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Great Country Farms

Community Supported Agriculture, CSA, Produce Farm, U-Pick, Field Trips in Loudoun County, VA

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CSA Delivery Days 2020

May 25, 2020 by Mark Dewey

Basket with onions, kale, strawberries, and a GCF refrigerator magnetCSA 2020 starts Tuesday, June 2. This year will differ from previous years in many ways. The first big difference is that your customized share will have a label with your name on it. If you pick up your share at a group site, you must find the box with your name.

If your group site is hosted in a private home, we recommend you provide a cooler with ice packs to receive your share. The cooler must be large enough to close properly with a bin measuring 19 by 13 by 10 inches inside, and it must be clearly labelled with your name.  The cooler should be delivered to your group site before 9:00 a.m. on your delivery day and retrieved within the guideline set by the host. Your host is not permitted to keep your share overnight; you must claim it on delivery day. If you know that you will be able to retrieve your share within 15 minutes of delivery notification, you might decide to manage without a cooler.  If you cannot pick up on your delivery day, please make a vacation request to put off your delivery that week.

These group sites will receive their shares on Wednesdays: Clifton Townes, Wellness Connection, Latimer Group (formerly McNerney), Great Harvest Vienna, Hutchings Group, Mirra Group, Sonak Family Chiropractic, Romaezi Group, Lansdowne Group, Leesburg Chiropractic, Swenson Group, Reston Group.

These group sites will receive their shares on Thursdays: Olio2go, Herzfeld Group, Montana Street Group, Caputo Group, Arlington/Lyon Village Group, Moomaw Group, Huntington Forest Group, McClure Group, Bishop Group, Hamaker Group, Fontana Group, Musci Group.

These group sites will receive their shares on Fridays: Great Harvest Herndon, Great Harvest Ashburn, Wine’ing Butcher, Broadlands Group.

Farm Pick-up~ please pick up on your scheduled pick up day

If you’re picking up your share at the farm, you must do so on the day you chose when you bought your share as we will be printing customized packing lists weekly based on your preferences. We’ll give you a customized packing list when you arrive. If you don’t remember your day, you can log into your account and check your member profile.  Most pick-up members have chosen to come into the market to pack their own box, and you are welcome to do that, following the COVID-19 guidelines noted below.   We  are also happy to pre-pack your custom box for you and bring it to your car for curbside pick up.  If you’d like to have us to pack your box, the service charge is $51 for the whole season.  If you do prefer curbside pick up, please email CSA@greatcountryfarms.com so we can add that service to your account and ensure a smooth pick up experience next week.

Home Delivery

If you purchased a home delivery share, your deliveries will arrive every Wednesday, beginning June 3.  If you will not be home to receive your delivery, we recommend you provide a cooler with ice packs to receive your share. The cooler must be large enough to close properly with a bin measuring 19 by 13 by 10 inches inside with the ice packs, and it must be clearly labelled with permission for our delivery driver to place your harvest box inside the cooler.  If you have special delivery direction for our drivers, please email CSA@GreatCountryFarms.com so we can add those notes to guide our driver at your home.

COVID-19 Precautions

We will be following the guidelines from the Virginia Departments of Health for Phase 1 Reopening and Agriculture for Pick your Own Farms and Individual Markets   

Our Pledge to YouFarmhand driving the tractor at Great Country Farms

  1. Our Farmhands are trained in CDC guidelines for hand washing and sanitizing and and everyone who handles food — in the field, in the packing barn, or in the market — will wear gloves  when working with food.
  2. When social distancing is not an option and in our buildings, our team will wear a face covering.
  3. All Farmhands are symptom and temperature checked before each shift.
  4. Frequently touched surfaces are sanitized hourly during operation.
  5. We will support social distancing by offering pick-your-own by appointment. These appointments will be available online in the evening, with CSA and Fan Members given first opportunity to schedule appointments.
  6. We will provide hand washing/sanitizing options before entering the field for our farmhands and PYO guests.
  7. Will will provide new containers for pick-your-own to ensure a single use for safety.
  8. Social Distancing will be strictly enforced.  We will separate pick your own groups in the field by assigning a PYO area for your reservation time.
  9.  Our CSA Farm Shares will be packed in single-use liner bags, which will be sealed with tamper-evident tape. That way, members can be sure their food has been touched by only the picker and the packer.

Your Pledge to UsTwo young girls with lovely braids hold their pick your own box between them while awaiting the Great Country Farms tractor ride to the apple orchard.

