Update as of February 2022:
We look forward to growing for all of you in 2022!
Check out our Memberships, exclusive perks & how they work.
Check out our Subscriptions & how they work.
COME ALONG &
EAT THE RAINBOW WITH US!
KNOW YOUR FARMER, KNOW YOUR FOOD
When Locally Germinated was founded in 2011 it was the only farm in the area to use the innovative food business model called Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, to bring ecologically-grown food to the Windsor-Essex & Chatham-Kent areas. Since then other similar businesses have sprouted up to supply our community’s pent-up demand for local and ecologically-conscious food. Within this new climate we started to search inwards, to go back to our roots and to our core values, and what we came up with is a quote from a favourite (former) CBC Radio show, “The Vinyl Cafe” ~ “We may not be big, but we’re small” ~ (Wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vinyl_Cafe#Dave_and_Morley_Stories). We’re backyard gardeners who have a bit more land to work with than the usual residential area.
FAQs
What’s your story?
We are a sustainable, small-scale, permaculture-based, community farm that most closely mimics a home garden. Our produce may look imperfect at times but it will be the freshest, most flavourful veggies you’ll ever taste. Enjoy the benefits of a home garden without the work! You can’t get fresher food unless you grow it yourself (which is a wonderful thing to do, if you can!) Many people say that once they go delicious they can’t go back. Every veggie is harvested by hand and the use of machinery for planting and preparing the soil is minimal. We adhere to strict organic growing principles. Everything is done by rashel, with occasional help + support from parents, siblings, children, cousins, aunts, uncles & friends. We gain incredible satisfaction from knowing the people and families who eat the food we grow. Find out more on our About page.
How does it work?
You can buy a Membership or a Subscription (find out more on our website) and in return you’ll get our Fresh & Local weekly veggie bag, & free home delivery, early bird ordering, priority, free samples & more. It’s completely customizable, you can pause or skip a week at any time, you can buy anything from our website & we run year-round (we’re starting to ramp up our fresh offerings from November – May). We are competitively priced – the majority of our produce is the same price as non-organic grocery store fare. You will get a discount if you bring your own bag or box, to support our reduction of plastic bag use. A CSA is the perfect way to see where and how your food is grown and to put a face to your farmer.
What produce can I expect?
A complete list can be found on the What We Grow page.
- In April you’ll be eating fresh Leafy Greens, Herbs, Scallions, Radishes, Beets + Radnips.
- In May you’ll see Sugar Snap Peas, new Leafy Greens & Cilantro at its best.
- When June comes around you’ll add Garlic Scapes, Kohlrabi & Carrots to your meals.
- By July you’ll be enjoying alllll the Tomatoes, Basil, Sweet Peppers, Beans, Garlic, Eggplant, Zucchini & Broccoli.
- In August Hot Peppers, Squash, Plums, Blueberries, Cantaloupes & Golden Berries make their appearance.
- In September you’ll be eating fresh Pears & you’ll see the return of Leafy Greens & Fresh Herbs.
- In October it’s your last chance for Tomatoes & Peppers.
- In November through April you’ll be eating frost-sweetened Carrots, Beets & Kale, alongside Leafy Greens (like Spinach), Kohlrabi, Radishes + Radnips, Scallions, Garlic, fresh Herbs, Sundried Tomatoes, Sundried Pears, free-range pastured brown eggs & loose-leaf Herbal Teas.
- Throughout the season we will have also have off-farm items such as local honey, local jams + hot pepper jellies from Boondocks Preserves, organic pickled preserves, microgreens, sweet potatoes, sweet corn & more.
Why do you ask for pre-payment or a deposit before the season starts?
Your pre-payment provides us with the necessary resources to purchase seeds, soil, greenhouse supplies, compost, tools, row cover (for season extension), and to pay employees before the growing season begins. Early payments allow us to plan out our crops to avoid unnecessary food waste, and provides us with a secure and stable market for our produce. Seeds are planted indoors as early as February and transplanted outside in late March. An early deposit is a commitment you make not only to our farm but to yourself.
What are the Membership options and the cost?
Membership information is fully spelled out on our shiny new website, take a look!
Subscriptions – this is new for 2022 & we have a lot of options for you!
- You choose from a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly Fresh & Local bag (you can change the frequency after you’ve started).
- You choose pay-as-you-go or prepaid.
- You choose home delivery or pick-up on the farm.
- All prepaid subscriptions (and memberships) come with free home delivery.
- The pay-as-you-go subscription is $5 per delivery.
- With a prepaid subscription you save 10% & with a pay-as-you-go subscription you save 5%.
- You have your own portal where you can control your subscription:
- You can pause at any time
- You can change the payment method
- You can cancel (after 2 orders)
- You can add extra products or make substitutions with each Fresh & Local bag
- You can change the frequency (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly)
There are 5 different Fresh & Local bag options that you can subscribe to:
- The Grab ‘n’ Go Frittata Kit
- Each kit will feed a family of 4 for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Comes with a postcard for a basic formula to make the perfect frittata.
- The Grab ‘n’ Go Salad Kit
- One kit will make one large family-sized salad 🥗.
