I just completed a peak season and have been super happy with the deliveries to my porch, and with the quality of the veggies and fruit. I have just called them to switch us to year-round customers. For my wife and I, we chose a small share, plus a small fruit share. This worked out to be just right for 2 people, it lasted about a week when augmented with meat and seafood and bread we bought elsewhere.
It was exciting to receive a few exotic items that we don't see in supermarkets. Over the summer we received pawpaw fruits; turmeric root; kohlrabi; fresno peppers; hakurei turnips... in addition to the stuff we expected like tomatoes, potatoes, onions and green leafies. It's fun to try new veggies, locally grown!
The salad greens were notably fresh. We learned to eat those on the first couple of days after delivery because of their spectacular freshness, but even if we waited till the end of the week, they were still crisper than supermarket greens. A sneaky benefit of using this CSA is that eating greens stops being a chore.
The farm packs your box by hand. There were no mistakes, and they attach a checklist so you can confirm what's in your order. (Also MVF has a few partner farms in MD/PA and it is fun to see where the items were sourced.) I was pleasantly surprised by the fine quality of every piece. For example, I am super picky when selecting apples at a market; I avoid anything bruised. The farmers apparently shared my pickiness. At times we would get items of varying size, like recently one humungous sweet potato and a couple of small ones. The quality was consistently excellent.
I have used their website to make a change to my order. Over the summer we tired of eggplant. and that's where I gave their baby ginger a shot. (A good call.) The website was easy, and every week you get an email with a link to the place where you can make changes.
This is the 4th CSA in the Baltimore area I have used. All CSAs have been good, and we like Moon Valley best. Here are some differences --
High quality of individual fruits. No bruises or seconds. You CAN order a "big bag of seconds" but it is labelled as such.
Moon Valley delivers to our porch. This is convenient and saves me a chore. They texted us on the day of, to give a two hour window for delivery (which was fairly predictable 10am-noon for my house) and then hit the window, every time.
Moon Valley packs your box with your order; you are an individual customer. For one previous CSA I picked up at a store. Sometimes I would arrive late at 8pm, and there was a stack of checklists. I found my list, then went to the boxes of veggies, and maybe heirloom tomatoes were all gone. So there could be disappointment.
The Moon Valley website is relatively easy to use. It takes very few clicks to change your upcoming order. When you do, you see a popup that confirms the change. You don't need to go check an email to confirm...
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