Eatwell Farm

I have been an Eatwell member for 8 years and totally love this farm. We have been to the farm for solstice sleepovers, tomato sauce making parties, strawberry picking days, and more, and have learned many new recipes over the years using Eatwell produce. The produce itself is great, delivery convenient, price is fair. But what makes Eatwell so great is the community that has mushroomed around it and how much a part of the farm you feel being a subscriber. We share in the farm’s triumphs and challenges, and our feedback and participation is taken into account. On top of that, Nigel is one of the most generous folks out there. Simply a great CSA. It’s great to know where your food comes from, and it’s great to know it comes from Eatwell…

If only I could give a 10 star review: Eatwell would get those 10 stars!
There is a special something about Thursdays that I love. I get to pick up our Eatwell Farm veggie box. This feels like opening up a present every week! Fresh, yummy veggies, fruits and eggs. I love reading the newsletter about what is going on on the farm. It makes me feel connected and good about the food I eat. I’m very happy to support a farm that takes such good care of their land. Organic, permaculture, loving care of their animals: it just makes my day (or week, or health).
The veggies are just beautiful, the fruits delicious and their eggs are the best I’ve ever had.
Then there are the farm events. I love them! Strawberry picking, pumpkin party, any reason to spend some time on their farm feels like a golden ticket to me!
I feel very blessed we found this amazing farm and this wonderful family producing food that really nurtures every part of me.

I’ve been an Eatwell CSA member for more years than I can recall — certainly going back to the late 20^th century. I’ve stayed with Eatwell because I feel like part of an extended family, tied to the land on which our family’s dinner makings are grown.
Eatwell Farm has had – and continues to have – a profoundly healthful impact on Bay Area households and families like ours. Thanks to Eatwell, I know what a fresh picked fava bean looks and tastes like (having picked them off a bush on the farm), and how delicious Tokyo turnips are – especially right out of the CSA box. Because of the many wonderful farm events for CSA members and guests, my daughter knows how beautiful and well cared for the land is where her food grows, has seen the chickens that lay the exquisitely delicious eggs she eats (and has gotten to hold them as chicks), and has experienced the joy of eating her absolute fill of strawberries fresh picked from the field.
Nigel and Loraine are deeply committed to organic farming, permaculture, and even sustainable chicken breeding (with their black australorp flock). Loraine teaches children’s cooking classes, shares delicious menus with every week’s newsletter, and her softers (naturally fermented flavored «sodas») are out of this world. And don’t even get me started about the EGGS! They are the best I’ve ever tasted.
The also sell wonderful cosmetic products made from farm produce (like lavender). I always have to have a jar of the lavender-​calendula ointment on hand for cuts, rashes and the like. It works wonders!
I can’t speak highly enough about Eatwell Farm and the folks who run it. Please consider signing up for a 4-​box introductory subscription (with eggs!), and come to the farm for a weekend event. It could be life changing.

I love Eatwell Farms CSA. You can tell thought and care goes into growing, and packaging the produce in addition to the wonderful and informative newsletter.

I’ve been eating Eatwell Farm for 14 years. Nigel — and his beautiful, organic produce — made me a healthy vegetarian and made me fall in love with cooking. Nigel and Lorraine have taught me so much about food, organics, sustainability, and community, I am forever grateful. OH! and don’t forget the salts! Chili salt on Eat Well eggs… HEAVEN.

I’ve been an Eatwell Community Supported Agriculture Member for about 10 years.
I’ve come and gone a few times during that time and am always so so happy when I return to getting my bi-​weekly CSA Produce Box.
Just this morning I made Scrambled Pasture Raised Eggs w/​Fresh Spinach, Green Garlic & Herbs.
They have a very diverse box with at least 12 – 14 different vegetables in it each week, the most amazing strawberries!!!
My family & I have traveled up to the farm in Dixon to attend their strawberry picking days. And the farm has been so kind as to invite my whole extended family to their Summer Solstice Party last year!
Being a member of this farm really makes me feel like a member of my family is farming for me. Thinking about my food, my health, and my enjoying of life each week when they pack these boxes for me!
I can’t say enough about how amazing the Farmer Nigel is! He & his office staff is always supper attentive at helping me whenever I need it.
Plus each week I get a wonderful email & printed newsletter with recipes that are developed each week by the farmer’s wife, Lorraine. She is an amazing chef and does such a wonderful job with helping us use ALL the ingredients in the box each week! They call it a NO WASTE Box…
We love this box, this farm and everything about supporting this FARM!!!

