We are Super Excited about the Free Choice Program
We want you to receive the vegetables and herbs that you want and to not receive what you don’t want. One of the downsides of our current CSA program is that shareholders sometimes receive things they don’t want. They might prepare these items and try to learn to enjoy them; they might offload them to a friend; or they might just toss them (and feel guilty.) Now you can go home from the farm with a box filled with your favorites.

A Beautiful Drive
Imagine which vegetables you will select from our pack line as you drive through the beautiful countryside on your way to Angelic Organics.

How the Free Choice Program Will Work
Starting in early June, come to the farm on Wednesdays while we are packing—from 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm–and select the vegetables that you love from our pack line (and leave behind the vegetables that you don’t enjoy.) We’ll start the pilot program this season offering mostly free choice and see how it goes.

Free choice means that, with a few limitations, you can pick any assortment of vegetables off of our line until your ¾ bushel box is full. Love broccoli? Fill your box with broccoli. In the mood for kale, cucumbers and lettuce? Fill your box with kale, cucumbers and lettuce.

Limitations
We’ll limit the amount of garlic, herb bunches, maybe heirloom tomatoes, and perhaps a few other items that are in tight supply that week—but generally, at least for the first few weeks as we test our program, you’ll be able to fill your box with just about any combination of any vegetables on our line until your box is full.

If we find that it’s too difficult to manage this almost full-blown free choice program, you’ll still be able to choose what you want in multiple, but more limited, quantities. For instance, we might find that we need to limit the broccoli amount you can take to 3 heads, or the number of cucumbers to 6 or 10…

You’ll Have Help
It’s a new system, so we’ll make sure initially to have someone from our farm team assist you in the process of filling your box. You will be greeted by a crew member, who will usher you up and down the pack line to see what’s available that day. You will then carry your box up and down the line and select your favorites. We think this is the way it will work. We’ll be experimenting to figure out the best way to make the free choice system happen.

Can’t Come every Wednesday during the Pack?
No Worries. If you don’t show up to pack your own box, the crew will create a standard box for you and you can pick it up from our cooler after the Wednesday pack, or on Thursday. Your box will stay fresh and cool as it awaits your arrival.

Choose Your Pickup Day, if You Prefer the Pre-Packed Share
You can choose your farm pickup for either Saturday or Wednesday, when you sign up for the pre-packed share. If you choose a Saturday for pickup, you may have more time to get acquainted with your farm. Stroll the fields to see your vegetables growing, pick flowers and beans from our U-Pick garden, and visit the animals—great for kids and adults. Of course, you are welcome to explore the farm on Wednesdays, too! (See details further below if you prefer to pick up your share in Rockford or Beloit.)

Help Us to Be More Local
We currently deliver a lot of CSA boxes way beyond the horizon to Chicago and suburbs. We would rather that Angelic Organics serve more people in the local area, right where the vegetables are grown. When shareholders pick up their shares on the farm, whether they are pre-packed or free choice, it will help to build a large community of like-minded people through the joy and celebration of local food. Please share this page with your friends who live in the area.

Save up to $215 When You Choose to Pick up on the Farm and Sign up and Pay by Tuesday, May 31
To encourage local participation in our Community Supported Agriculture program, we are offering a huge savings of 15% with coupon code local15 when you sign up and pay by Tuesday, May 31. These great savings mean that we really want you to enjoy the benefits of regularly visiting our farm. You will save up to $215. As noted above, we currently deliver most of our vegetables to sites in and around Chicago, but we are super excited to have our farm abuzz with local people picking up their shares—a celebration of food, neighborliness and community!

If You Choose the Farm as Your Pickup Site, Your Savings Will Get You to and from the Farm
If you purchase a full and extended season vegetable share and a 10-week fruit share plus a 2-week extended season fruit share with the 15% discount, you will save $215, enough to pay for your gas to and from the farm for the whole season.

Your Very Own Farm, Without all the Work!

Your Vegetables will Await You at the Perfect Temperature
Pick up your box from our cooler at the perfect temperature. You have at least a day and a half window for picking up your box. (Almost all the other Angelic Organics delivery sites offer pickup at room temperature, or “porch” temperature.)

U-Pick Garden
Harvest beans, peas and flowers for free from our extensive U-Pick garden.

Occasional Surplus
Benefit from our occasional surplus of crops. We sometimes have extra melons, canning tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. that we cannot fit into our regular deliveries of CSA boxes. We offer these to shareholders who pick up on our farm. (We cannot guarantee such surpluses, but they have occurred often enough for us to expect them to be available again.)

Farm Animals
Visit the goats, chickens, ducks, pigs, and beautiful Scottish Highland cattle at the Angelic Organics Learning Center—a joy for adults and kids alike. The Learning Center offers many programs for kids and adults about food, farming, and caring for the earth; it’s a tremendous community resource, located on the very farm that grows your vegetables.

Local Non-Farm Pickup

Save up to $143 If You Prefer to Pick up Your Share in Rockford or Beloit
We understand that not everyone in our greater community has the time to make the trip out to our farm on a regular basis to pick up their share. That’s why we have two pickup sites in Rockford and one in Beloit. If you sign up for a Rockford or Beloit site, we deliver to those sites early on Friday mornings.

It costs us extra to deliver boxes to Rockford and Beloit, plus, if you pick up at those sites, we’re not achieving our goal of having you get to know our farm first hand on a regular basis. If you sign up for a Beloit or Rockford site, you can receive a 10% discount, up to $143 savings, with coupon code local10, when you sign up and pay by Tuesday, May 31.

If You Sign up for Beloit or Rockford, You can still Pick up at the Farm on Occasion
Our online CSA management system allows you to easily switch your delivery site ten days or more before your delivery is scheduled. Just log in to your membership record and arrange to pick up your box at the farm on occasion rather than at your regular site.

Having a Special Event?
Expecting company? Planning a party? Switch your site to “Farm on Wednesday Free Choice” for a week, visit the farm, pack your box with local, organic delights and delight your guests with your favorite farm vegetables and herbs.

How to Sign Up for a Share

Make sure, if you choose the farm to be your regular pickup site, to receive the 15% discount by using coupon code local15. If you choose Beloit or Rockford to be your regular pickup site, make sure to receive the 10% discount by using coupon code local10. Remember, the deadline for signing up and sending your payment is Tuesday, May 31.

To sign up for the Free Choice option, choose “Farm on Wednesday Free Choice” as your pickup location.

Review our share options and sign up for your share here: www.angelicorganics.com/receive-our-vegetables

Sorry, this offer is not available for purchase with a credit card.

We hope to see you on the farm this season!

Sincerely,
Farmer John and the Crew at Angelic Organics