Here are some frequently asked questions:
- Are there membership fees?
- Will I have to buy vegetables I don't want?
- How do I order?
- When do I pay?
- Where do I pick up my order?
- Why Support Locally Grown?
- How can I sell through this market?
- What happens if I forget to pick up my order?
- Customer Reviews
- Why am I charged an additional fee to use my credit card?
- Why are some products labeled "organic" and others are not?
- Ordering Info and Suggestions
- Resources
And here are some answers:
Are there membership fees?
To help cover our overhead costs such as rent, insurance, bank fees, and volunteer credits, we ask that you pay an annual fee of $25 per household for one calendar year. You are welcome to try us for two orders before officially becoming members.
Will I have to buy vegetables I don't want?
Unlike some co-ops, buying clubs, or CSAs where everyone gets the same box of stuff (and you don’t know what you’re getting until you get it), with Locally Grown you get to order what you want, in the quantities that you want, from the farms that you want. The weekly email lists the produce, milled products, fresh flowers, and artisan goods available that week, and you can browse the items on this website before you place your order.
How do I order?
Once you’ve created a customer account on the “Sign In” tab.
Pick up is on Saturday between 10AM -12PM. Please order from 8AM Wednesday thru 8PM Thursday.
Orders can be placed here on our website. Ordering through this web site is our preferred method as it is designed to reduce the amount of time it takes us to process orders as well as provide you with detailed information about our products.
When do I pay?
When you place an order, you are committing to paying for those items ordered. We take payment in several ways:
CASH
CHECK
CREDIT at pick up
CREDIT online when you place your order. You’ll see two choices at checkout, PAY NOW or PAY LATER. PAY NOW will ask you to create a stripe account with stripe.com. There is a 3% fee for all credit card payments
If you fail to come pick up your items, you will still be expected to pay the amount due.
Where do I pick up my order?
Our Location:
3540 Keith Bridge Road, Cumming GA 30041
Take 400N to Exit 17 Keith Bridge Road exit right (east) for approximately 1.3 miles on Keith Bridge Road. Turn right into the Hollywood Feed Parking lot and drive to the gravel lot in the rear of the building. The Market is located in the back of the Hollywood Feed Building, enter through the glass doors with the market logo on it.
Why Support Locally Grown?
Enhance your local economy: By purchasing produce and other items from local growers you are providing stability to your local economy through the support of local businesses.
Save natural resources: Buying locally makes you an invaluable link in the process of saving resources such as fossil fuels and packaging materials. Also, we are right here in your community so the expense of transportation and delivery is kept to a minimum.
Provide learning opportunities: Locally Grown supporters provide member growers the means to help educate our community about the importance of sustainable agriculture.
Supporting a way of life: The number of small farms in the United States has decreased dramatically in the last decade. Please help us preserve an honest and worthy means of making a living.
We believe that small, diverse, family-owned farms contribute to society’s overall health.
How can I sell through this market?
If you’ve already created a customer account here, simply go to Our Growers scroll to the bottom, and look for the line “If you would like to sell through this market, please tell us about yourself" and a market manager will contact you. We do charge 10% of your overall sales as a “table fee” for selling through the market. Like at a traditional farmers’ market, you do get to set your own prices and list your items as you wish.
You should have a good understanding of how we work before you apply to be a grower. We would like you to first become a customer and place a couple orders so you can see firsthand how we operate. Things go so much more smoothly if you’d join us as a customer first, so unless you’ve already received an invitation from us to join as a grower, your request to sell will be denied if you’ve never shopped at the market.
What happens if I forget to pick up my order?
Growers deliver your selections on Friday and Saturday mornings before the market opens. Your products are the freshest on Saturday morning so we want to get them to you quickly. So the market manager opens the market on Saturday at 10 AM and will close the market shortly after 12PM on Saturday. We start calling those who haven’t arrived by 11:30 as a courtesy. Buyers are responsible for the products ordered and should make arrangements to pick them up. If Saturday pickup is not going to work for you please email Cummingharvest@fillministries.org as soon as possible and make plans for pick up your order.
If you place an order, and make no pre-arrangements for pickup and do not show in Saturday we will add a late fee of $5.00 to your next order.
A new shopping option:
To make your shopping experience better we offer the option of coming the 3540 Keith Bridge Road (please not on Wednesday – Client Choice Pantry is open lot is full) and shop any extra products that our growers have provided. The hours are Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 9 AM till 4 PM. Come to the entrance of Meals by Grace and ask if you can shop the Farmers market.
