Philadelphia Winter Harvest

THE 2009-2010 SEASON OF THE WINTER HARVEST BUYING CLUB IS UNDERWAY

TO JOIN, CLICK ON APPLICATION FORM AT LEFT. MEMBERS FROM PREVIOUS SEASON DO NOT NEED TO REAPPLY.

WHAT IS WINTER HARVEST? Winter Harvest is a buying club from which you can order locally produced food during the winter and spring months, when CSAs and most farmers' markets are not operating. Members submit their orders through this website, to be delivered weekly to sites in Philadelphia and towns west, east and north of Philadelphia. See Delivery Locations, below.

By ordering from Winter Harvest, you will be using your purchasing power to support local farmers and to become part of a growing movement that promotes family farming, environmental stewardship, good health and fresh, delicious food.

Winter Harvest offers high quality, sustainably produced foods, many of which are otherwise not available to urban households.

Through Winter Harvest You Can:

• Order on-line from a list of over 500 food items and other products grown or produced in the Philadelphia region: root crops, meat, poultry, eggs, milk, yogurt, cheese, herbs, preserves, baked goods, honey, baby food and more.
• Feel secure about your selections: most vegetables are from certified organic farms. Many meat, poultry, and dairy products are from organically raised, grass-fed animals.
• From November to April, order from our list every two weeks for deliveries on each Thursday for the following two weeks.
• Order what you want, when you want it. No minimum order.
• Open your account with a minimum deposit of $50. You can pay by PayPal and your deposit is applied as payment to your order. (If you already a member, you do not need to reapply. Just check your account balance to make sure it is sufficient to cover your order.)
• Choose your delivery location from the list of communities in the Philadelphia area.
• Support family owned farms and other small businesses in the region

The Winter Harvest product list is updated by the Wednesday the new order period opens. You will have six days to order for deliveries in the following month. Orders are due on the Wednesday (5 pm)

Delivery Locations for The 2009-2010 Season

Winter Harvest orders are delivered every Thursday. Below you can find the sites in alphabetical order.

Farm to City Commitment

Farm to City's mission is to unite communities, families, and farmers year round through good local food; our slogan: Real Farmers, Real Food. We strive to bring healthful food products from family farms and other small producers to appreciative households in the Philadelphia area. We select the producers for Winter Harvest based on their quality products and their commitment to sustainable agricultural practices, including organic farming and pasture management.

Winter Harvest responds to the need to connect urban residents to the real food that local farmers grow in the winter months.

So much of the food eaten by Americans is picked or processed in far away places by huge corporations remote from our scrutiny. We don't know who grew or raised it, how farm workers are treated, whether animals are treated humanely, what land and pest management practices are used, and how long the food took to get here. When we get our food from local farmers, we are much more connected to the land and can get answers to these important questions.

Winter Harvest supports local family farmers who are under intense economic pressure due to artificially low food prices and the agricultural policies and programs that favor corporate farming. We include in our list food and other items produced by several small Philadelphia businesses with values similar to our own.

We hope you share our objective of supporting family farms and small food processing businesses, through the combined purchasing power that Winter Harvest provides.