I wanted to continue loving Eatwell, and have RAVED about them at every occasion afforded me. Most of the veggies have been unfailingly good. Fruit, not so much (except the strawberries, if which we got to enjoy maybe 1 basket this season, given they always show up rotting & mushy). But it’s time to move on.
The add-​on ordering system is an absolute nightmare. Items either don’t show up, or are incorrect. God forbid you point out that the items are wrong, for you will be getting terse emails practically interrogating you… did you really not get it? Was it REALLY the smaller quantity you got? (Not in so many words, but hopefully you get my point) I was so irritated the last time that I sent a photo proving the wrong delivery… I should be treated like a liar because someone can’t get orders right?!
The last straw was ordering eggs nearly 2 weeks in advance… and really counting on them for thanksgiving baking & ice cream. WHY was I a fool in thinking that this time the system would work? Of course there were no eggs, and now with stores closing early & not being open tomorrow, I will NOT have the eggs I needed for thanksgiving. And what the f*** will I do with 5 dozen eggs after that, whenever they decide to deliver them at their leisure, I wonder?
So done with paying a premuim to be treated in this manner.

Eatwell Farm has completely changed the way that my husband and I eat and cook. We have been CSA members for three years now. We absolutely love the fresh, high-​quality produce and the great communication. We’ve learned to cook and love lots of veggies I had never bought before. Also, it’s a really easy way to change your diet for the better, because you just know that each week you’ll be eating a large amount of fruits and vegetables and planning your meals around featuring them. When I was pregnant, and now that I am breastfeeding, having an Eatwell CSA box made me feel really confident that I was eating organic and getting very nutritious meals. Also, the eggs are AMAZING. Definitely get the eggs. They are so rich — the yolks are orange! — and delicious. Whenever we run out and have to buy eggs from the store, even the best ones available there are no comparison.

Eatwell Farms is awesome! If you looking for a CSA in the Bay Area, this is the one for you! I was skeptical at first, thinking, «we will get tiered of our box deliveries after a month…» It has been about two months now and we are still very excited every week!
All the produce has been extra delicious. We’ve especially loved the strawberries, heirloom tomatoes, and potatoes. We also get a half dozen eggs with our box and are so pleased with how good they are compared to the eggs at the supermarket.
I’m really glad that we ended up with Eatwell Farms over the other CSAs. The price is just right. We have never received any bad produce. There are many many options when it comes to their drop off locations. Also, we love their communication – the weekly newsletter with recipes, updates, and tips is amazing! And the best part is, once you join you feel like family because you are always welcome to all of their community events.
I couldn’t be happier with Eatwell Farms! So stoked!

the eggs are amazing from here. I also love the turnips from this farm — haven’t been able to find the same ones at my local farmer’s market.

I’ve been a member of this CSA for about a year and half and only changed because it was no longer easy for me to pick up my box. Communication (email mostly) was very good, boxes and produce were a good size and they do very well trying to mix up the variety. There’s also a nice amount of options such as add on for eggs (the yolks are noticeably different and richer in flavor compared to store brought eggs), lavender, flavored salts and sugars). Their website is also very well maintained with the usual box contents, blog but it also contains information about each of the items they produce (storage conditions, etc)
As with all CSAs and fresh produce, you should pick through and unpack your box as soon as you are able to. The newsletter usually will let you know which items are best eaten soon (usually the fruits, which just means they’re ripe and going to be super good) which ones can keep a little longer.
I would say that the most wonderful thing about this CSA were the events hosted at the farm are fabulous and really hold onto the idea of community and family. And also on the plus side, tomato season is quite fabulous but my most favorite items were the sugar sweet, melt in your mouth melons I had one summer from them: D

Great customer service! I was unable to pick up my box during the normal timeframe and the contents was rummaged through. The next week, Eatwell sent me a box at no cost. Really appreciated their kindness. The highlight of the box for me is the eggs. By far and away better than any store bought egg. And the flavor of the oranges can’t be beat. love the recipes they send with the box, the fresh herbs are a treat, and I’m looking forward to the summer months of produce to come. Definitely will continue with Eatwell :)

We have been getting our CSA box from Eatwell for a few months now and every week it has blown us away! It’s just two of us and we always finish everything. The oranges are out of this world and like a few others have said, the eggs are just delicious! The box is always packed full of fresh veggies, fruit and an informative newsletter with yummy recipes every week. Picking up our box is pretty much the highlight of the week :) We are very excited to visit the farm for strawberry picking at one of their upcoming events and hopefully meet the wonderful owners. All the best to Nigel and his recovery! We LOVE your CSA program and tell everyone about it. Thank you for all that you do!

