A very cool working organic farm that is taking big steps towards connecting community with their…read morefood. They offer workshops and camps for the kids but also provide education for adults interested in farming or just self sufficiency. I helped last year at one of their volunteer events and we planted all sorts of trees for the estabilshment of a food forest. Apples, Pears, hazelnuts, horseradish, asparagus, plums... and more. Can't wait until that matures!

From the owner: We operate a 60 member CSA, host a Farm Camp for 2 months during the summer and offer adult…read moreeducation for sustainable farming and gardening.

Ordered in 2023 , first delivery was fine. I never received my final order. They reached out and…read moresaid they would figure it out then ghosted me

Fantastic organic farm! Love the family feel- the donuts and especially the apple cider vinegar-…read moreplus beautiful fall produce- we plant to visit often

Full disclosure: I know next to nothing about farming co-ops or community-supported agriculture. It…read morewas only recently that we made our first foray into the world of CSA. So, take all of this with a grain of salt since I'm a total noob at this. Through Creme de la Crop though, I experienced my initiation. The way that it works is at the beginning of the season (in our case late spring) you enroll into the share program signing up for either a Standard Market - selection of basic farm produce - or "Epicurean" - larger amounts of every fruit and vegetable they grow. Paying a flat fee (2014 Standard full $720/half $360) you then weekly receive their finest summer produce for 18 weeks. Simply pick up your weekly take of assorted veggies at one of the designated locations. Easy peasy. The upside: The quality of the produce was crazy good. This wasn't your standard supermarket fare--not by a long shot. Everything we received over the 18 weeks was organic, grown on their farm, and from taste, touch, sight, and smell absolutely phenomenal. Green beans, peppers, lettuce, carrots, eggplant, cucumbers as well as various herbs...and much more. We were rarely disappointed with what we got. The people and actual farm were also part of the experience. Most of their produce is grown right there along US 30 just west of town. The actual farm leaves little to be desired. It's basically a collection of rundown old buildings and a few muddy fields. But, the staff and volunteers running it are amazing. They manage to create a unique atmosphere of education and community that really draws you in. They are helpful, friendly, and passionate about their work. The downside: As much as it pains me to say it, it just isn't practical or economical. First off, what produce you get any given week depends entirely on what they are harvesting. One week you get crap load of beets and then next you're swimming in beans. If there are veggies you eat regularly, you'll probably find yourself looking elsewhere many weeks. You also frequently are trying to figure out creative ways to use up the unique produce you end up with. Edemame, chard, kale are interesting, just not the most useful. Second, it's expensive. Some may argue that the quality as well as the environmental sustainability are worth the extra cost, but it was hard for me to swallow. There are other ways to procure organic produce without overly burdening the budget. Finally, there's also the convenience factor to consider. Creme de la Crop does a lot to make it easy to get your hands on your weekly allotment with multiple pick-up locations around Valpo. But, you still work around their schedule and accessibility. In the end it's worth it if you're really committed to CSA. Having principles costs money. If you're willing to pay the cost, a CSA is an excellent way to get great fruits and vegetables and support environmentally sustainable agriculture. If not, find yourself a Whole Foods somewhere.

While visiting my sister in Valparaiso, I grew curious after driving by a few times. Finally i…read morestopped by and purchased some farm fresh & organic eggs, jam, maple syrup, and honey. The owner was an extremely friendly woman who allowed me to check out their chickens and goats. Next time im in town from Florida i will most definitely be stopping by again.

I feared this was coming a couple of months ago when Tomato Mountain posted multiple…read moredesperate-sounding job ads for warehouse workers. Today, our delivery box arrived with $17 worth of items missing-- even though the items were checked off on the label stuck to the box, and that's a label that gets signed off on by two people. Which means, this isn't an instance of items simply going out of stock while the boxes were being filled. This is multiple staff not caring what was put in my family's delivery box, and then not caring to review to make sure that what was supposed to be there was there. My family really likes the Tomato Mountain experience, but it's absolutely unacceptable for food items to be left out of a delivery because staff are phoning it in and don't care about what they're doing. We've experienced this before with supermarket delivery, but we expected a lot more from Tomato Mountain. Especially since you select exactly the items to be delivered, this now screws up my family's meal plan for the next seven days, and we have to go scrambling to replace the items that are missing. More importantly, now we know we can't trust the service anymore. And if I can't trust my CSA, why continue? I take an extraordinarily dim view of grocery and food delivery services gratuitously screwing up delivery orders because of not paying attention. The entire reason my family orders from Tomato Mountain is to make the produce we consume better, our lives easier, and the local food system stronger. But making our lives more difficult because some staff don't care? My partner immediately suggested that we cancel our subscription. I agree. I just requested a refund on the missing items, and the cancellation of our subscription. We're shifting our produce purchases back to Whole Foods. Losing customer trust is the biggest deal there is as far as I'm concerned, and that's why this updated review is a single star.

