What does is cost to use this Market?

We charge an annual membership fee of just $35 per family. That’s less than 10 cents per day for your entire household to have access to fresh, chemical-free, locally grown produce year-round. Our Market Manager works diligently to insure that you have a great experience on-line and in-person. Local urban farms charge annual fees in the hundreds of dollars to folks who don’t mind letting the farm choose their vegetables and quantities. With this Market, you will make your own choices from vegetables available and you can also choose NOT to purchase. There is no minimum purchase required. If the membership fee is cost prohibitive, please inquire about our sliding scale fees. We will probably ask for some volunteer time in return. Call Market Manager at 727-515-9469 to discuss.

In addition to a membership fee, our customers are asked to support the cost of the Market’s online ordering system by paying 3.15% per order. In other words, when you purchase $20 of produce using the online Market, you’ll pay 63 cents toward website maintenance and hosting. We think it is best to be transparent about this cost, instead of building it into the price of our produce, which is competitively priced to beat local retailers whenever possible.

Our online ordering system is pretty easy to use. The learning curve, if any, is generally your first order. The good news is that you get to try before you buy (a membership)! You are welcome to try us for two orders before you pay the membership. The website will automatically add the membership fee to your third order.

Delivery costs vary based on your location from the Market origin. See Q & A’s section for more info on this.

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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 Growers that you want. The online Market lists the produce and artisan goods available that week and you can browse before you place your order.

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How do I order?

Each Monday by 5 p.m., a list of available products is sent to all of our registered customers by e-mail. Customers must place their order for the week no later than Wednesday at 9 p.m.

When ordering, you are required to apply a delivery fee (let’s call it ‘n’) to your order. This fee is given to you by either 1) your Co-op Manager when you join one or 2) the Market Manager when you open your online account. 3) For individual deliveries, Mapquest your distance from NE High School and find the rate in Q&A’s section.

To apply the fee to your order, find the product called “Delivery Fee” which is listed as a $1 product. Then enter the number ‘n’ as quantity to generate the $n delivery fee. Finally, click the shopping cart to add your delivery fee to the invoice.

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.

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What are my payment options?

Please note that prompt receipt of your payment is important because we need those funds to pay the Growers on your behalf when they deliver the goods you order next week. Should your order invoice change due to events out of our control (infestation, etc.) we will automatically apply an adjustment to your next order.
• If you pay online when you place your order, we now accept credit and debit cards from cards bearing the Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, JCB, or Diner’s Club logos. You can tie a credit or debit card to your account. The CCA requested is the last three digits on the same line where you sign the back of the card. Once the card is validated, you’ll be able to pay directly into your account and draw down over time or charge your individual orders to this card. This page is secure, and the card information will be securely stored with our payment processors. The market managers will not be able to access your card information directly. You will be able to edit or remove this card or replace it with a different one at any time. Your card does not get charged until we have delivered your order so multiple orders from you (in a week) will result in just one charge to your card.
• In person, we accept cash or checks. Make checks payable either to “St. Pete Locally Grown” or to “Tina Levy”. This also includes those who participate in a neighborhood co-op and leave coolers for us. We would kindly appreciate if you will set yourself a reminder to get your cooler and check to the pickup site so you don’t forfeit your order for nonpayment. We do have to bill for forfeited orders. We discourage our customers from leaving cash in a cooler unattended. Should it “disappear”, we still have to get paid.
• We accept bill pay checks sent by your bank. Setup “St. Pete Locally Grown” as the payee and contact Market Manager for mailing address. When you place your order, please put BILLPAY in the comment section so we know what to expect. Please submit the billpay request to your bank as soon as you receive your order confirmation by email. When you designate your order with BILLPAY in the comments, we will deliver your order even if your check has not arrived yet.
• We accept personal checks by mail. Please put PERSONAL CHECK in the comment section of your order so we know what to expect. Please mail your check as soon as you receive your order confirmation (invoice) by email. When you designate your order with PERSONAL CHECK in the comments, we will deliver your order even if your check has not arrived yet.
• COMING SOON! We will soon offer our customers an additional way to pay online with a Dwolla account. Just like PayPal requires a Merchant to be willing to accept payments via PayPal, so does Dwolla. What tops PayPal though is that Dwolla Merchants are locatable by smart phones which shows you who is willing to take Dwolla payments for merchandise. These are called “Dwolla Spots”. Watch this brief video and decide if this option will work for you. Here is an interesting article on Dwolla compared to other payment services, including PayPal. Dwolla is coming of age with the advent of new smart phone technology.
NOTE: No matter how you choose to pay, you are welcome to prepay us with $xx.xx (you decide) and we’ll let you know when your account is getting low.

