Posted on

Now Hiring – Harvie Farms Pittsburgh Operations Assistants

About Us

Harvie Farms Pittsburgh is a local foods home delivery service based in Lawrenceville. Founded in 2020 with a mission to make it as simple as possible for families to have access to local foods, Harvie Farms is a farm share model that emphasizes customization and convenience.

About the Position

We are looking for smart and motivated individuals who want to work in a start-up food hub environment as an Operations Assistant. Each week the Harvie Farms crew will work together to aggregate products from our farm and producer partners and then create customized farm shares for customers in our Pittsburgh warehouse space. Products will include produce, eggs, milk, cheese, bread, meat, flowers, and other locally made products. Room for advancement is available for the right candidate.

For a more public-facing role within the Operations team, we are also looking for interested applicants to work as a delivery driver. This role entails bringing the custom-packed boxes to our members’ doorsteps in a timely manner and serving as the face of the company.

Important Details:

  • Full-time and part-time available
  • Compensation begins at $15/hour
  • Work days include Monday through Friday
  • Willing to work a variety of shifts including the occasional 5:30 am shift

About You:

  • Quick worker with an extremely high attention to detail
  • Motivated to communicate and work well with a team
  • Reliable, prompt, and flexible
  • Familiar with various types of produce and farm products in a diverse farm share
  • Interested in supporting local farms and providing high levels of customer service
  • Able to do repetitive tasks that involve lifting and hauling on a warehouse floor

Apply:

Follow this link to our application form: https://airtable.com/shr48yrV6PeEEmXQm

Posted on

The Dirt on Harvie Farms Pittsburgh’s Sourcing Standards

Harvie Farms Pittsburgh has done a lot of growing in the past year. As we scale this new model for local grocery distribution, we are faced with the exciting new challenge of meeting the full grocery needs of our 1500 customers while maintaining sourcing practices that align with our values and those of our customers. Today’s post comes from Harvie Founder and CEO, Simon Huntley, sharing his thoughts about that challenge along with the sourcing standards we’ve committed to for products in our Harvie Farms Pittsburgh Local Grocery Boxes.

The way we eat determines how our land is used and who our economy supports. Good food brings joy and health to our lives and those of the people we love. It shapes the way we connect with each  other and with the place we call home. 

I grew up in a rural community south of Pittsburgh, on the PA/WV border with very few job prospects beyond the dying coal industry. The central question of my work over the last 15 years is: how can a family make a living on the kind of rural farm where I grew up? If we can get this right — improving farm viability, strengthening rural economies, and prioritizing people who are not served by our current economic system — we can make this business, and your grocery dollars, a mechanism for powerful change. 

This business model began as a tool for small farms to sell their products to more customers by making their CSA / farm shares more consumer-friendly, but over time it has grown into a full local grocery delivery service. As more people join and buy a higher percentage of their weekly groceries from Harvie, it’s clear that we need to expand our product offerings.

We have a chance to build a revolution with our dinner plates in a way that fits into our daily lives. For me personally, I am eating significantly more local food year-round than I was in the past using CSA programs and farmers markets. In fact, this month I’m taking the #EatLocalJuly challenge and I’m going to eat exclusively from my Harvie box for an entire month. 

The work ahead for Harvie is how to develop a whole new supply chain that can support local, regional, and smaller producers, while ensuring our customers can rely on Harvie for all of their groceries. As we continue to expand our offerings, we are beginning to formalize our sourcing guidelines to steer our decision making. As we do this, we want to give you full transparency about how we choose what can go in your box. It’s important to us that your grocery spend goes directly to producers who are making the world a better place. We are passing along a higher percentage of your dollar (4 times more!) to the people behind your food than typical grocers.

How do we choose which products and producers to work with? We are always trying to improve, but today I want to share with you what we are thinking so far. We will stand on these principles in all of our sourcing:

Quality — We strive to source the best tasting, freshest, and most nutritious products.

Local Economy — We prioritize purchasing from business owners who have a direct connection to your community. When a product you need is not available locally, we’ll find the best version of it that we can according to our standards.

