Please read through this page carefully to understand whether or not the CSA program is right for you and your family. If you have questions, or want to chat about the program with the farmers before signing up, please do not hesitate to contact us.

When choosing to purchase a share in Sideroad Farm’s CSA program, you are choosing to become a partner, with us, in the farm for a season. As a shareholder you are agreeing to share the risk associated with a small, diversified farm operation, and therefore accept that the farm may have an amazingly bountiful season or that some crops may not do as well due to weather conditions or other acts of mother nature. By becoming a shareholder, you help to sustain a small, family run, ecological farm business and in return will receive fresh, organically grown produce direct from our farm throughout the CSA season.

Many folks find CSA programs a fantastic way to receive fresh and local produce direct from the farm; however, the program is not right for everyone. Some things to consider before signing up for the program include:

• The vegetables available on a weekly basis is determined by the farm’s crop plan and will change throughout the season.
• Produce is only available when it is ready in the field, in some cases this may just be for one or two weeks during the season. Unlike a grocery store, that typically buys produce from many farms and may import from different growing regions, we will not have the same produce available week after week.
• The volume of the box may be very large, particularly in the height of the season. To make the most of the contents, you may need to can, freeze, dry or preserve the produce in some way.

Member Communications
At least one household member should be responsible for reading the weekly newsletter (particularly the announcements) to keep up to date with important information for CSA members. We use Mailchimp to host our CSA mailing list. Our preferred method of communication is email (csa@sideroadfarm.com).

CSA Management

We use an online software called Farmigo to manage our CSA program, which reduces the amount of farmer time needed to manage the program and hopefully makes your experience better. You are responsible for signing up and managing your CSA member account using the Farmigo system, which we feel is relatively straightforward and should hopefully improve your CSA experience. Please let us know if you would like help with using the system to manage your subscription.

You can manage your contact information, check your account balance, manage your pick up location, and customize your weekly share with your Farmigo account.

Personal information collected by Farmigo or by Sideroad Farm in order to manage the CSA program will never be shared.

Payment Options

You may pay for your share online (via etransfer) or by cheque. You may pay for your share in full at the time of registration, or you may pay in 2 installments, one due at the time of registration, one due by May 15th. We appreciate payments via cheque or via email money transfer as it eliminates the fees associated with online credit card payments.

Refund and Cancellation

CSA program subscriptions can be refunded before the start of the season. We stand behind our farm products. If you are unhappy with your CSA subscription, we will refund you the remaining value at any point in the season. We reserve the right to cancel your subscription at any time and refund the remainder of the subscription.

Account Credit

You may put your box on hold for up to two weeks during the season. The credits from the two weeks may be used in our web-store to purchase eggs, vegetables and/or flowers before the end of the CSA season and can not be used to purchase meat or any products that we may offer that are not produced by us. Any credit remaining on your account will not be rolled over into future seasons.

Responsibility for picking up share

You are responsible for arranging to pick up your produce. You may change your pick up location using your Farmigo account. If you are unable to pick up your share, please try to have a friend or neighbour pick it up for you. If you need to cancel your share for the week, please notify the farm via email at least one day in advance. We are unable to refund the value of cancelled weeks after shares are harvested/packed.

Web Store and Purchasing Add-Ons

CSA customers have access to our online web-store which will features add-ons such as extra greens and eggs. Items in the web-store will be subject to availability and will depend on the season. The store is updated weekly.

Packaging

We deliver CSA subscriptions in insulated tote bags. The cost of these bags is not included in your subscription price and remain the property of Sideroad Farm. It is your responsibility to return the cleaned, empty bag to your CSA pick up location each week when you are picking up your subsequent week’s share. If you lose a bag, you will be charged a $10 replacement fee. Although we will do our best to keep packaging to a minimum, we do package some produce into plastic bags to keep them fresh and to protect them during delivery.

Thanks so much for reading through some of the not so fun stuff. We hope your CSA experience is much more enjoyable than reading moderately lengthy terms and conditions.