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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.

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How can I sell through this market?

You cannot use synthetic chemicals to fertilize or to control pests in your garden if you want to be a Grower for this Market. You don’t have to be certified organic either. Please visit this link for more info.

You should have a good understanding of how we work before you apply to be a grower. We’d prefer if you first become a customer and place a couple orders so you can see firsthand how we operate. At the very least carefully read through the entire website.

If you’ve already created a customer account here, simply go to Our Growers and click on ‘Join this Market’. This will add you to our system and our market manager will contact you with the next step. We do charge a one-time fee of $25 (which we can deduct from your sales) as well as 20% 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.
Email Market Manager if you want more information.

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Oh no! I forgot to pay for my order! Now what?

Well, I’m sorry we missed you.

If you have not notified us that “the checks in the mail” then we may or may not attempt to call you using the phone number you tied to your account. (Our delivery scheduled may not allow it.) If you have a cell phone, please use that number for your contact phone when you open your account. If we cannot reach you immediately we regret that we cannot deliver your order and it will be donated or given away. Since the growers have harvested just for you, and since we will have paid the growers on your behalf, you are still responsible for paying for items, even if you do not receive the order. We’ll charge your account for the forfeited order, and that amount will get added to your next order.

It is best to *SETUP A CALENDAR REMINDER so that no one is inconvenienced when your order is delivered.

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Why do you use the term "chemical-free" instead of "organic"?

First off, no “conventional” growers are allowed to sell through our market. Everything sold here is grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides. But we still cannot call ourselves “organic” growers.

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 the larger factory farms over the small family farm.

Another system is 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, and there is minimal cost involved to become certified. There is still some paperwork, but not as much. More importantly, the growers in the program inspect each other, rather than relying on an outside for-profit certifier.

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, if any, they have, take a look at our Growers page.

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How do I cook with this produce? Do you have any recipes?

We provide links to online recipes for many of the vegetables we sell. These are posted in our community blog, which is used to discuss and compare how we prepare, cook, and consume all wares sold by this Market. Every member gets invited to Author on our Blog. We’ll even teach you how!

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Do you have a Calendar of Events?

Our Garden Lecture Series runs from October through April. Mark your calendars to hear these local experts.

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How do I generate my delivery fee?

When ordering, you are required to apply a delivery fee (let’s call it ‘n’) to your order. This fee is given to you by either 1) your Co-op Manager when you join one or 2) the Market Manager when you open your online account. 3) For individual deliveries, Mapquest your distance from NE High School and find the rate in Q&A’s section.

To apply the fee to your order, find the product called “Delivery Fee” which is listed as a $1 product. Then enter the number ‘n’ as quantity to generate the $n delivery fee. Finally, click the shopping cart to add your delivery fee to the invoice.

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How do your co-ops work?

It only takes two people to form a co-op. We are trying to reduce delivery fees for our customers and to maintain an efficient delivery route in the interest of conserving fuel. Here is some co-op information, which explains what we call “Fresh Fridays”.

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Are there any Volunteer Opportunities?

Yes! Members who wish to volunteer either in The Garden or for The Market are greatly needed now. Because our volunteers learn transferrable skills they can apply in their own gardens and beyond, we hope to attract repeat volunteers who will commit to coming back often enough to help so that we are not constantly training new volunteers. That said, if you want to volunteer once to “feel it out” we encourage you to do so. We need you. Details of opportunities are on Grower’s webpage for Nathan’s Natural Veggies.

Contact Tina at 727-515-9469 if interested in volunteering. Your willingness to volunteer time is greatly appreciated!

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Since you don't provide an invoice with delivery, how do I know what I owe?

Due to unpredictable delivery of items from Growers due to circumstances beyond their control, and due to growing customer traffic (yippee!) it is becoming too labor intensive to send out adjusted invoices. Plus, some folks are still forgetting to generate their delivery fee. At present, here is how we handle invoicing.

• You will receive an initial invoice via email when you order online.
• We do not provide a printed invoice at delivery. Our driver will tell you what you owe. If you “must have” a printed invoice then please comment each time you place your order.
• If you need to know your invoice total prior to delivery and you are concerned about overpaying, you can sign-in to your on-line Market account, click on Your Account tab and scroll down to the Customer heading. You can then click on Your Order History and a link to your most current invoice will be available at the top of that list. There you will find the amount you need to pay when you accept delivery. BE ADVISED that sometimes we don’t get all the adjustments applied until Thursday 9 PM. We regret the inconvenience this may cause you.
• The default action is to just let us track any adjustments we apply up or down to your account and either a debit or credit will be applied to your next order. You can track how well we are doing our job by checking your customer purchase history at your convenience.