One of the Meals by Grace staff members will assist you if they are available.
If you are picking up a missed Saturday order please bring a copy of your order to assist the staff member in packing of all your ordered items. They will not have access to the market software to look up your order.
Ordered items that are abandoned will be donated to Meals by Grace.
Customer Reviews
I wanted to let you know how thrilled I was with the beautiful veggies! I don’t think I have ever seen such gorgeous greens! I had bought the spinach , two kinds of kale and the bright lights greens, plus the broccoli. Wow- they were all superb! I still have a little left and am savoring each.
The breads were awesome as always and the meats will be wonderful- I have cut down my meat intake so haven’t gotten into last week’s supply as yet but it is always just like the wonderful meat we ate when I was growing up. I can’t find meat anywhere that tastes like this meat; not even at Harry’s Whole Foods!
Oh yes, and the granola is perfect too! It’s crunchy and has just the right mix of ingredients in each flavor choice. I got 3 different mixes and can’t decide which is best. It’s so fresh!! I will get more of that next week!
I’m just so delighted that you have taken the time to provide our community with the privilege of buying clean, healthy, delicious and local food. I want to thank you and everyone else involved with you from the bottom of my heart! Keep up the great work!
Have a blessed day,
C. Rutledge
“*” This is an AWESOME addition to our local food community!! I have been pining for something like this for a long time, and am so happy that my “call” was heard! There are a great variety of growers and the list seems to get longer every week. The variety of products available is excellent – I can do almost all my shopping for the week! The ordering is simple, the quality of the products is fantastic, and Suzanne is doing a wonderful job with the organization. I LOVE THIS MARKET!!!!
Leslie Kupkowski
Why am I charged an additional fee to use my credit card?
The credit card company charges the market 3% to process a charge. When you pay online with your card, this fee is automatically included in your total as a convenience fee.
At pick up we accept 3 forms of payment— cash, check or charge. Paying with cash and check are preferred and incur no fees. As with the online credit payments, there is a fee to pay with a credit card at pick up. This 3% fee is automatically added into your total.
Why are some products labeled "organic" and others are not?
As a rule, no “conventional” growers are allowed to sell through our market. Everything sold on The Cumming Harvest is grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides. All produce is grown according to Organic standards, although, for various reasons, most growers do not pursue Organic certification.
To use the word “Organic,” a grower must register through the USDA and keep up with a tremendous amount of paperwork. The process is very expensive and intensive, and certainly favors large, conglomerate farms over the small family farm.
A few smaller growers in the state of Georgia have decided that the cost and paperwork of Organic Certification are worth the effort, and because they have completed the certification paperwork and have paid the fees to be inspected by the USDA, they can legally use the word “Organic."
Many smaller farmers choose another route, a grassroots certification system called “Certified Naturally Grown.” This nation-wide program seeks to correct the problems with the USDA certification system. The standards are just as strict (and in some cases, more so) as the USDA Organic program, but the cost of certification is minimal— about $200/ year, compared to $2,000 through the National Organic Program. There is still paperwork, but smaller farmers find it manageable. More importantly, the growers in the program inspect each other, rather than relying on an outside for-profit certifier. Several of our growers have gone this route.
Finally, a few growers are not certified by anyone but still use organic sustainable methods on their farms.
To find out more about our growers, and to see what certification they have, take a look at our Growers page.
Ordering Info and Suggestions
NEW TO THE MARKET?
Here’s some tips to help you have the best experience when ordering online.
1. ORDER EARLY Online ordering begins at 8am (Don’t wait for this email to place your order!!)
2. COMPLETE YOUR ORDER…you can lose an item in your cart if someone else orders and completes the order ahead of you.
3. LOOK FOR A CONFIRMATION EMAIL…if you don’t receive an email showing your completed order, your order was not placed and you’ll need to place it again.
4. MULTIPLE ORDERS…placing multiple orders aren’t a problem, they will be grouped together on our order form with one total.
5. ARRIVE EARLY TO PICK UP…We usually have extras from various farmers/vendors and maybe a Farmer of the Day. Arrive at 8am for a better selection and less wait time.
6. BRING GROCERY BAGS…Don’t forget to bring your reusable grocery bags to pack your order.
7. EMAIL THE GROWER…each farmer lists their own products and tries to make the listings as clear as possible so that you know what you are buying, but sometimes it may need more explanation. You are buying directly from the farmer/vendor and they are more than happy to speak to you to answer any questions.