Good Stewardship — We work with producers who are good stewards of their land and animals. Whenever possible we will source from farmers who use organic and regenerative growing practices, and will always avoid those that abuse pesticides and the people and animals under their care.

Human Impact — As Harvie grows, we aspire to build relationships with producers that raise industry standards for transparency, living wages, diversity, equity and inclusion.

Viable Rural Communities — We strengthen rural economies by connecting rural producers with consumers in urban areas.

Story — We build connections between you and your producers by telling the stories behind the food and the people who create it and by inviting you to connect in person when possible.

Transparency — You deserve to know everything you can about what you put on your family’s kitchen table. We always label products accurately, verify certifications and tell you everything we can about the products you purchase.

Resilience — We believe in building a diverse network of producers and products and shortening the path between producer and consumer to create a more resilient community food system.

This is how we will ensure your grocery dollars have the most positive impact for your dinner table, your community, and our food system. And you can be a key part of shaping the next phase of this movement. If there’s something you want to eat that isn’t currently available on Harvie, let us know — our Facebook Community Group is a great place to post your thoughts, or feel free to send an email to support@harvie.farm. 

We have an exciting few months of local food coming your way — July, August, and September are the best months of the year for eating in Western PA. Get ready to fill your boxes with sweet corn, eggplant, and tomatoes. And on the grocery side of things, we will have crackers, pierogies, pitas, potato chips, dried fruit, nuts, and more snacks coming your way soon!

Thank you for being a part of the movement.

-Simon Huntley

 

Posted on

Harvie Farms Pittsburgh Seeking Part-time Operations Assistant

Harvie Farms Pittsburgh is a local foods home delivery service based in Lawrenceville. Founded in 2020 with a mission to make it as simple as possible for families to have access to local foods, Harvie Farms is a farm share model that emphasizes customization and convenience.

We are looking for smart and motivated individuals that want to work in a start-up food hub environment as an Operations Assistant. Each week the Harvie Farms crew will work together to aggregate products from our farm and producer partners and then create customized farm shares for customers in our Pittsburgh warehouse space. Products will include produce, eggs, milk, cheese, bread, meat, flowers, and other locally made products.

Most work hours will be daytime Tuesdays through Fridays starting immediately. Room for advancement and additional hours available for the right candidate. The best applicants will be:

  • Quick workers with an extremely high attention to detail.
  • Motivated to communicate and work well with a team.
  • Reliable, prompt, and flexible.
  • Familiar with the various types of produce and farm products offered in a diverse farm share.
  • Interested in supporting local farms and providing high levels of customer service.
  • Able to do repetitive tasks that involve lifting and hauling on a warehouse floor.

Compensation begins at $15/hour. To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to jordanmason@harvie.farm. Positions will fill quickly—we recommend applying soon.

Posted on

Pittsburgh: Meet the Local Grocery Box

We’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how to build a food supply chain that works for everyone involved, and it’s challenging work. After hearing from members and producers, we took a step back and the Local Grocery Box stepped up. Before the Local Grocery Box at Harvie Farms Pittsburgh, we offered various subscriptions for vegetables, meats, and add-ons like coffee and bread. It was a lot for our members to keep straight, and we questioned how scaleable that model was. Now, with the Local Grocery Box, our Pittsburgh members can get their entire grocery haul all in one subscription and we can better support more local producers. By having one subscription type, we can purchase more regularly and consistently from producers so that they can count on us as a market for their products. 

Harvie Farms Pittsburgh local grocery boxFor members, it’s like ordering online from Whole Foods, except every single item you purchase is carefully selected from small, regional producers and curated to fit your tastes. The Local Grocery Box comes in five sizes so that members can order as much food as you need each week; choose from vegetables, meats, pasta, preserves, beverages, snacks, dairy, and more! Add exactly what you want in your box, and then wait for it to be delivered to your doorstep. The Local Grocery Box subscription also comes with unlimited delivery skips, meaning that you can easily create a schedule that works for you. Going on vacation? Still have plenty of food from last week? No problem, just skip a delivery with the click of a button. 

