Policies

CSA Policies & Member Responsibilities

It is your responsibility to remember to pick up your share during the listed pick-up hours for the Pick-up Location you are signed up at, and to read and abide by our Pick-up Protocol and Policies.  Blue Sky Organic Farms does not reimburse for Shares missed because you forgot to pick up or did not follow instructions.

It’s very important to understand and follow our Pick-up Protocol and Policies, as they are meant to make the CSA experience a positive one and are integral to the successful operation of our program! Not following instructions leads to problems, and chronic abusers may be asked to leave our membership.  Any Shares remaining at the close of pick-up hours may be donated by the site hosts, so be sure to pick up your Share during the listed hours on the correct day.

Pick-up Protocol & Policies

BLUE SKY ORGANIC FARMS CSA

AS A MEMBER, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR READING AND UNDERSTANDING OUR PICK-UP PROTOCOL.  IT IS MEANT TO PROVIDE THE BEST EXPERIENCE FOR ALL COMMUNITY MEMBERS, AND IS PART OF WHAT YOU AGREED TO BY ACCEPTING OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

OUR PICK-UP LOCATIONS ARE ON THE HONOR SYSTEM, MANY TIMES NO BLUE SKY FARM EMPLOYEES ARE THERE TO HELP YOU AT THIRD PARTY LOCATION PICK UP POINTS, SO FOLLOWING PROTOCOL IS IMPORTANT TO THE SUCCESS OF OUR CSA PROGRAM.  THANK YOU!!

1) PLEASE, GIVE WHOEVER IS PICKING UP YOUR SHARE THESE INSTRUCTIONS
Our Pick-up Protocol is important, as many sites are operating other businesses during the time you will be picking up your box. Let whoever is picking up know this. If our Pick-up Protocol is not followed mistakes are made, and members who pick up afterward could be shorted items meant for them.

2) REMEMBER TO PICK-UP YOUR SHARE!
It is your responsibility to remember to pick up your share on the correct day during the listed pick-up hours. If you forget, we do not refund, replace, or give credit for your missed share. If you miss picking up your share during the listed hours, your site host is authorized to donate your items to either an organization such as St. Marys Food Bank or family-in-need they know about (so the food does not go to waste).

3) FIND YOUR NAME ON THE CHECKLIST LEFT AT THE PICK-UP SITE
At each site there is a CHECKLIST of everyone who picks up and what they are supposed to take.  PLEASE USE AND FOLLOW THE CHECKLIST EVERY WEEK.

4) TAKE ONLY WHAT IS LISTED BY YOUR NAME
This includes the contents of the PROPER SHARE BOX (SHARES ARE LABELED WITH THE NAME OF THE MEMBER TO WHOM IT BELONGS) as well as any cartons of eggs or other times which are located outside or packed inside the box (see ADD-ON OPTIONS, below).  There is one exception to this rule, see item 6 below.

PLEASE NOTE:  BULK PRODUCE ORDERS ARE ALSO SEPARATE FROM THE SHARES.   DO NOT TAKE ITEMS THAT ARE NOT LISTED BY YOUR NAME.  YOU WILL BE SHORTING THE MEMBER THE ITEM IS MEANT FOR.

5) IF YOUR NAME IS NOT ON THE LIST, DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING
Contact us by email or phone – purplekarat@gmail.com or 623-266-4031 – and we will find out the reason you are not listed and work things out.  We only drop off enough shares, etc. for the people listed. If you take something and you’re not on the list, you’re taking someone’s share.

6) IF YOUR NAME IS ON THE LIST BUT THERE IS NO SHARE FOR YOU, DO NOT LEAVE EMPTY-HANDED
Really, it is okay to take a different share if your name is on the list yet your share isn’t at the site because occasionally someone will take the contents of the wrong box.  So, please, if you can figure out who made the mistake, take their share then email to let us know so we can remedy any inequities if necessary.

(People can also forget to check off their name, so remaining shares won’t necessarily map to the un-checked boxes on the Checklist.)

7) CONTACT US PROMPTLY IF YOU HAVE BEEN SHORTED SOMETHING
Email or call us right away. We will make it up to you within the next couple of deliveries. Notes left on the checklist are not usually seen.  TO RECEIVE CREDIT OR REPLACEMENT, YOU NEED TO EMAIL OR CALL (purplekarat@gmail.com or 623.266.4031).

8) PLEASE, BE RESPECTFUL AND BE NEAT

RESPECT THE PICK-UP LOCATION – Treat the site how you would want it to be treated if it were at YOUR home.

RESPECT YOUR SITE HOST – please remember that most sites do not have any knowledge of your order. Please be courteous if there is a problem and contact the farm with any questions.  This includes questions for all farmer's market pick ups and all third party pick ups.

COURTESY COUNTS – courtesy for fellow members and for a site host’s property (and their neighbors!) is paramount. You are participating in a community.  How you behave and what you do directly impacts other members.  Chronic offenders will be asked to leave our membership.

