A garden share at Indian Creek Orchard Garden is lot like the CSA’s we all hear so much about these days. When you reserve your garden share in advance, you are partnering with and supporting a local farm, strengthening your communities food resiliance, and assuring yourself of freshest healthiest produce available. Your weekly share is most often picked fresh to order either the day before or the day of.

We recently heard one shareholder describe it to a friend like this. “You reserve your garden share and pay for it at the beginning of the year, then they (us) do all the soil preparation, planting, weeding, watering and harvesting for you. Then you just show up once a week to pick up your food and eat it.”

By reserving your share, we know exactly how much to grow and exactly when to harvest it so that it can go directly to you without having to sit in storage or be transported long distances. This means we can grow the varieties that taste best, rather than the varieties that store and ship well.

Our main pick-up location is at the farm, but we also have drop-off locations in Almonte and Carleton Place for those unable to make it to the farm. If you are able to pick your share up at the farm, you will be able to choose from the week’s entire harvest what varieties from each category go into your share (The type of lettuce, greens, roots, tomatoes peppers etc). We offer farm pick-up on Thursday’s from 3-7pm and on Saturday mornings from 9am-1pm.

When do I reserve my families garden share?

In the past garden shares have completely sold out by early-March. We sell out earlier each year. Please bear in mind that we are a small farm and that there are a limited number of shares available on a strictly first come first serve basis. If you are serious about a garden share you can reserve your share with a small deposit now and pay the rest later, so reserve it now.

How do I reserve my families garden share?

Your share for 2023 is reserved when we receive your $100 deposit or when you pay for your share in full. You can do this online using credit card/paypal, or send us an Interac email transfer, or you can stop by the farm with cash or a cheque, or you can mail us a cheque. Regardless of how you choose to pay, your reservation must be filled out online, as all our records are managed electronically. Please note, there are no refunds of deposits after March 1, 2022 for any reason.

How do deposits/payments work for 2024?

We realize that paying for an entire season of fresh produce at one time can be challenging for many of us. With a $100 deposit you can reserve your garden shares for an entire season right now. After that, please refer to our payment page for your options.

I changed my mind, can I get my deposit refunded?

We offer a full refund of your deposit (minus any transactions fees or incentives incurred) for 30 days after your reservation is made or until March 21st whichever comes first. For cancellations after the 30 day window, we offer a farm stand credit for your deposit (minus a $25 admin/restocking fee). Farm credits may only be redeemed at the farm stand during regular hours. After May 1 we offer no refunds or credits for any reason.

Late payments/ Abandoned shares?

Timely payments are your responsibility. We will send you an email reminder one week before your payments are due (if you provided an email address.)  If payment is not received one week after the due date, we will assume the share has been abandoned and it will be offered to the next family on our waiting list. We do not offer refunds or farm stand credits for abandoned shares. 

I forgot to pick-up my share on Thursday, now what?

If you forget to pick-up your share on Thursday, we will bring your share back to the farm with us when we collect our bins, and you can collect it on Saturday afternoon between 2pm and 4pm.  At 4pm Saturday all uncollected shares are fed to the chickens and our aussies. You will have their gratitude, they love veggies.

I am going on vacation, how does that work?
You have several options;

1. You can have a friend, family member or neighbour collect your share for you while you are away. Be sure to inform your replacement your pick-up time, location and applicable etiquette for that location. For example, that they will need to bring their own bags and to only take the share with YOUR name on it. We require no notification when you decide to do this.
2. You can have your share delivered to the Lanark County food bank, The Hunger Stop,  while you are away. Let us know by Tuesday noon of the affected week and we will look after this for you.
3. You may reschedule one pick-up, per season, per share.  You may reschedule this one share to any other Thursday that is a regular pick-up date. Send us an email no later than noon on Tuesday of the week you would like to have rescheduled with “RESCHEDULE PICK-UP” as the subject so it goes into the correct mailbox. This mailbox is only checked once each week on Tuesdays at noon. We will contact you if there is a problem only, otherwise you will not hear from us. Please do not attempt to reschedule via social media, phone or in person. Shares cannot be rescheduled retroactively.

Can I have someone else pick-up my share for me?

Yes, absolutely. Many of our shareholders give their shares to family or friends while they are away. You do not need to inform us in advance. Please be sure the person picking up your share knows the name your reservation was made under and only takes that bin, or that they know size of the share they are picking up. Please also remind them that they will need to bring their own bags to your pick-up location.

BE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THIS PERSON UNDERSTANDS THEY CAN ONLY TAKE THE SHARE WITH YOUR NAME/LABEL ON IT AND THAT THEY DO NOT TAKE THE DELIVERY BIN WITH THEM.