How we spend our money and how we eat have direct results in the world. We can shape a more sustainable future by supporting small, family-owned farms and artisans with our grocery budget. Members can be confident that their dollars are going right back into our local food community; 50-60 cents of each dollar goes directly back to our producers compared with an average of 14 cents going back to farmers in the national grocery system. Additionally, our members help provide local jobs in the Pittsburgh area. This is impactful change. 

By personally scouting for producers in the area, we’ve been able to bring on a wider selection of groceries to fill our member’s tables. One example is Yarnick’s Farm and Greenhouses in Indiana, PA. Simon went to visit Dan Yarnick’s farm last week with a few members of the Harvie team, and Dan is so excited to bring his products to Harvie members in the new Local Grocery Box! We’ve got his hydroponically grown tomatoes for sale on Harvie Farms Pittsburgh right now. Dan has over 50 years of farming experience and has invested heavily in his operation to grow this quality product. With Harvie Farms Pittsburgh, now he can sell to his local community instead of shipping his tomatoes to New York City! 

For us at Harvie, the Local Grocery Box is a tangible step towards the food system we envision. Learn more about the Local Grocery Box here, and if you’re in Pittsburgh, we hope you’ll join us in the revolution! 

Posted on

Media Alert: Harvie’s Got Something to Say about Local Food

The local foods landscape has seen a tide change in the past decade, and COVID-19 quickly ushered in the newest wave of innovation and consumer demand. We’re keeping tabs on the latest trends and digging into the issues around sustainable agriculture to bring you the best ways to support a food system that works for you and the planet. We are amped that we’ve been featured in two national media outlets this past month, and humbled to share our take on the future of local food.

Our first mention this month was in the Wall Street Journal article “The Digital Farmers’ Market: New Shortcuts to the Freshest Food,” which explains the inception of several local food tech companies and their vision for where the industry is headed. In the article, our CEO Simon calls out the origins of his CSA tech platform Small Farm Central in 2005, and the evolution into the Harvie you know and love today. The responsiveness of local food tech companies to the needs of farmers and consumers is unique, and this is the best way we can beat the big guys—farms and grocers alike—to create a food system that cultivates community, sustainability, and trust.

You may not be surprised to read yet another article about the age old plant-based vs. meat diet debate. But, we are in a new moment where top restaurants such as Eleven Madison Park are making the plant-based plunge, slashing animal products from their menu. While individuals and businesses can certainly make their own choices about the food they prepare and eat, categorically writing off animal products as a health and climate disaster is a surface level response to a deep issue of animal production practices, and ignores the actual benefits that animals can have in a balanced farming operation. As one example, recent studies indicate that well managed pasture lands can sequester impressive amounts of carbon and provide habitat for hundreds of species of insects. A plant-based, monoculture corn field couldn’t create that level of environmental asset. Moreover, for those home chefs who do enjoy eating animal products, removing them from our diets would strip us from the culinary exploration and delight that they bring to our palettes. Chef Dan Barber from Stone Barns Center in upstate New York knows this, and raises and sources sustainably produced meats to include in his exemplary menu. If this conversation piques your interest, check out the full op-ed in the Washington Post by Harvie COO and farmer Kyle Jaster, and let us know what you think! Find it here: Ditching meat isn’t the answer for climate change: better farming is.

Posted on

Join the movement! Invest in food from people you know

Together we can change the way the world eats. Let’s create a world where people spend more money buying from local farms, small businesses and artisans, and less on the big businesses and corporations that currently dominate our food system.

With more than 60,000 customers and 250 farmers and producers across the country, we’ve got momentum in revolutionizing the way people access food. And together, we are on the brink of taking this to the next level.

Harvie’s vision is 5 million households connecting with farmers and producers on our platform by 2030. If we can pull this off, it would give local farmers and producers the ability to really compete with the big guys that currently rule the grocery market.

To kick this whole thing up a notch, Harvie has launched a campaign with Honeycomb Credit to give you all a way to invest a more resilient food system for us all. This is a movement built by the community, for the community, so it felt right to give the community a way to invest in the business, rather than ask for donations to take this work to the next level. It’s an easy way for people to diversify their portfolios by investing in small, local businesses. Learn more here.