Eatwell Farm is a wonderful CSA program.
The boxes are well sized and the produce is always great. The tomatoes are probably the best I’ve ever had. The eggs are on a different level than store bought eggs. If you’ve never had pasture raised eggs I highly recommend trying them out.
The best part is the farm’s owner Nigel. He firmly believes that the CSA means the farm is for the community and hosts many events at there. They have a campground so many of the events include an overnight with a farm breakfast in the morning. Nigel and his family are very welcoming and we always have a great time. It really sets them apart from most other CSAs.

Eatwell is the best CSA Evah!
They’re flexible with putting boxes on hold, there is a nice selection of fruits & veggies, the recipes are great, and there are on-​farm events for members. Plus, their eggs are so delicious. Sometimes they even have orange yolks! They’re so good that I can seriously tell the difference between the Eatwell eggs and the organic-​but-​bought-​from-​the-​store eggs. Mmmmm!
Personally, I LOVE that they just give us a box of yummies and tell us what to do with it. No decision making for me in my world of already-​too-​many-​choices.
Eatwell is great for anyone trying to simplify their lives a little.

Eatwell taught me first-​hand an important tenet: the CSA (community-​supported agriculture) rules. But unless a pickup location becomes available closer to where I live or I arrange to be a pickup site myself, I’m apprehensive about renewing my membership with Eatwell. I will say that the eight weeks or thereabouts starting in late February of this year that I held stock in this local farm were filled with some of the greenest, sweetest, freshest spring produce I have ever put in my mouth, including restaurants that use seasonal and local ingredients. Though apples are hit-​and-​miss, Eatwell Farm has kale, spinach, butternut squash, and citrus fruit (from a partnership with a separate grove, as with the apples, I believe?) down to a science.
As delicious as the glorious bounty was, spring was a tough time for a trial, since for months on end the produce is often the same week after week. I loved getting kale and spinach and making a nice breakfast of sauteed greens with an over-​easy Eatwell Farm egg (the best, but quite the indulgence at $ 8/​dozen), but I craved variety. I would bet that summer’s a good time to hop back on the wagon. Why haven’t I signed up again already?
Pros: local, seasonal produce that is often at the peak of quality. You’ll feel good about eating the stuff. Plus, it opens up room for creativity; before my trial kale, chard, green garlic and turnips were not on my regular grocery list, and I had a ball trying and coming up with new recipes to great success. I think boyfriend liked that part quite a bit, too. You also get a bunch of an herb each week, which I think many people are hesitant to purchase themselves. Definitely forces one to think outside their comfort zone. The proprietors of the farm, Molly and Nigel, are obviously passionate about their products and compassionate towards the environment, offering the goods at designated pickup sites instead of wasting resources on delivery and always trying to reduce and eventually eliminate their reliance on plastic.
Cons: Venturing out of comfort zones is fun for only so long until it starts getting redundant and, well, comfortable. That, plus the lack of choice as to what to eat every week, may be a deterrent in committing to a CSA. Also, they don’t deliver, which, while very noble (see Pro description above), can be very inconvenient when the closest pick-​up site is a couple miles away from this carless adventurer.
If you’re in the market for a CSA program, Eatwell is definitely one to try. There are some cheaper options, but at $ 26 per box of vegetables and fruit enough to feed the two of us who sustain on a mostly vegetarian diet and the quality to which Molly and Nigel dedicate themselves, I would say it probably doesn’t get much much better than this. If you have a few more bucks to dish out and love eggs whose yolks gleam a sunny orange and whose whites fluff when you cook ‘em, spring for a dozen.

