Be Wise Ranch

Wonderful produce and extremely dedicated staff, always courteous and very helpful. The farmer has bent over backward to be a good neighbor and to mitigate the eye gnats, which occur anywhere that dirt is plowed up in our area. He has gone above and beyond what was asked of him by the county, and the farm provides free gnat traps to any neighbors who wish them. Overall, the farm is a great boon to San Diego County and to our particular neighborhood.

We have had the service since January, so 8 months now. The boxes have never had anything but high quality fruits and vegetables. I have used everything in every box that we picked up.
The amount that you get in the box is very fair. You cannot customize the box, and you pick it up, which is why they are reasonably priced. There are a lot of greens in the winter (which is when they are grown of course).
Overall, a keeper, in 8 months we never had to throw anything away, and the contents were always perfect. Finally a New Year’s resolution that we kept — eat more fruits and vegetables.

Be Wise Ranch has some of the best produce available in North County San Diego.
I learned about them from an event for the Slow Foods movement in the San Pasqual Valley for charity.
The main crop includes strawberries which grow very well in sunny San Diego. You can purchase a community supported agriculture box which can be picked up on site once a week or at a nearby drop off location — depending on where you are located.
The food is always fresh and they will help you with recipe ideas on their website or in the boxes. You will also find a great deal of the produce at Jimbo’s markets locally.
Be Wise and eat local fruit and veggies!

I am a biweekly CSA subscriber and I cannot imagine being without phenomenal Be Wise produce. Their organic quality and flavor are amazing. You will experience the best lettuce, oranges, etc of your life with this CSA. Additionally, service is very courteous. I am fortunate to enjoy the bounty of their fruits and vegetables and expand my palette and cooking habits beyond my norms. I highly recommend.

Dissappointment is the main theme here. I was really excited that I was going to have my favorite produce delivered so close to home. I sent my check into BeWise and then went out to purchase a really nice juicer and dehydrator to eat a half raw and half cooked diet. I had just gotten my juicer set up when the phone rang. It was some gal who seemed to have never dealt with the public before and the job was definitely not a natural match for her. She said I would be starting the coming Wednesday. At first I asked if I could start the following week since I had my refrigerator full of their veggies from People’s Food. Suddenly I questioned the day of delivery. I thought the day of delivery was Friday? I said I really needed to rearrange my Calendar because I thought I was picking up my boxed produce at the end of the week. Casually the girl replied that I was picking up Friday, not admitting she had made a mistake telling me the pickup day. Just think I could have come the wrong day and be blamed about making a mistake. She kept refusing to answer any questions about the program and said she was going to send an email to sign. Definitely a bit over the top for bad customer service. On top of that, I talked to another person in their offices and they disapproved of the fact that I had had a few questions. I then asked them to send my money back. There was a note on the top of my application stating I did not reply to their email, not that I asked for my money back!
I was sad for a moment and talked to a few stores that carries their veggies. They said they did not deal with that office because they have distributors that deliver the produce. Guess I have to drive 30 miles to get my produce rather than a few miles. At least I do not get parsnips and oranges that I am
not supposed to eat.

Loved being a member. The price is great for the amount of fresh organic produce you get. They even will throw in a recipe when you got to pick it up! Make sure you bring your own bag!

I wrote this on their CSA page but will put it here too. Be wise ranch’s CSA is great! We have been members for at least three years. The produce received is diverse and fresh and the service is great! I had to put my account on hold while I was nursing my newborn because he couldn’t tolerate vegetables and they allowed me to do so without any hassle. Re activating was easy. In addition, I recently forgot to pick up my box and sent them an email late that night once I remembered. I got a response that evening with the hosts contact info and then the next morning Sandra called to tell me that she had already contacted the host and that my box was waiting at pick up for me. My only complaint is that we get a lot of oranges… things could be worse.

Beware that the Be Wise staff can be rude and inflexible. When someone else mistakenly took my box, I wasn’t offered a credit for the box or an opportunity to get a box at another local pick-​up because it was outside the strict 4-​hour window. Other San Diego CSA’s have better customer service. Be Wise basically tells you that if someone else takes your box past their narrow pick-​up window you’re shit-out-of-luck…they don’t use that phrase, but the Be Wise Staff are offensive and don’t return calls promptly. I managed to make my pick-​up every two weeks for many years without mistake, but I’m not perfect and my box would have still been there if it was not taken.
I strongly encourage people to vote with their $$ for local organic food. I will and hope you do join a local CSA, just not Be Wise Ranch. I’m going to try Suzie’s Farm. They grow more or all of their produce on their site, unlike Be Wise. For my taste, Be Wise gives too many oranges – oranges in almost every box (enough with the oranges). My friend has received a courtesy call over a missed box from Suzie’s. I’ve been impressed with the quality of Suzie Farms vegetables at farmers markets and WholeFoods, but I don’t yet have personal experience with their CSA yet.

Other CSAs are SO much better. Paid fee and waited a month for a reply after initial confirmation of receipt of payment (they told us at this time it would be only a week before our first box). When we contacted them, we were told that it was our fault for picking a busy drop off location. They were extremely rude and it took a long time for us to get refunded. We are now using a different CSA and it’s SO much better!