- The Grab ‘n’ Go Stir Fry Kit
- With the addition of Rice or Meat, each kit will feed a family of 4. Comes with a postcard for a basic formula to make the stir fry.
- The Grab ‘n’ Go Green Smoothie Mix
- The Farmer’s Choice has 3 different sizes to suit your needs & resembles what our traditional CSA program used to look like.
- The Small box is 4 – 6 items each week. This is suitable for 1 vegetarians or 2 omnivores.
- The Medium box is 6 – 8 items each week. This is suitable for 2 vegetarians or 3 omnivores.
- The Large box is 9 – 11 items each week. This is for the veggie lovers & those with a family or 4 or more.
Find all the details @ https://locallygerminated.ca/collections/membership
Members + Prepaid Subscribers will start receiving our Fresh & Local weekly veggie bag in April.
Pay-as-you-go subscribers will start receiving our Fresh & Local weekly veggie bag in May.
All subscriptions will be paused until the Fresh & Local weekly veggie bag begins.
**We only offer delivery to Tilbury & to communities within a 20 km radius around Tilbury but keep an eye on another post today on how you can get us to deliver to you if you’re outside our current delivery zone.
We encourage you to purchase a larger share and to take advantage of our in-season produce by preserving it. Make your locally-grown, organic produce last longer – you’ll be glad you did once Winter comes! This blog provides tips for easy to difficult methods of food preservation – canning, dehydrating, freezing, and fermenting.
Where are you located?
Terre Tremblay Farm is located at 20600 Morris Rd (Canal St West), Lakeshore (outside the town of Tilbury), only 30 minutes from Windsor.
What are the benefits of joining the Fresh & Local Revolution?
- Garden to plate freshness: grocery store fare is harvested up to 2 weeks before arriving at the store versus our produce which is picked no more than 1 day in advance. Our beets are often being washed up right before being packed up for deliveries!
- Money saved on organic vegetables – our prices are 20% lower than organic produce in grocery stores.
- Exclusive member benefits: free home delivery (within a 20 km radius around Tilbury; neighbourhood depots are being organized for areas outside our delivery zone), free samples & exclusive access to certain veggies, flexibility and direct communication with your farmer; not having to carry cash each week (many members told us this was a big draw to the program); returning members get priority spaces for the following season. And so much more!
- Knowing you are feeding your family sustainably-grown, healthy, DELICIOUS, nutrient-dense foods.
- The chance to be more in tune with the local climate by learning to eat seasonally and reducing your food miles. (See also wikipedia.)
- Supporting local, ecological farmers encourages more farmers to go this route.
- Knowing that your food dollars are staying in your community and are supporting ecologically-conscious farming while not contributing to environmental degradation; reduction of food waste.
- A blog that is updated regularly with recipes and farm life as well as an active Facebook community.
- When you pick-up at the farm you get to see our farm in action, visit our free-range pastured chickens, and participate in farm activities and tours in our child-friendly atmosphere.
- Supporting farmers who train and guide others in growing their own food gardens, independently and through farm groups such as the NFU-O and the EFAO; helping the community create their own food independence through foraging tours.
- The opportunity to try new vegetables and to be creative in the kitchen – who knows what new favourite dish or veggie you will discover!
How else can I become involved?
We offer a work-share program for those who prefer to volunteer in exchange for veggies + to get experience with gardening. Work-share is also available to paid members who want to supplement their weekly veggies, save money on their share, or who want to spend a lovely morning on our farm. Work is generally limited to harvesting but can include other jobs if you want to contribute in other ways. While you will need to be fairly able-bodied and able to stand being in the heat this is volunteer work so we create a relaxed atmosphere. Children are welcome.
Preference will be given to those who can commit to volunteering every week of the 20 week season and to those who have some vegetable growing experience. Available times are Thursday mornings during our harvest times. Accommodations can be made for other days of the week, please contact if interested. For a minimum of 3 hrs per week you will receive a bag of veggies worth $20.
How do I find out more?
- Our online farmers’ market & website is the best place to check us out.
- You can send us an email at locallygerminated@gmail.com
- You can sign up to this blog. It’s blog is a fantastic resource, you can see what produce we have offered and how our program has worked since 2011. You can also search this blog for recipes and information on individual veggies.
- You can sign up to our newsletter to be the first to see what’s Fresh & Local. You’ll find out about exciting new things we are offering in 2022, including farm tours, foraging walks, work bees, and more!
- You can buy our merch & support our farm!
- We’re on Instagram!
- You can follow us on Facebook.
[…] Membership Information […]
Lots of great info. But How do you sign up and pay?
Hi Jim, send an email to locallygerminated@gmail.com to find our more information, to sign up, and to get payment options. Thank you 🙂
[…] Membership Info […]
[…] Membership Info […]
[…] Membership Info […]
I LOVE this idea…. have you considered growing any berries? These are a staple at our house and make up a good portion of our weekly produce purchase.
Hi Lisa, we’ve certainly thought about growing berries and other fruit. They are quite costly to get started, time + energy intensive, and takes years to be established. As we scale up we’ll be adding fruits to what we grow 🙂