With your help, we can make big things happen. Together let’s design a world where you can easily access food from people you know, where small farms and businesses rule, and where local economies and food systems thrive.

Join the revolution here: Harvie.mx/GROW

Posted on

Will COVID-19 Change the Way the World Eats?

COVID-19 has touched our lives, society, and families in innumerable ways. We’ve all changed so much about our day-to-day in the past year and are wondering which changes will stay with us when we go back to “normal”. Harvie has been asking those questions too. What will the new normal look like? How can we all work together to build a strong, resilient food system where we can buy food from people we know and trust?

We decided to find out how you see the future of food for your family. In January we launched an online survey and were pumped to see over 2,000 responses roll in. It’s clear that COVID-19 has shown us all the value of community, caring for our neighbor, and staying healthy. Here are some key results from our survey we wanted to share with you. For full survey results check out the infographic below.

76.3% of those who took the survey have an increased desire to support local farmers and suppliers into the future. We also noted an interest in supporting local restaurants through take-out and delivery. To us, these results show that food is a powerful tool for strengthening local economies and keeping our communities resilient.

Speaking of community, here at Harvie we love a night in, gathered around a home-cooked meal. We were thrilled to see that nearly 79% of our survey respondents are cooking at home more since COVID-19 hit and 59.9% intend to continue doing so. What’s more, 57.7% of people have had an increased interest in home delivered groceries, and 34.9% would like to continue receiving home-delivered groceries post-pandemic.

If the above sounds like you, then we’ve got you covered! We know it’s not always easy to find farm-to-table ingredients and decide what to cook. Harvie makes it convenient and fun to buy from farmers nearby and source recipe ideas from our social communities (for those nights when you stare at the fridge and can’t make a decision!). We source products from small farms, fishermen, and artisans and deliver them right to your door. By shortening the supply chain, we allow more of your dollar to go directly to the farmer and provide our members with transparency about where your food came from and how it was grown. You can even customize what’s in each box to always receive just what you want. Harvie is your go-to grocer for fresh, nutritious, home-delivered food from people you know.

We would love to hear how your food purchasing and preparation has changed from the pandemic! Follow Harvie on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for food facts, recipes, and ideas for keeping food close to home. The only way we’ll change the way the world eats is together.

Posted on

Food from people you know

I took last week off and it was good to get a few days away from the typical workday hustle to have some time to relax, work on some projects, and spend some extra time with my boys.

It also gave me some time to think –about the incredible work that is happening here to change the way the world eats and the role that each of us can play to transform our food system.

This is the most important work I can imagine doing. And it’s hard, but changing the world isn’t easy or else someone else would have already done it! 

One of my tasks this week was to think about what Harvie is. What makes us different? What groceries can we provide to our customers? How can we fit into and support local food systems? What is Harvie?

Of course, we must be convenient –providing home delivery, the ability to customize, and user-friendly technology. Prices must be reasonable, but quality must be a priority. And our customer service must be friendly, knowledgeable, and lightning fast.

But none of that encompasses the core of what makes Harvie and the service we provide unique. 

I keep coming back to the deep relationships with hard-working, family-owned farms and small, main street businesses. I think about the community we can build around food, connecting home chefs with top quality ingredients thoughtfully sourced from real people with real stories. This is what makes Harvie unique. 

So, what is Harvie? Harvie is food from people you know.

Every box is a unique story about a community of growers and artisans and the incredible home chefs who cook it with love to feed the people they care for. 

It’s all about relationships, and with Harvie you know where your food is coming from and the unique story behind it.

Food is about more than farms, so we are expanding our vision of what makes sense to sell on Harvie. Farmers are major players, of course, but it’s also about other community food producers like bakers, coffee roasters, and butchers. If we can tell a story about the people who grew or created a particular product, we want to share it with you. 

With Harvie, you can embrace the life you want to live while being the person you want to be in your community. Enjoy the luxury of top-quality ingredients, thoughtfully sourced from farmers and businesses supporting their local food system, all delivered right to your door. With Harvie, you can have your cake and eat it too. Now let’s chow down.