BE SAFE – there are other members, their children, animals and other traffic around our pick-up locations.  Watch for them please.

EGGS, HONEY, OTHER GOODS

EGGS, HONEY, OTHER ADD-ON ITEMS: These items will be listed on the packing list and most likely be inside the box labeled with the name of the member they belong to.  There are exceptions, though, so PLEASE ALWAYS USE AND FOLLOW THE WEEKLY CHECKLIST TO MAKE SURE YOU TAKE THE CORRECT ITEMS.

EXCHANGE BOX
Some locations (such as farmer's markets) have an informal “Exchange Box”. If you have something in your share box which you don’t want, put it in the exchange box and help yourself to anything in there which looks good to you!

RE-USE OF BOXES AND BAGS

1) Return your box.  We re-use the boxes your share is packed in. Please just return it the next time you pick-up.

2) We do not take back any of the plastic bags at this time (please recycle/re-use them at home).  If this changes, we will let members know and update this note.

Thank you for participating in our Community and supporting our Farm!

Communications

We communicate with our membership primarily through email and posts published on our web site.  These emails and posts include information about what will be in upcoming share boxes and recipes. We also send email announcements to our CSA Community about upcoming Community Farm Days, Tours, Brunches and other Farm Events.

As a member of our CSA program, you understand it is your responsibility to open and read the emails we send so that you stay informed.  If your email address changes, you need to update it in the Contact Info tab of your online account.

To help you receive and filter emails from us, we do our best to include either Blue Sky Organic Farms or Blue Sky Organic Farms CSA in the Subject line of our emails. 

Weekly emails include –
– “Reminder to edit your share” emails are sent and although we send reminder emails, it is your responsibility to remember to edit your Share Contents so we highly recommend creating your own reminder rather than relying on the emails.

– A “what’s in your share” email is sent to all members scheduled to receive a Share for the week.  This email confirms your Share Contents, Pick-up Location and Delivery Date, and your Subscription.  Links to recipes using the weekly contents are also contained in this email.

If you are not receiving these emails, check your junk/spam folder since emails sent through our CSA software service sometimes end up there (see above).

Subscription Policies

CSA subscriptions are ongoing and deliveries continue based on our Seasonal Delivery Schedules unless a Delivery Hold is placed (see below) or a subscription is canceled (see Cancellation Policy below).

SUBSCRIPTION HOLDS AND DONATIONS

You can place holds on your subscription through your online account/Membership Dashboard.  Select the date on the calendar that you want your box held. Once the page loads, look for the gray box that says Hold Delivery. This is located below the title and date of the subscription. Once you select Hold Delivery, a window will appear giving you the option to donate this box, or simply Hold it. Holds can be placed for one or more consecutive weeks at a time, yet one hold can be placed at a time. Blue Sky Organic Farms will credit up to three box holds to your account for all Prepaid CSA members.

Alternatives to putting your subscription on hold are: to share your CSA program with those who might be interested – have a friend or neighbor pick your share up while you’re gone, or give it to the person who house or pet sits for you while you’re away (please, be sure anyone picking up for you are well versed in the Pick-Up Protocol and know the address and hours of the pick-up site!); or you can arrange to donate it to St. Mary's Food Bank (see below).

DONATING YOUR SHARE

One way to donate your share is by not picking it up.  Your site host will anonymously donate it at the end of the day. 

If you know a week in advance that you will not be able to pick up your share and want to donate it to St. Mary’s Food Bank, you have the ability to arrange this through your online account. Simply log in to your account, click on the blue Change Location button at the top of the Summary box, and change your Pick-up Location to “Donations”. When you are ready to begin picking up at your home location again, switch back to it.

CANCELLATION POLICY

Notice of cancellation is 2 weeks, we have planned ahead for boxes and will need 2 weeks to make adjustments. A $25.00 early cancellation fee may apply.

Any scheduled automatic installment payments will be canceled. Any credit balance left on your account after all deliveries and fees will be refunded to you by check (see Refund Policy below).

REFUND POLICY

There is a $25.00 processing fee for refunding of any credit balance that results from changes to your subscription initiated by you (including delivery holds or cancellation).  This means balances less than $25.00 will not be refunded.

There is NO processing fee if an error or change on our part necessitates a refund.

Any “Bonus Credit” added at the time a payment was made will NOT be included in the refund amount.

Refunds are made by the method of payment in which you paid the farm.

SHARE-SPLITTING

You are welcome to split a share with someone; however, share-splitting is the responsibility of the member who signed up for the share; we do not manage the splitting of shares. This includes payment: the Primary Member listed on account is responsible for all payments – do not divide the cost and pay half/have your share-splitter pay half. You pay us for everything and have your share-splitter reimburse you for their half. DO make sure your share-splitter knows our Pick-up Protocol and Policies, and add them to our community email list so they can receive their own copy of our email announcements!

Your share splitter can be added as a Secondary Contact in your Account.  Click on the Contact Info tab in your online account to add their email address and select box so they will receive any member-specific email communications and alerts.