This is my first one-star review ever, and I hate for it to be for a local CSA. Unfortunately, Grant Farms deserves it. If these folks go back into business, I highly encourage you to take your money elsewhere, as Andy Grant and his team clearly do not know how to run a business.
They announced they were closing indefinitely this year in an email sent December 18th, notifying folks that they closed December 16th, note that this is 2 days after they closed. They also did this after soliciting new signups for the now-non-existent 2018 season and giving no indication there may not actually be a season to buy into. From their 12/18 email, they said their attorneys would look into how to give people back their money. From my communications with Andy and his clear incompetence in handling financial matters, I highly doubt anyone will see their money again. Luckily, I did not sign up for another season, as my experience was so terrible I opted not to sign up again.
I had an "All-In Couples' Share." This was supposed to come with veggies, produce, meat, mushrooms, eggs, yogurt, cheese, and preserved goods. Our share was a mess. We often received rotten food: either wet, weeping, soft, or straight up moldy. Our share also often lacked the staples we expected: no mushrooms, no yogurt, meat without ice packs that had been in a hot truck for who-knows-how-long, etc. We regularly received store bought items that were at or past their expiration date, including apples from South America, pineapples, avocados, and multiple dried bags of wrinkly, expired baby carrots. It was not uncommon to receive 2 leaves of bok choy or a carrot. When faced with low supply, most CSAs will ensure their members get something useful, if not always equal. That is, give 1 person a head of bok choy and another a bunch of carrots, rather than split the produce into tiny, useless amounts. The point of a CSA is to eat local, sustainable food and support the local farming economy. Grant Farms regularly provides food imported from other countries. As for their homegrown produce, it is often in weirdly small quantities or plain rotten.
I contacted Grant Farms weekly to discuss my issues. After 2 months of communicating with the woman who answered the phones, I was eventually told that Andy would speak to me as there were so many problems with my share. Andy failed to contact me for an additional 2 months, though I continued calling weekly in hopes that he would find time to speak with me. When he finally emailed me back, he did not greet me or write anything in his response to my request for a refund, but sent me an email containing nothing but a link to the non-legally-binding CSA Agreement on their website which indicates they do not provide refunds. Mind that they had violated this agreement by sending regularly rotten food, failing to include staples of our share, and giving us clearly non-local items; not to mention that a representative of their organization told me they do offer refunds.
This was not my first experience with a CSA, but it was definitely the worst I have had. I was a member of another farm for 6 years until I moved out of their delivery district. Instead of making my life easier, Grant Farms's CSA made my weekly groceries a headache. This CSA is a disappointment. read more