Posted on

Harvie Farms Pittsburgh Seeking Part-time Operations Assistant

Harvie Farms Pittsburgh Seeking Part-time Operations Assistant

Harvie Farms Pittsburgh is a local foods home delivery service based in Lawrenceville. Founded in 2020 with a mission to make it as simple as possible for families to have access to local foods, Harvie Farms is a farm share model that emphasizes customization and convenience.

We are looking for smart and motivated individuals that want to work in a start-up food hub environment as an Operations Assistant. Each week the Harvie Farms crew will work together to aggregate products from our farm and producer partners and then create customized farm shares for customers in our Pittsburgh warehouse space. Products will include produce, eggs, milk, cheese, bread, meat, flowers, and other locally made products.

Most work hours will be daytime Tuesdays through Thursdays starting immediately. Room for advancement and additional hours available for the right candidate. The best applicants will be:

  • Quick workers with an extremely high attention to detail.
  • Motivated to communicate and work well with a team.
  • Reliable, prompt, and flexible.
  • Familiar with the various types of produce and farm products offered in a diverse farm share.
  • Interested in supporting local farms and providing high levels of customer service.
  • Able to do repetitive tasks that involve lifting and hauling on a warehouse floor.

Compensation begins at $15/hour. To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to neil@harvie.farm. Positions will fill quickly—we recommend applying soon.

Posted on

Culture bearers in New Orleans Eat Farm Fresh with Feed the Second Line and Harvie

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 1/25/2021

Simon Huntley
Founder/CEO, Harvie
http://harvie.farm/neworleans
simon@harvie.farm

Devin Dewulf
Founder, Feed the Second Line
https://www.feedthesecondline.org/
redbeansfounder@gmail.com 

Culture bearers in New Orleans Eat Farm Fresh with Feed the Second Line and Harvie
Feed the Second Line is partnering with Harvie Farms New Orleans to get farm-fresh local food directly to the door steps of culture bearers

New Orleans, LA. — This week, Feed the Second Line adds five culture-bearers to the Harvie Farms New Orleans home delivery service. These culture-bearers will receive a customized box of local food from farms and suppliers in Louisiana and Mississippi. 

The estimated cost is $2,500 for a year’s worth of Harvie deliveries for one culture-bearer – the goal is to add them all 120 culture bearers in 2021 (which means a goal of $312,500).

“This is really important because our elders need access to healthy food and we need to also support small, local farms in our purchasing power” says Devin Dewulf, founder of Feed the Second Line.

As the general public signs up for the Harvie Farms New Orleans service, they will have the option of donating $10, $25, or $50 per delivery to Feed the Second Line that will be used to purchase Harvie deliveries for culture bearers.

“We are excited to support the culture of New Orleans through Feed the Second Line while also supporting the agri-culture of the region by bringing local farms and suppliers to the front door of Harvie Farms New Orleans members. It’s good for our culture, our farmers, and, most importantly, the food is delicious and farm fresh,” says Simon Huntley, CEO of Harvie.

About Harvie Farms New Orleans

Harvie Farms New Orleans works with more than 30 local farms and suppliers to bring a localized, farm-fresh grocery box to the front door of members. The delivery area includes metropolitan New Orleans, Kenner, Slidell, and Covington. Harvie’s goal is to help small, local farms beat the big buys by creating a direct link between farmers and consumers in the New Orleans region. Information on becoming a member can be found at http://harvie.farm/neworleans

About Feed the Second Line

Launched by the Krewe of Red Beans in 2020, Feed the Second Line seeks to create a strong safety net for New Orleans culture. Purchasing groceries for our culture-bearers and creating jobs. In 2020, Feed the Second Line purchased over $130,000 worth of groceries and created $300,000 worth of jobs for New Orleans culture-bearers. Feed the Second Line is an effort to support the folks who create New Orleans culture and make our city special. Spy Boys, Baby Dolls, Musicians, Second Lines – all of these are created by people. During these tough times of COVID, we invite you to join us – in supporting the culture bearers.