Farmshares
The Conservation Foundation’s Green Earth Harvest is a certified organic farming operation which provides nutritious, organic vegetables to the community primarily through the sale of “harvest shares.” When you become a Green Earth Harvest shareholder, you are essentially purchasing a portion of the anticipated harvest. You’ll come to McDonald Farm in Naperville, one of our five off-farm pickup locations, or home delivery, every week or every other week to enjoy some incredibly delicious produce. From our farm to your table.
"We loved it - it was so nice seeing and knowing where our produce came from. We also liked supporting a local farm and business. Thank you! " ~ Jamie C.
What We Grow
Vegetables
- Basil
- Beets
- Bok Choy
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Carrots
- Cauliflower
- Celery
- Celeriac
- Collard Greens
- Cucumbers
- Eggplant
- Fennel
Garlic
Garlic Scapes
Green Beans
Hot Peppers
Kale
Kohlrabi
Leeks
Lettuces
Napa Cabbage
Onions
Peas
Pea Shoots
- Potatoes
- Radishes
- Scallions
- Spinach
- Sweet Peppers
- Swiss Chard
- Summer Squash
- Tatsoi
- Tomatoes
- Tomatillos
- Turnips
- Winter Squash
- Zucchini
As the vegetables mature and become ready for harvest, there will be between 5-20 different crops available to choose from each week. The list typically grows as the season progresses. The vegetable options change week to week and season to season, with Mother Nature as the ultimate driver!
when is harvest season?
Spring Greens
A limited number of Spring Greens Season shares are available, for 4 weeks, from mid-May to mid-June. The spring harvest is comprised of tender spring greens grown in our greenhouses, which often include a variety of salad mixes, bok choy, arugula, baby turnips, swiss chard, head lettuces, radish, and more.
Main
Harvest for our Main Season shares runs for 20 weeks, from mid-June to the last week in October. The largest variety of vegetables will be available during the Main Season. You’ll see all types of greens (kale, chard, spinach, head lettuce, arugula, and collard greens), scallions, turnips, tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers, tomatillos, leeks, radish, potatoes, cabbage, squash, and garlic, just to name a few!
And, as a shareholder bonus, we offer free U-Pick days where you have the opportunity to head into the fields to pick your own extras: unique cherry tomato varieties, ground cherries, peas, and green beans (and, yes, taste-testing as you go is suggested)!
Late Fall
We offer a limited number of shares during our Late Fall Season, which begins directly after our Main Season and ends the week of Thanksgiving (a 4-week season). Items often offered in this season include delicate salad greens and spinach, hearty greens such as kale, collard, and Swiss chard, cabbage, root crops like carrots, beets, and turnips, winter squash such as butternut and pie pumpkin. It’s the season to stock-up for the winter!
Veggie Pickups
Farm pickups during our Main Season are on Tuesdays or Fridays – come on whichever day works best for you that week. Farm Spring and Fall pickups are only held on Tuesdays.
While most of our shareholders pick up their vegetables at McDonald Farm in Naperville, we also offer pickup sites in Hinsdale, Downers Grove, Lisle, Lombard, and Winfield. Farm to Door Home Delivery is also offered to these select zip codes: 60189, 60440, 60490, 60504, 60517, 60532, 60555, 60565, 60540, 60563, 60564.
Below you’ll find all of our pickup location options and the approximate days and times of the pickups.
McDonald Farm Headquarters in Naperville
10S404 Knoch Knolls Rd.
Tuesdays between 3:00 and 7:00 pm
Fridays between
3:00 and 7:00 pm
(Main Season only)
North American Pizza & Culinary Academy in Lisle
1970 University Ln.
Planned for Thursdays between 2:00 and 8:00pm
Private Residence in Downers Grove
Near Main St. & Ogden Ave.
