Local Food Share FAQs
Where and when do I pick up my share each week?
We offer weekly and biweekly pickup at multiple different locations around Jefferson County. When you sign up for a Local Food Share, you will pick the location and time that works best for you.
See here for our locations and pickup times.
If you sign up for an afternoon pickup time, but miss your pickup, you can always pick up at the Downtown Golden location on Friday mornings between 8am - 10am.
Can I still purchase a share even though I travel during the summer?
Of course! In addition to our weekly share options, we also offer biweekly shares where you can pick up your food every other week. This is a great option for people who travel a lot and won’t need to replenish their fridge every week. Additionally, our summer season runs until the end of October. So if you are traveling in the beginning of the summer, you can simply sign up when you return (if the shares are not sold out). Payment will be prorated based on how many weeks are left in the season when you sign up.
In addition, you can always have a friend or neighbor pick up for you if you are out of town. They simply need to tell us your name, and they can take home the food.
You can also put your account on hold for up to 3 weeks at a time while you are gone, and then receive extra produce the week you return.
Click here for details on how to set a hold on your account.
Is there an alternative place/time to pick up my share if I know I cannot make it to my scheduled pickup?
If you know in advance that you will not be able to pick up your share, there are a few options for you.
1) If you signed up for an afternoon pickup time, you can always pick up your food on Friday mornings at Downtown Golden from 8am-10am. The location for our Downtown Golden location is 614 10th St., in Golden, CO.
If you signed up for the Friday morning pickup time in Downtown Golden, you can always pick up your share at Downtown Golden on Thursday afternoons instead! Distribution will be open from 3pm - 6:30pm on Thursday afternoons.
2) You can always have a friend or neighbor pickup your food for you!
3) You can place a hold on your account! By placing a hold, you may pick an alternative week to pick up your food that you missed. Holds must be placed at least 1 week in advance of the week that you are missing.
Click here for details on how to set a hold on your account.
Can I have someone else pick up my share for me?
Yes! You can always have someone else pickup for you. All they need to provide is the name on your account.
Which size vegetable share should I sign up for?
Every family is different and it largely depends on how much produce you eat at home. Though as a starting point, we recommend the "More Veggie" share to feed a household of 3 or more, and the "Veggie" share for households of 1-2.
If you cook and eat a lot of veggies at home you may want to go up in size, and if you do not cook very much at home, we recomend starting with a smaller share. If you are a large family and eat a lot of home, you may even want to order 2 "More Veggie" shares, or 1 of each share size!
You can also choose between a weekly or biweekly share to help make the share sizes work for you (i.e. for a family of 3 that does not cook much at home, you may opt for a weekly "Veggie" share OR a biweekly "More Veggie" share).
Will there be a chance to switch around the items that come in my share each week?
Each week, there will be a BONUS BOX at pickup where you can take extras that we have available for the week. If you would like to leave any items from your share with us, then you can certainly do so, and hopefully you can make up for it with our BONUS BOX options.
Though instead of leaving items, we encourage you to try new items that you might not have had before! We send out recipes each week so you won’t be short of ideas.
Is all the produce organic?
All of our produce is grown using organic and sustainable practices. Many of our farmers ARE certified organic, but not all of them are. This is because many of our farmers are very small in scale and organic certification is not financially feasible. Though you can rest assured knowing that ALL of the local farmers we work with DO NOT use GMOs (genetically modified organisms), pesticides, chemical fertilizers, or any other harmful toxins on their farm.
For more about our food standards, see here!
How do I know food safety is being practiced in the handling of my shares?
Food safety is a top priority for GoFarm. We have a food safety plan based off guidelines provided by the USDA and have safety checklists posted in all of our distribution locations. We are very diligent about following food safety protocols and we continually monitor all the steps of our process to ensure our food is fresh, clean, and free of contaminants.
Every week we sanitize ALL the surfaces within our distribution locations, wash our hands multiple times throughout the day, and make sure that your food touches as few hands and surfaces as possible before getting to you.
Even though your food sees minimal handling, we still encourage you to wash your food at home before you snack!
How do you define local? Is all your food grown locally?
GoFarm considers local to be food grown within 400 miles of Golden, CO - following the USDA definition as food grown within 400 miles of distribution.
The 400 miles radius of Golden spans the entire state of Colorado, as well as some areas within neighboring states. Though GoFarm's mission is tied to Colorado, and thus the vast majority of the farmers we work with are located here in Colorado. We prioritize small-scale farms that are as close as possible to our local community of Jefferson County, Colorado.
So YES, all of the food we purchase and distribute is grown locally, and most of the food is grown within just 40 miles of Jefferson County. Some might call this, hyper-local!
The close proximity of your farmers means your produce travels less to get to you, and comes to you FRESH from the farm, within a day or two of being picked/harvested.
Read more about your farmers here.
Can I buy a share for someone else who needs it?
