We joined the Bee Heaven Farm CSA and got our first share today, and we are definitely impressed!!! I cook/prepare all of our meals at home and we do the lunchbox/tupperwear thing for work/school. We eat mainly fruits and vegetables, and I would love to go all organic, but unfortunately with the prices are so high, so when I found out about this CSA online I was very excited. We signed up for the family share (they say it feeds 4 people in their FAQ, but honestly with our lifestyle and diet, this is just right for 2 people, we might even finish everything within the next 4 days, lol) and today picked it up. For me it's like Christmas, i don't view it as a negative that you can't choose what you want, I was so excited to find out what was inside the box. And I was not disappointed!! Oyster mushrooms, sweet radishes, scallions, organic oranges, grape tomatoes, bok choy, and much more. I'm eating a salad with most of the things we got now :) Not being able to choose what we can get actually makes us healthier because we don't get our same old favorites, and we are getting more variety in our diet, plus I can't wait to get creative cooking all these items. Everything is delicious and locally grown in south florida, which really means something, it has not traveled from another country and is not days old already when you get it (like the supermarkets). MUCH HEALTHIER. It costs $33 per week for a family share, which is a very good deal, the same produce in whole foods would cost $50+ and would not be locally grown in south florida or picked the day before. The veggies you get are huge (for example the scallions I got today were so big, I've never seen them this big in any supermarket). They also offer on their website for you to buy extra items to pick up with your share. I got some zucchini because I want to use them in one of my favorite dishes..pretty convenient so I love that option! I also signed up for an egg share. This cost me 6.50/week, which is slightly higher than what the greenwise organic eggs I have gotten before at publix, but it's worth it to me to know that the hens are treated humanely and fed the right diet and come from a farm in miami. Plus it's convenient to pick it up with our family share of veggys. I will not get into how badly the hens who lay the non-organic eggs you see in the supermarkets are treated :*( Another thing I love about this CSA is that they are very organized with the email distribution list, good customer service, and all orders are done online. The only thing I wish the online system had was a way to save my credit card #, that would be convenient for the weekly add on options. In terms of the pick up locations, there are multiple, but may not be convenient for everyone. I noticed that they don't have a west kendall drop off, and a lot of people live there (closest in kendall is dadeland). I currently live in cutler ridge, so I signed up to pick it up in the redlands at the farm (there was also a location in palmetto bay, but i thought the farm would be the same distance and we could avoid the $3 delivery fee....well actually I learned today that palmetto bay is much closer, but oh well lol). Everything was kept in a walk in refrigerator (not sure if the other pick up locations would have this), so I was happy for that. They also offer a box of "extras" where you can take something else not in the shares or put something back you don't want. They didn't have one this week but I'm certainly excited for that! Well, what are the negatives? I don't really see any from my perspective, but some other people might not like pre-paying for the 20 weeks (they use that money to actually grow the produce), if you go out of town you have to try and give or sell your share to someone else, and if for some reason the crop does not grow well, you lose out (I don't really see this happening since it's from like 6+ different florida farms, plus with their customer service I'm sure they would do something to make up for it). Some CSAs expect the members to actually do some of the work, but not this one. Also I can imagine that some people don't like not being able to choose what they get, but for me that's a plus :) I'm so glad to have found this CSA! I will update again once the season goes on.
update 1/6 -- we have been getting food from the CSA for six weeks now and still love it! the food is amazing, always fresh and delicious, the eggs are the best tasting ever. the owner is also very friendly and flexible and will give out free advice on gardening read more