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Do you deliver? Where to? How much?

We deliver on Fridays from approximately 10am – 4pm. We have planned an efficient delivery route, saving fuel, and keeping the cost of delivery as low as possible. If you cannot be present for delivery, you can leave us an ICED cooler with your payment. See above for payment options.

Here are your delivery options:

• The most cost effective way to get delivery is by forming a co-op in your neighborhood or at work using our Fresh Fridays Program guidelines. You will need at least 2 people in your co-op, including yourself. As a group, your co-op can decide to order weekly or every other week if delivery costs are your concern. Remember that our produce is fresh picked and much of it will last several weeks if stored properly. Ask us how to keep it fresh! If you are serious about starting a co-op, contact Market Manager for sign-up instructions. See payment options above.
• Let us help you connect with fellow Market members in your neighborhood. We have everyone’s zip codes and we may already have customers who live nearby. If you don’t want to organize a co-op but would like to be in one, please contact us as well.
• Take individual delivery (i.e., don’t join a co-op) and pay the full delivery fee yourself. If you cannot be home to accept delivery, you can leave us an iced cooler and payment. See payment options above.
• We don’t deliver to Tampa but we do meetup with folks on the St. Pete side of the Gandy Bridge.

Since it doesn’t seem fair to charge the same delivery fee to every customer, especially if they only live a mile away from the Market origin, delivery fees are based on mileage in relation to that. All customers will be provided this info when they open an account or sign-up for a co-op. Contact Market Manager 727-515-9469 if you have not been assigned your delivery fee or want to find the co-op closest to your location. Co-op members save an average of 50% on delivery. Individual deliveries are available within a 9 mile radius of Northeast High School. Mapquest your distance from Northeast High School and find the rate below.

Distance one-way
4 miles or less: 4.00 per individual: 2.00 per co-op member; 4.00 minimum delivery fee (if only one person orders)

4 – 6 miles: 6.00 per individual; 3.00 per co-op member; 6.00 minimum delivery fee (if only one person orders)

6 – 9 miles: 8.00 per individual; 4.00 per co-op member; 8.00 minimum delivery fee (if only one person orders)

9 – 10 miles: NOT AVAIL per individual; 5.00 per co-op member; 10.00 minimum delivery fee (if only one person orders)

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Why are you selling items that are not locally grown or produced?

In our last customer survey, many of you asked for fruits and nuts that are not locally grown. We have been told by the national network locallygrown.net that as long as the majority of our items are locally produced we can balance out our Market to provide more variety and customer convenience. That’s why you now able to buy dried fruits, nuts, legumes, and even huge sea scallops (from Massachusetts) for your culinary pleasure, among other things! Stay tuned…

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What should I do when I receive my order?

Please check the condition of your order and contact us immediately if all is not the way you expect it. In rare cases, you may notice vegetables are wet; that is likely from morning dew, recent rain, or when appropriate, condensation from refrigeration. In few cases, it means we had to rinse some mud off the vegetable because of inclement weather. With our see-through plastic bags, moisture is more visible and that moisture is going to be your cue to take action. Please vent any wet bags of vegetables to let the refrigerator absorb some of the moisture or insert several paper towels into the bag to absorb excessive moisture. If ignored, depending on the vegetable, they may begin to decline and start to mold. The more delicate the vegetable (like lettuce) the higher chance for degradation from too much moisture.

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What is "Fresh Fridays" about?

This is our co-op building program and this document explains it all… Note: You don’t have to join a co-op to enjoy our Market goodies but delivery fees for a single order delivery are often double that paid by co-op members.

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What if a Co-op Manager misses a "Fresh Fridays" delivery?

This is highly unlikely because co-op managers are highly responsible folks. So theoretically…If the acting co-op manager is not at the delivery point, we will attempt to call the phone number we have on file for the co-op manager. We will also call the backup person. If we cannot reach either of you and you have not contacted us to make other arrangements, we have to consider the orders unclaimed. Orders cannot be returned to the Growers and have already been paid for by the Market. Unclaimed orders will be given away and amount of the order(s) will be charged to the member(s) account(s). It is always best to SET A CALENDAR REMINDER for delivery days OR to have a bag packed for a quick get-away when your co-op members discover their orders have been forfeited!

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