Planned for Thursdays between
3:00 and 8:00pm
Redeemer Lutheran Church in Hinsdale
139 E. First St.
Planned for Thursdays between
3:00 and 7:00 pm
Victorian Cottage Museum in Lombard
Lombard Historical Society
23 W. Maple St.
Planned for Thursdays between
3:00 and 8:00pm
Private Residence
in
Winfield
Near County Farm Rd. & Jewell Rd.
Planned for Thursdays between
3:30 and 8:00 pm
Choices & Prices
Our farmshare program is completely customizable; not only will you always select the exact vegetables you’d like to take home, you’ll also choose the size and frequency of your share. We offer 2 different share sizes: Standard Size (larger) and Personal Size (smaller).
- A Standard Size share is generally suitable for a family of 4 or veggie enthusiasts. You’ll typically select between 8 – 9 vegetable units with this share size.
- Our Personal Size share is intended for smaller households and can be the perfect way to start your farmshare experience. You’ll select between 5 – 6 vegetable units with this size share.
You will also choose between weekly and biweekly pickups, meaning you can pick up every week or every other week during the season, allowing you to further customize your share to best match your needs. Some shareholders like to split their share with a friend, which is another great way to start out!
We also a limited number of Sampler Farmshares, which include 5 pickups during the Main Season. You decide which five days you’d like to stop in to pick up a share during the 20 week season!
When you head to our farmshare purchasing website, you will have a few options to choose from to create a farmshare that works best for you:
- You’ll first select a season, then your pickup location, frequency (weekly or every-other week), and then your preferred share size (Standard or Personal).
- To access the size and payment plan options, click the arrow in the “Choose an Option” box.
- If you pick up at the farm during the Main Season, you will designate either Tuesday or Friday pickup as your main pickup day to help us plan for our harvest each week.
- Spring and Fall Season pickups at the farm are held on Tuesdays and all our off-farm pickups/deliveries are planned for Thursdays for all three seasons.
Our 2024 farmshare prices range between $31 – $60 per pickup, depending on size, frequency, and pickup option.
2024 Traditional Market-Style McDonald Farm Pickup Pricing
2024 Contactless McDonald Farm Pickup Pricing
(includes packing fees)
2024 Farmshare Sampler: Five Main Season Personal Size Pickups
2024 Off-Farm Pickup Pricing
(includes packing and delivery fees)
Downers Grove, Hinsdale, Lisle, Lombard, & Winfield
2024 Naperville Area Home Delivery Pricing
(includes packing and delivery fees)
Have a few more questions? Visit our FAQ page for the answers!
Ready to secure your share of the harvest? Buy your share now.
The Mutual benefit of the shareholder model
We strive to provide an appealing, ample, and diverse supply of organic vegetables each and every week, but since nature has no guarantees, we cannot offer them either. The price of our shares is the value we strive to provide during the season. However, as farmers, we cannot completely control the impact extreme weather or other events may have on our harvests throughout the year. If there is a bumper crop, we’ll share it with you, but challenging years happen too. We benefit from you paying in advance so we can fund all the planning, seeding, and cultivating needed to bring us to harvest season, and you benefit from securing an advance share of our delicious, organic vegetables along with all the other experiences offered at our farm!
To help keep the farm financially sustainable, we utilize other revenue sources to share our nutritious vegetables with the community. Our intentions are to grow enough produce to amply satisfy our farmshare program participants, as well as growing additional produce for sale to the public at our farm stands, and for our farm to pantry program. It is important for us to note that we never let these other enterprise opportunities encroach on our Shareholders’ vegetable pickups – we always put our programs first when considering additional distribution opportunities.
payment options
When selecting your share size, you will also have the option of paying in full or utilizing a four-month payment plan. You can make your payment utilizing a credit card or e-check on our website.
Connect With Us
You are always welcome to contact Green Earth Harvest’s Business Manager, Sheryl Fasone, with any questions about the farm program. Email her at [email protected] or call her at (630) 428-4500, Ext. 154.
