This is my third year being a CSA member. Not only is the taste of the vegetables amazing, but…read morerecently it's been significantly cheaper than shopping organic at the big box stores. I go to the farm for pickup every week, and I love the variety, that I can pick and choose between over a dozen different herbs and veggies, the extras they often have, the UPick tomatoes and beans and etc. It's also such a relief to know where my food is coming from, that there are no chemical fertilizers or pesticides in it, that it's not downwind a feedlot so no chances of salmonella outbreaks in their leafy greens, that it hasn't been sprayed to ripen -- the peace of mind itself is invaluable. They have three seasons (spring, summer, and fall) that you can sign up for (that often sell out early, especially the summer season), as well as Thursday farmstands in the afternoon. Also, at the beginning of May they sell seedlings, with prices cheaper than The Growing Place, and most of the plants I buy from there thrive in my garden with no additions required (I put compost in the hole and around the base when I first plant them, mulch around the seedlings, and that's pretty much it, by mid-July I'm getting more tomatoes and basil and etc than I know what to do with).

Well-established CSA with a pop-up farmstand on Wednesday nights. Organic produce grown all from…read moreseed resulting in 28 weeks of pickups from Mother's Day to Thanksgiving... wow! Why settle for a grocery store tomato when you can have these beauties??

I love this place so much. It's a 1890s living history museum, and there's so many interesting…read morethings to learn about here. In the winter, they do ice carving demonstrations that you can participate in. In the summer, they make hand-churned ice cream with the harvested ice from the winter and host an "ice cream social" for everyone to participate in. They also do maple sugaring demonstrations in the spring. Every hour, there are house tours where you can learn some history about life in the 1890s. The farm animals are adorable too. It's also free to get in. Perfect for adults and kids!

The website promotes the idea of having several things to do, which we didn't find to be the case…read more We arrived at 10am which is supposed to be tours of the farmhouse, didn't happen. One lady did say that, "someone probably looked outside and didn't immediately see anyone so they skipped it." We did walk around and see pigs, pet the sheep, saw cows. The horses were off under the sheds. A 30 min walk. Tha

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.

Great products, they even offer some gluten free things. Fun to interact with animalsread more

I always purchase from them at the Wheaton farmers market. I love their soups and chocolate chip…read morecookies. I stopped by the farm in Elburn. They have tons of goats and give you veggies to feed them for free. My son loved it! There's meat, veggies, desserts, soups, and some premade dinners for purchase.

I have now been a CSA member for a few months. What is CSA? It stands for Community Supported…read moreAgriculture. I actually found them via localharvest.org/csa/ which helps people pair up with organic farmers. Why would anyone join such a program? Well, the truth is there is just so much toxic stuff in our American food system. In the past, I have joined other organic food distributor companies that deliver food straight to your home. The problem is that initially they are great but then over time the quality tended to wane. Therefore, I would quit my subscription and go back to buying my produce at farmers markets or Wholefoods. Well, I am glad to report that Tomato Mountain sends me pristine produce and high-quality meats and fish. I believe that they provide me with a good value for what I receive because I no longer have to drive around to find good wholesome quality food. They drop off a box of selected items right at my doorstep. I highly recommend that you also join Tomato Mountain or any other farm listed in the localharvest.org website. Some farmers utilize lethal pesticides that will increase their yield and make them more money. Food manufactures have slowly over time introduced lots of toxic ingredients that in the past were not utilized to help them make items cheaper, last longer, and make them more money. Plenty of grocery stores have also discovered ways in which to make their produce appear perfect and last longer on their shelves thus making them more money. Meat manufactures force their animals to live in horrible conditions and introduce their stocks to hormones and lots of antibiotics to increase their yields and once again make more money. Many of these practices are banned around the world. But for the sake of making more money, these practices are okay here?!? Folks you need to wake up. Like the old saying goes, "If everyone is jumping off of a pier, will you?". Unfortunately, most people still look for the cheapest items to purchase in grocery stores because they are trying to stay within their budgets. Well, let me ask you, how much is your health worth? You either pay now or pay later with your health. There is just no way I can cover all of things that are bad for you with this review. But I do challenge you to look into the following items which will open your eyes to what is happening in our food system: 1) Glyphosate - which is a pesticide sprayed on wheat and oat crops 2) GMOs - foods have been bioengineered to produce their own pesticides 3) Fructose syrup - which is a highly processed sugar derived from gmo corn 4) Antibiotics and hormones - given to farm animals, then we consume 5) Nitrates - added to highly processed meat products 6) Plastic - utilized in food packaging, then inadvertently winds up in our food 7) Phthalates - In cologne, scented candles, cosmetics and cleaning products 8) Potassium Bromate - it's a dough conditioner utilized in bread, pizza dough, and crackers Please follow these links to a couple of informative videos that will help put our food system into proper perspective: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAWDCbpvapr/?igsh=MXR2ZnB2MmEwODN2aw== https://www.instagram.com/reel/DAYxW15RW7I/?igsh=d2Y2OGQzY2U3Mjh5

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 have a CSA arrangement with this farm and are extremely impressed with the produce we've…read morereceived. Farmer Rob Montalbano is an approachable and enthusiastic guy who rents two acres from another organic farm and pulls a tremendous amount of clean, fresh produce from the ground each week for his subscribers and his farmer's market booths. He also sends out a weekly newsletter detailing the ups and downs of the week, what bugs are getting him down, and which bugs are saving the day and eating those bugs. The newsletter also highlights a few recipes for the more off-the-beaten-path vegetables, helping you make the most of your weekly haul. I've seen the boxes of a few other CSA's available in the area, and I was very glad we picked Montalbano Farms. Farmer Rob has them beat, remarkably, on quality, quantity, and variety. Also he's very accessible-- if you have any questions you can call or e-mail him. You can find his stand at the Logan Square Farmer's Market on Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights at the Evanston/ Ridgeville Farmer's Market, and at the Englewood Farmer's Market on Thursdays.

We did this last year and it worked out great, so we signed up another year. These guys break their…read morebacks pulling weeds every day so we don't have to consume pesticides. There are many CSAs to choose from, and I'm sure most all of them are great, but I haven't had any issues with this one and highly recommend it. For those of you that don't want the commitment of picking weekly, bi-weekly pickups and/or have a hectic schedule, they just launched a program where you can carry a balance and order what you want, when you want throughout the season.

Visited Heritage Prairie Fame for the 15th Annual Artisan Food & Craft Fair. It was advertised to…read morehave over 40 vendors, but it actually seemed to be less and not sure I would promote it as a Food fair, since there were limited offerings. The farm produces organic produce , and an event venue. The grounds were nice on a lovely autumn day.

Heritage Farms is mainly used for open-air weddings and farm-to-table events…read more This review is based for their Artisan Craft and Food Fair. Held in November,this event is mainly a market selling locally handmade goods from art, jewelry,soaps and more This Fair was very small and not many food vendors or crafters at all. Not sure I would drive out to Elburn again for this event unless I happen to be in the area.

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.

Really nice community supported agriculture farm. We hit the flower and vegetable plant sale this…read moreweekend. Plenty of high quality herbs, flowers, and vegetable starts for our garden.