Of course. The best way to buy a share for someone else is to make a donation to GoFarm, as much of our donations go toward our Community Food Access program which helps make healthy food more affordable and accessible in our community.
If you are interested in purchasing a share for someone as a gift, you can simply sign up for a share as you normally would, and then email us with details of who you would like to "gift" the share to. We will then change the contact information on the account so that your gift recipient will have all the information they need to pick up their food each week!
Do you accept SNAP payments?
Yes! We accept SNAP and Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB), which means that shares are half-price when you sign up for 2 or 4 weeks at a time. To pay with SNAP and DUFB, sign up online and choose “EBT/SNAP Payment” as your payment method. Once you finish signing up, we’ll contact you to arrange for your in-person payment for your food share.
See here for more information about paying with SNAP.
How do I sign up for the Local Food Share?
Check out our share options, and click "Sign up or Login to Your Account" when your ready to signup! This will take you to a signup portal where you choose your pickup location, time, frequency, share types, and payment options.
You can also
click here to sign up right away!
If you have any questions or experience trouble signing up, you can contact us at localfoodshare@gofarm.org.
Can I cancel my share and get a refund?
Unfortunately, we do not offer cancellation refunds.
Our farmers rely on your commitment as a shareholder, as many of them rely on GoFarm as their main sales avenue and/or set aside a portion of their fields to grow for GoFarm shareholders specifically. We are very grateful to our shareholders, as you are joining us in that commitment to these farmers!
In addition, as an organization, GoFarm also relies on the upfront funds from our shareholders as these funds are woven into helping us run our many programs that strengthen the local food system. Though, we know life throws us curveballs sometimes. If you have an extenuating circumstance, please let us know and we will try our best to work with you!
Read our blog to read more about our shareholder policies.
How do you come up with the prices for your food shares?
Our prices are formulated first and foremost, by the cost of food set by our farmers, who set the price of their food based on the items actual value. The actual value takes into account the cost of the land, water, and equipment required to grow the food, the work to ensure healthy, rich soils for sustainable growing practices, and the long hours and labor required by our farmers and farm workers, while ensuring equitable and safe working conditions.
We also factor in some of the time and labor it takes for us aggregate and distribute food to our community members. As well as the time and resources is take to run many other programs that work to build a strong local food system. So as a shareholder, you are not only paying for a season of good food, you are making a difference in the livelihoods of our local, small-scale, beginning farmers, you are voting with your dollar and creating demand for local food and sustainable growing practices, and you are helping GoFarm improve our local food system as a whole.
Our goal is to keep our prices as fair as possible while still being able to sustain our programs that transform and strengthen our local food system!
To read more about our prices and your impact as a shareholder, check out our blog!
What happens if I accidently miss picking up my share?
If you sign up for an afternoon pickup time but miss your pickup, you can always pick up your share at the Downtown Golden location on Friday mornings between 8am - 10am. The Downtown Golden location is located at 614 10th St., in Golden, CO.
Because we we aim to get the freshest food possible out into the community, if you miss your afternoon pickup and the Friday morning pickup, your food will be donated to our
Community Food Access program. This program makes fresh, locally-grown food more accessible and affordable in our community, and though we regret not being able to get you your food, the donation greatly impacts others in our community!
Can I change my pickup location and time?
If you decide that a different pickup location/time would work better for you, please let us know and we can switch your location for the season.
Unfortunetly, we are unable to switch your pickup location/time for just 1 week at a time.
How do I put a hold on my account if I need to miss a week (or two)?
By putting your account on hold, we will make sure to not order food for you during the week(s) you are gone, and can get you an extra share on a makeup week(s) of your choice. Click here for directions to setting a hold on your account.
IMPORTANT: Holds need to be made at least 1 week in advance of the days you will be missing.
Note: If you are biweekly, you will only be allowed to choose makeup dates that fall on your biweekly schedule. If you would like to schedule a makeup date on your "off-week", please email localfoodshare@gofarm.org and we can make this change manually for you!
Can I change my order, add/remove shares, or change the size of vegetable share?
If you would like to add an item to your order, you can easily do so! Follow these directions to add an item to your account.
If you would like to upgrade to the larger vegetable share, please email us and let us know. We will be able to make this change for you and send you a link for additional payment.
Once the season begins, please allow at least 1 week for changes to take place on your order.
Because of the upfront committment we make to our farmers and producers, we are not able to offer refunds or accomodate removing shares or switching to smaller vegetable shares. Though if you are in an extenuating circumstance, please email us at localfoodshare@gofarm.org and we will try to work with you as best we can.
Can I sign up after the season has already started?
Yes! You can signup at any point during the season. Your payment will be prorated based on how many weeks are left in the season.
You will need to signup by Friday at 5pm MT in order to get in on the following week's food.
Be sure to check your confirmation email to note when your first pickup date is!