  1. Social distancing and sanitation guidelines protect you, as well as our other patrons and employees, and you agree to take responsibility for social distancing your family from other groups while visiting.
  2.  If you are sick, have been exposed to COVID-19 in the past 14 days, or have symptoms of COVID-19 (including a fever, cough, or shortness of breath), you will stay at home and will not enter the Farm Market or PYO Fields.
  3. You will heed VA. Governor Northam’s Mask Mandate and wear a face covering inside our buildings.
  4. Pick your own will be by appointment and you agree to arrive on time and complete your picking within your reservation time.
  5. You will wash/sanitize your hands and assist your children in doing so prior to and after picking/packing produce.
  6. You agree to not sample any fruit in the field to comply with the guidelines from the Virginia Department of Agriculture.

 

 

 

Filed Under: On Foggy Bottom Road Tagged With: COVID-19 and local food, COVID-19 precautions, CSA delivery days, Farm Pick-up, home delivery

We are Here ~ Farming for your Family!

April 2, 2020 by Kate Zurschmeide

Loudoun Local farm fresh produce starts in our Greenhouse

Farmer Mark Dewey gets some help from farm dog, Sandy, watering the green house.

We are all finding new ways to shop, cook, entertain, connect and cope in the light of COVID-19.  One colleague encouraged, “Put down the phone and write.” That has inspired me to pick up the pen and share with you, our Pick your Own and CSA Community, the latest from Great Country Farms.

First and foremost, we are HERE and thankful to be able to support our community with wholesome, nutritious, food grown on this land that we are blessed to steward here in Loudoun County, VA.  This time of uncertainty is challenging for all of us and something none of us anticipated.

As farmers, we regularly have to cope with the uncertainties Mother Nature sends our way – be it frost, raccoons eating all the corn the day before we pick it, too much rain, too little rain or beavers cutting down 300 apple trees overnight as the tireless engineers they were made to be.  COVID-19 is one uncertainty we didn’t see coming but we are steadfast in our planting and plans to grow food for our community and we are here for you and your family. 

Here’s a quick snapshot of how we are pivoting to provide:

  •         We have purchased more seed, more onion sets and more potatoes to step up our spring plantings to help meet the needs for local food. 
  •         Our farmhands are coming into work each day to build our soil, plant the seedlings and nurture the seeds in the green house.  Our regenerative farming is in high gear!
  •         We have stepped up our creativity and computer savvy and are now offering online market ordering and curbside pick-up at the Farm Market. 
  •         We are working with other local farms such as Audley Farm and Baker’s Pork, to bring in more eggs, ground beef, pork and chicken for online purchase.
  •         UPDATE 4.15.20:  GCF Harvest Box CSA Shares are SOLD OUT!  Thank you all for your support. We are evaluating the demand to offer more shares.  If you would be interested in purchasing a 20-week subscription, please join our wait list and you will be the first to know if we open up more shares for the 2020 season.

It is our goal to ensure that the time after this crisis is filled with good food, family fun on the farm, and deeper connections with our community & neighbors.   When your family savors a meal from our farm at your table, you connect with the soil, the seeds, the environment, our farmhand team and our family.  We are honored to be your farmers! We thank you and send you a big “KALE YEAH!”

Peace & Pick Your Own,

Kate Zurschmeide, Founding Family

Filed Under: Eat, Local Farming Tagged With: CSA, farm eggs, farm market, farm to table, ground beef, home delivery, Local Food, local produce, Loudoun farm, regenerative farming, virginia

Custom CSA

January 23, 2020 by Mark Dewey

This change is a big deal.  It means far less wasted food, both for you and for us. It means you can eliminate unwanted items from your box, and add extras if you like.  It means we can add some unusual crops to our growing plan, knowing that people who want them will get them.  It means you have an easy way to buy surplus items in bulk, and we have an easy way to sell surplus items.

It’s a big deal.

Here’s what’s different:

  1. This new system will show you the weekly price, even though you’re buying a seasonal share, and the base price shown is for market-style farm pick-up. If you want join a group site, you’ll be invited to do so after choosing your share, and the delivery charge will be added automatically.
  2. We’ve reinstated home delivery, with two different pricing zones.
  3. When you sign up, you’ll be asked to set your preference level on every item we offer. Then each week you’ll get a chance to adjust your customized box contents.
  4. At group sites, you’ll have to find the box with your label on it. In the market, we’ll give you a customized list, and you’ll pack your box accordingly.
  5. If you use the installment plan, you’ll be charged 25% of your share price at sign-up, another 25% on the day of first pick-up, and the remaining 50% on a weekly basis throughout the season. Any extras you choose will be added to your weekly charge. You may choose to pay in full at sign-up, in which case you would see a weekly charge only if you add something to your box.

The new system is quite user-friendly, and there’s a lot of support available. We think it’s going to be a whole new world of great local food.

Filed Under: Big Pictures, Local Farming, On Foggy Bottom Road Tagged With: CSA, customizable shares, home delivery, Local Food, western Loudoun farm

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Produce Box Shares Go on Sale Mid-January

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18780 Foggy Bottom Road Bluemont, Virginia 20135
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