signing up!
Mechanicsburg: 4:30 pm - 7:00 pm every Wednesday | Exact location will be emailed to you after signing up!
Harrisburg: 4:30 pm - 6:45 pm every Wednesday | Radish and Rye - 1308 N 3rd St, Harrisburg, PA
Do you have non-veggie products?
Not only do we have a bounty of vegetables, but we also work with some amazing partner farms/artisans to bring you the local goodies you might be looking for. Don’t miss out on these add-ons, we promise they will make your farm-share experience even better! **You do need to purchase a farm share option in order to purchase add-ons.
Add-ons you can choose from:
Eggs
Cheese
Bread
Fruit
Mushrooms
Farmer’s Choice (a different product every week that highlights the vibrance of our local food system)
And, yes, you can totally get more than one add-on!
We work within our local food system, collaborating with different farmers in the region to provide our youth and farm share members a more diverse picture of farming, beyond raising vegetables and support some of the best local growers and makers. To learn more about our partner farms and their products, check out this page on our website.
transparency behind our pricing
Last year, we made a hard decision as a team to raise the price of our shares, but we are NOT raising prices again this year! We also deeply care about being transparent about why we raised prices last year. Here are some of the things we were thinking about:
As you know, everything costs more these days. We are experiencing an increase in our input costs as is the rest of the world. It’s tough and we are in this together.
We are part of a vibrant local food community. It’s important for us to stay in step with our peers and their pricing so we don’t accidentally undercut the fabric of our food system. We want to work in partnership with local food growers and artisans and support one another.
You may have heard us talk about the Diversified Vegetable Pre-Apprenticeship once or twice. It’s a rigorous and amazing learning and hands-on opportunity for our youth to get certified in regenerative vegetable growing. As we are teaching our youth all about managing a farm, it’s important to us that we role model profitably as a small farm and be transparent about the cost of growing food. We LOVE these conversations, truly we could talk for hours, and would always be happy to talk with you about the cost of growing food.
We took a long hard look at our boxes, and well, they felt a little empty. We want you to have the best experience possible and the feedback we got was more veggies, please! We listened and increased the value of the share by adding a week and adding more produce each week!
In addition to paying for farm shares through our website, here are a few other options available to you:
We are happy to offer payment plans. You can break up the farm share payment into 2, 3, or 4 installments, or perhaps monthly. Just reach out by email (info@leafprojectpa.org) or phone call (717-559-5323) with what you need and we will create a plan that works for you.
A few thoughtful donors have offered to help us subsidize shares as requested. If the price of our shares is not something that works for you, we would love to work with you to cover some of the cost. If you want to contribute to subsidizing a share, let us know!
For the first time, we are excited to offer work shares! This looks like volunteering on our farm in exchange for a discounted farm share. We specifically are looking for support on Mondays + Wednesdays from 8:30 am - 4:00 pm. If those times don't work for you, please still reach out if you're interested and we can accommodate other times on a case-by-case basis.
Still have questions about our farm share? Reach out to us at info@leafprojectpa.org and we’d be happy to answer your questions!
