Here’s a good option for those who want access to locally grown fresh produce during the winter and spring months, when most CSAs are not operating. Winter Harvest is a buying club that works with regional producers and offers delivery locations in West Philadelphia. Membership is free and all you have to do is fill out an application online. After that you order what you want on a biweekly basis for weekly deliveries. You can choose a prepaid option, where a weekly amount is withdrawn from your account, or pay-as-you-go. And you can choose to order a little, a lot, or not at all as each week rolls along.
Currently, Winter Harvest has two West Philly drop-off/pick-up locations – in Spruce Hill (see more details below) and in Overbrook (near Drexel Rd. and City Ave) – and deliveries of fresh produce, dairy, eggs, poultry, flour, coffee, meats, cheeses and more start in November and go on through April.
For our Spruce Hill neighbors, the first ordering window opens on Friday, Oct. 25, with the first delivery on Thursday, Nov. 7. Pick-ups on Thursdays will be at 4:30-6:30 p.m. at the Spruce Hill delivery site, at a house near Melville and Locust intersection, with “after hours” pick-up nearby. More details about the pick-up locations are available after registration.
For more information about Winter Harvest and to sign up, click here.
November 24th, 2013 at 8:14 am
Winter Harvest food is good, but beware their online ordering system, which is hit or miss. As for customer service, their attitude is if you paid them a lot of money for an order, and the system lost your order, they get to keep your money for the next two weeks and invite you to take your chances with their ordering system again at that time. “Indifferent” is putting it nicely.
November 24th, 2013 at 5:17 pm
I, on the other hand, have ordered from Winter Harvest for many years with almost no glitches. I know that when they shifted over to paypal there were some glitches, but they have worked hard to sort things out. You have to make sure you get an order confirmation after you put in an order! I credit Winter Harvest with working hard to support many, many farmers and manage complex orders. I don’t know what I would do without them!
November 24th, 2013 at 9:14 pm
I joined this year and I have had a very good experience so far. The produce is of very good quality and the selection is astounding! The online system is not perfect, but it seems to work OK as long as I follow the instructions carefully. I am really excited about this because it allows me to get fresh farm food much more easily and frequently than I typically do in the winter.