We are enjoying the quality of produce and the variety offered, even though we are in winter. The…read morestaff are so friendly and the deliveries come like clockwork. We highly recommend!

If you want the best of local purveyors of food and produce, delivered to your door, contact Fresh…read morePicks! Last week I had BangBang Chicken Pot Pies from them...the best I've had in my life. So yummy! They find the best of the best and literally bring it to your door! And the produce so fresh...you can taste the difference.

They are a company holding on to the values of real health a nutrition the essence of life so…read moresupport them for their great efforts and beautiful friendly customer service and eat real non gmo foods god bless, hold the line.

Soil Friends Farm & Market first popped on my radar via Health Conspiracy (Custer Crossfit) as Soil…read moreFriends offers a CSA box. I'll be looking to become a Full Shareholder ($800 full season, weekly share that includes Family admission ticket to strawberry ice cream social, 1 Flat you-pick strawberries, Fall harvest dinner) or Half Shareholder ($450 for every week) in November/December so I'm ready for the full summer! Soil Friends also offers a flexible payment plan, which makes it a bit more affordable Payments can be made on your terms as long as the share is paid in full before the first CSA share is distributed for the year. In the meantime, I've been following all their fantastic Facebook updates. They have hard cider now (very tasty and not too sweet) as well as donuts. But, I stopped by today for some produce (green beans, jalapenos, and watermelon)! I was very tempted to buy ALL the things as the produce looked so fresh and beautiful! The space is also very family friendly with corn hole, ample seating & kids' play equipment. I can see why their socials, dinners could be very lively and fun. Soil Friends also posts up at the Kalamazoo Farmers' Market! But, it's worth a drive out to their farm in Augusta! 207/365

Soil Friends is such an awesome place. There's many things to keep your kids occupied from a…read moreplayset, feeding goats, a play kitchen, and more. You can grab a fresh hard cider, fresh doughnuts and hangout while the kids play. Don't forget to grab some organic produce before you leave too. The spicy dill pickles are superb, and the salsa is fantastic. Thank you for having such a great place for families, and an awesome market!

Call before you go!!! The store was VERY limited. The prices…read moreare the same or higher than those in Chicago stores. For example: 4oz goat cheese was $9. That's pretty outrageous. It was only us (myself, 2 kids and grandma). It took me a min to find where the actual store was. After the store, we let the kiddos run on the grass and play on tractor tires. I get the idea of a family farm, but the prices should be more accessible.

I have been a member for 3 years getting vegetables in spring, summer and fall and fruits in…read moresummer. They even started a winter share with fruits they froze from the summer harvest. This CSA has a great variety of vegetables and fruits. They partner with other organic farms or local orchards to deliver their customers more variety. They even have eggs, meat, dairy, honey and jams. I would pick up my shares at the Grayslake farm every Thursdays and that was always a time I looked forward to. Always friendly staff, helpful weekly emails that would tell you what was in your share and recipes to use them. I had to move out of state a few months ago and this CSA is one of the thing I miss the most.

Great produce grown by great people! You really can't find anything quite like what the farm grows…read more The selection of fresh produce is unbelievable and tastes 100 times better than any store bought produce- even from organic stores! All of the employees are so kind and helpful and answered any questions I had. I definitely recommend making Living Hope Farm your first choice for locally grown produce!

From the owner: Our Mission... The…read moreFruit of the Land is intended: *to create employment (thereby providing work, food, clothing, shelter and rest for our employees), *to provide high quality produce (thereby feeding many peoples), *to produce wine grapes for the Living Hope Winery, *to provide livestock for the Living Hope Village, *and to bless peoples near and far through the Living Hope Foundation. Our Growing Standard... Out of our desire to provide the healthiest food possible, we use sustainable growing practices. We are a "transitional" organic farm, meaning we value and use organic practices and are on track to be certified organic by our 2018 growing season. There is a growing need for healthy, locally grown food and we strive to provide exceptional produce.

The DeLano Farms CSA is one of the most amazing parts of the Kalamazoo Nature Center. We…read moreabsolutely love the massive variety of high quality vegetables available for picking. The fields are beautiful, well maintained, and clearly marked. My kids gain an appreciation for farming and we all learn so much about sustainable practices and how to grow and prepare different vegetables. We only get our summer veggies and fresh flowers from here and look forward to it every year. I can't recommend it enough!