Nichols Farm & Orchard — Attraction in Marengo

Edit: This farm seems to puts their own commercial gain over the environment and then turns around to claim that they care about sustainability. In both Canada and in Appalachia, ramps are on their way to endangered from improper and irresponsible harvesting techniques. These plants take almost 10 years to mature and produce seed. Despite it being common knowledge that the responsible way to harvest ramps is to take the top parts only and leave the roots, Nichols farm continues to rip up 50% of ramp patches every year by the roots and sell in large numbers at Chicago farmers markets. If confronted, they will either not respond or claim that they are "helping" the ramps grow by ripping them out. It seems this farm has no respect for this plant/traditional food or the environment when they can make money by doing it the irresponsible way. Disappointing considering a lot of restaurants/other venues are being more responsible. We can all enjoy ramps and not become like Canada/Appalachia but places like Nichols need to start taking more responsibility.

I have been part of their summer CSA and I do like them as they have great variety and are responsive. HOWEVER, there is one big glaring reason why I am not sure I will come back again and that is the amount of packaging they use. A big reason I do buy stuff from local farmers is because of the environmental positives of sourcing locally and cutting back on the plastic waste you get from buying in grocery stores. I was extremely disappointed them when I opened my first box to see that not only do they line the box in plastic but they also package some of their stuff in those plastic boxes you get from the store as well as plastic net bags and regular plastic bags. I've done other CSAs who hardly had any packaging at all (Tomato Mountain) and I have heard of other CSAs doing reusable containers that all get returned + there are probably biodegradable options but I guess this farm is a big enough operation that they don't care as much about those types of things like some of the...

I have been a CSA member off and on for 14 years and I have always regretted the years I took a break because their produce and the variety is unmatched. Every box is filled with more than enough to last the week and I love all the different types of fruits and vegetables that they grow. Nichols Farm seems to have a passion for produce and preserving heirloom varietals. I also love that we receive more unusual items like turmeric and ginger. I look forward to continuing to use Nichols for...

We did the summer CSA and had a great experience. It was nice they offered home delivery during COVID times and everything arrived in perfect order each Friday. We tried so many new veggies I’ve never heard of and they packed the boxes full so I felt like we got our money’s worth. Also, they asked us to keep the boxes so they could recycle them at the end of the season so that’s good that they’re trying...