I do support eating locally and organically and all that jazz, but the mix of produce is wrong for us.
Which is not to say I’ve not been converted to eating veggies I did not before. I lovingly embrace the leafy greens like chard and kale now. But, even now, there’s inevitably a veggie or two I don’t want, and the recipes in the newsletter don’t magically transform beets into something I dream about.
I ended up throwing the turnips and radishes and beets into the swap box rather than have them linger in my refrigerator until they rot. But, I cannot take another vegetable in exchange because everyone else has thrown their turnips into the box as well.
And yet, we’re somehow supposed to accept this as part of the deal. The CSA system guilts you into accepting food you’re not thrilled about and charges you a premium for it. In some ways, I feel like I’m paying for a principle and not a product. And, maybe that’s OK, but the mix of produce lately is veering away from what I would buy independently and $ 30/​box is too much for principle.
I’ve also always been disappointed that the Eatwell boxes have such a low proportion of fruit. The taste of organic fruit is completely worth the premium price, but you get a handful of midget apples and tangerines in the winter and you’re left dreaming of strawberry season.
Still, I didn’t hate Eatwell and would still recommend it if you just gotta have butternut squash every week in the fall. Some good points:
Flavor was mostly good. We loved the sweeter vegetables (spinach, carrots, etc.), but, yes we would get sour and/​or tasteless fruit.
I felt the quality was pretty good, despite some other reviewers’ comments. Eatwell also encourages you to contact them if something is less than stellar for quality control and they usually reimbursed you with extra produce the following week.
I also loved the newsletter. Nigel is always frank about what it takes to run an organic farm in this business climate, and I’ve always appreciated the education.
Alas, it was one bunch of bok choy too many that doomed our relationship…

Are the reviews I just read about Eatwell Farm the same Eatwell that I tried for the 4 week trial period? Can’t be…
I don’t expect organic produce to be showcase beautiful. It’s not waxed, polished and done up. It’s, well, more au natural. A majority of the produce I received from Eatwell Farm was highly blemished, bruised, split, and in some cases, overly ripe to the point of being smooshy and soggy. Even it had been waxed and polished, it wouldn’t have been pretty.
It’s expected for there to be a worm or a few little bugs in an organic produce box. but when my red chard looked more like swiss cheese (not in color, but with the large holes eaten through). Eww. There wasn’t a whole lot left for me to use.
Fresh, organic tomatoes have a slight sweetness. a summer fresh flavor, if you will. While the small cherry-​type tomatoes from Eatwell were good, the larger romas and other varietys were mealy and lacked any flavor. You know, actually, most of the produce seemed to lack flavor. the necatarines never ripened, stayed rock hard, and when we tried them every few days there was just no flavor. My son said they tasted like cardboard.
It was a dissappointment each week to pick up my produce box in the east bay and finding it sitting in full, bright, sunlight and the produce inside either wilting or saturated with water. I thought one of the criteria for being a drop off point was to have a covered, shaded location?
I gave Eatwell the benefit of the doubt for the first few weeks. It didn’t get better for me. At the end of the trial period, my husband asked «you’re not going to renew for that sub-​standard produce again, are you?». No, honey, I am not.
One great thing about Eatwell are the eggs. The eggs are REALLY good. Awesome flavor, great consistancy, delish! I would give the eggs alone 5 starts. That said, the cooler they are stored in at the pick up location is room temp. Even if I pick up by noon, the ice pack inside has no cold feel to it at all. In fact, the ice pack doesn’t have any condensation on it. maybe it wasn’t frozen to begin with? The produce is 2, maybe 2 ½ stars.

My Eatwell box arrives every other Thursday at the Buddhist center in the Mission and it is the highlight of my week. Like the prize in crackerjacks, I never know what I am going to get. It’s like Christmas morning every two weeks. Their produce is always fresh and tasty. I even eat turnips now!
Their newsletter is helpful. They supply easy recipes and tips on food storage. I dry all the herbs I get, making them a gift that keeps on giving.
Getting a CSA box has forced me to eat healthier and more consciously. My biggest gripe is that I now know when certain veggies are in season, forcing me to be aware that seeing «staple» veggies year round in the grocery store is wrong. I also get the eggs which are delicious and beautiful. When I cook or bake with them you can see and taste a huge difference in the quality of the food. I’m upping my quantity to a full dozen.

I love Eatwell! My boyfriend and I are trying to eat food that is SLOW: seasonal, local, organic and whole and this is where Eatwell comes in. I plan menus around what is in the box and have had a blast trying new kinds of produce. I also adore supporting a local farm (Dixon is only 65 miles away!) and the newsletter included each week gives me a connection to my food. I can’t ask for a better CSA. Give Eatwell a try and like me and many others, you too will never look at food the same way!
(I actually wrote this review last October but put it under the wrong listing.)