About the Irvington CSA
The Irvington Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) group provides members with fresh produce grown by an Amish farmer Levi Fisher and his family just 75 miles west of Irvington in Montezuma, Indiana. Good land stewardship, sustainable farming methods and respect for biodiversity are practiced. No synthetic chemicals are used on soil or plants. Members pay a set fee in May of each year to receive a season’s worth of vegetables throughout the growing season. Once a week, members pick up their orders at a designated location. Contents of weekly baskets vary, depending on what vegetables are ready for harvest. Whatever their baskets contain, Irvington CSA members always enjoy the very best fresh, natural produce—straight from the farm.
Season and share
Deliveries are expected to begin mid-May and continue for 25 weeks. Each share is designed for a family that likes to cook or couples or individuals who eat a lot of vegetables. A full share’s value is about $25 per week. Our produce is mostly vegetables (asparagus, carrots, kale, salad mix, potatoes, sweet potatoes, red peppers, broccoli, zucchini, to name a few). We do get some fruits like strawberries, blackberries, watermelon and cantaloupe. At first shares are smaller—mostly lettuce, asparagus and berries. But as the weather warms, your share basket will overflow with corn, tomatoes, peppers and other veggies. Each week’s share gives you a chance to sample Indiana-grown vegetables.
Price and payment
A full share is $650 and a half share is $415; payments are made to the farmer, Levi Fisher Jr. Payment options:
1. Pay all of your full or half share up front.
2. Pay half of share on May 1 and half by July 1.
3. If these payments don’t fit your budget, please ask about an alternative payment plan.
Contact us at irvingtonagriculture@gmail.com for information on where to send your check.
There is often a discount when you pay for your share early in the season.
Transportation
The transportation cost is a flat fee, divided evenly among all shareholders.
Our transportation fee is typically about $115 full shares and $85 for half-shares. This pays for our driver all season.
TRANSPORTATION FEE: The 2023 transportation fee can be paid now, please do so asap as this goes to support our driver John. Amounts: Full share: $111.65 / Half share $83.74. Please make this payment at your earliest convenience and let us know when been sent! (We are helping keep track.) The drive has requested payment by check. Please refer to the weekly email for payment detail or contact Daniel at daniel.gasperut@gmail.com.
If you have any questions or concerns please reach out to Daniel.
Pickup time and place
When Friday evenings, 5:45–6:30p.m.
Where Downey Avenue Christian Church, 11 S Downey Ave, Indianapolis, IN 46219
If you’re late
Produce is harvested fresh Friday mornings, loaded and driven to our pickup location. Please arrive as early as possible to pick up your share. If you’re going to be late, please text the wrangler for that day. We will donate shares that are not picked up by 6:30 p.m. to the food pantry Downey hosts each Thursday. Please be courteous to your fellow member-volunteers, who will be distributing shares. Just like you, they will be eager to begin their Friday festivities at 6:30 p.m.
If you’ll be away
Please let us know in advance that you won’t be picking up your share. That way, volunteers won’t wait around for you on Friday night. Please text that week’s wrangler or email irvingtonagriculture@gmail.com at least three days in advance. You have two options:
- Arrange to have someone else pick up your share.
- Donate your share to others.
Please note that shares won’t be held for you without notice and you will not be reimbursed for forfeited shares. Thank you for understanding!
Volunteering
To run the Irvington CSA, shareholders take part in making it work. Each shareholder works at least two pickups per season, per share. Learn about volunteering.
Special orders
In addition to our weekly share basket, there are special order items available each week for purchase, such as, eggs, maple syrup, beef, honey, flour, flowers, etc. Special orders are placed by responding to the weekly email. For the safety of our members, all payments will take place via PayPal beginning in 2020.
Sharing a share
If you decide to split a share, it’s usually easier if it’s with a friend or neighbor, but we can make introductions if we have others needing a partner. If you are sharing a share, both share partners do not need to be present at pick-up. However, the full share must be picked up. This is for practical as well as health reasons. For example, if the week’s full share consists of 5 red peppers, it is too complicated for the volunteers to keep track of whether you took 2 or 3 peppers or wanted to cut one in half and leave the other for your share partner. Another scenario is that a full share might contain a cantaloupe. It would be a health risk for us to allow members to leave a half a cantaloupe out for hours waiting for the other share partner.
Communication
Email: We send weekly email updates about each week’s produce, volunteers and wrangler. Facebook: Friend us on Facebook! Look for Irvington CSA. Privacy Policy: We use your personal information only for the purposes of communicating about the CSA program. Your information will not be given away to solicitors or spammers.
Fellowship and fun
We encourage you to get to know other members of the CSA during pick-up and form your own network of people who would be willing to pick up for each other if the need arises.
Cancellation policy
Because our farmer and his family depend on this program as a vital part of their yearly income, we cannot refund shares once members have signed up. However, members can transfer their shares to someone else. Please contact the CSA to work out a plan.
Forces of nature
Farmer Levi can’t control the weather and other factors that impact how vegetables grow. These forces of nature are beyond the control of the Irvington CSA and may affect your share size. For example, some seasons are not good for corn, so we receive less of it. Some seasons we have corn coming out of our ears.
Membership agreement
With my payment and email confirmation, I commit to becoming a member of the Irvington CSA. I acknowledge that I’ve read, understand and will comply with the information and policies noted above. In particular, I understand that the Irvington CSA:
- Is not responsible for shares that are not picked up during scheduled pickup times
- Can’t offer refunds for unclaimed shares
- Can’t control the weather and the size of shares
- Requires members to volunteer twice each season
- Asks me to be thoughtful, respectful and patient with my fellow shareholders, who volunteer their time to keep prices down so we can all support our farmer.