The produce is amazing even better than the Chino farm and a fraction of the cost. The staff is friendly and helpful. I am so glad I found Be Wise. The price of the items in my box would have easily been double at the grocery store. I look forward every week to getting my box and to see all the beautiful fruits and vegetables inside.

I’ve tried other CSAs in the area but BeWise has the best quality and quantity IMHO. I really appreciate the way they package their produce too. It is very clean, bagged and pretty much ready to eat. I don’t have to spend hours cleaning each item and drying the produce on my counter top like I had to before with the other CSA. As for customer service, I’ve had nothing but great service from them. When we forgot to pick up our box (on 2 occasions in 2 years) the host contacted us in the morning and we took care of it right away. At one point a rep from Be Wise met me nearby to deliver my box to me. I hope to stay a member as long as they will let me. Good people.

I’m not currently a member of the CSA, but was one for a couple of years.
I had to stop when I couldn’t guarantee making it to pick-​up time in time (new job).
In the meanwhile, I joined a different CSA that had a drop location at my workplace, and it made me realize how much I miss Be Wise.
Everything was really fresh. I would get a HUGE bunch of parsley, and it would last in my fridge for weeks if I stored it correctly, using just what I needed for each recipe.
In comparison to the other CSA I joined, Be Wise is a much better value. I would get huge bags of oranges or apples at Be Wise, while the other CSA would give 2 plums or 1 tiny thing of blueberries or 2 small tomatoes or 3 navel oranges. I have fond memories of a giant bag of golden nugget mandarins and my kids eating through it with delight. At the other CSA, sometimes they don’t all get a piece of fruit because there isn’t enough!
Be Wise may not be on-​line and have the most updated system, but when you get your letter 4 times a year to place the order for the upcoming quarter, it really isn’t a big deal. I have never had a problem with customer service, and in fact, I had to switch locations, and it was really easy and seamless.
I hope to rejoin at some point… I really miss them.

I am giving a 3 stars because I think there sign up process is a little old school and feel they should have a sign up that is convenient, online, and user friendly. I am REALLY big on customer service as well. Also, things happen in life and something came up unexpectedly where I could not pick up my box or have anyone else pick it up and really couldn’t worry about my box at that moment. I called the host and left a message in which I NEVER got a response to my message about possibly getting the box the next day. However, Bewise did respond to my email and there was no way I could get the box, or a refund. I know that is in their signup email but I just think that is horrible customer service for a box I pay for in advance. I was even willing to drive to whatever location to get it and now that order and my money just went to waste. I understand it is partially my fault but there should be some kind of fix to to this situation.
Now based on purely the produce, it is truly exceptional and I love all the variety they do give. You won’t be dissapointed on their produce it tastes extremely fresh and delicous and the recipes on their website are great as well. Bewise would of gotten a 5 star if there was not that mishap. I will probably be switching once my term is done.

Here’s how you do: You prepay for three months at $ 30/​box of fruits/​veggies. You’re essentially buying a share of the harvest from a local farm, and you pick it up the seasonal goods at your local drop off point of choice once or once every other week, usually a private home. I initially tried Suzie’s Farm, because their price point starts a little lower, but I was dissatisfied with the sparse fruit offering. Be Wise has a much better fruit selection.
I hesitate to tell you something so private as what is in my fridge as we speak, but what the heck? I just picked up a box today:
Cauliflower
Artichokes
Carrots
Baby Bok Choy
Fennel
Dino Kale
Blood Oranges
Potatoes
Radishes
Tangelos
Spring mix
Basically, I never thought I’d be that asshole to buy organic and locally grown produce of my own volition. However, somehow that’s the state of affairs that came to be, and I can’t argue against it. It’s healthier, and I save money by, essentially, being forced to cook at home. Sometimes it’s a challenge when I’m craving sushi or something fancy that I can’t make at home, but I get an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach if anything goes to waste, so I cook it all. This also leads me to some crazy recipes to try to make things like dandelion greens more palatable. I have also taken to making carrot and/​or radish top smoothies for breakfast on occasion. But, don’t worry, I still eat plenty of meat to ensure that I don’t turn into some sort of crunchy, vegetarian nightmare.

–locally grown
–organic
–inexpesive
–adds variety
–forces you to try new things
–supports local business
–suprises in every box!
I’m a fan of this grown local movement and I wish more people were involved.

Picking up our CSA box is like Christmas every week! This was one of the best things we’ve signed up for this year, we almost never have to shop for veggies now and it’s fun to find new things to do with what you get. It’s nice to know we’re getting locally grown, seasonal items instead of mealy tomatoes from iowa that got picked too early and came on a refrigerated truck.
Sign up, it’s totally worth it!

This is the hippie version of going to Putt-​Putt and spending your tickets on the «mystery prize bag». Every other week you get a giant box of random vegetables to eat. The variety is always interesting and the quality of the food is great. It is like being an Iron Chef in a universe where every single episode is BATTLE VEGETABLE.
But the best aspect of the entire system is that you pick up your box of vegetables off of someone’s unattended porch. It’s self service. For an Ugly American such as myself, it’s great not having to hear about the fossil fuels I burned to pick up the vegetables.
The only negative is that winter months (as much as that exists in San Diego) are a bit tedious because the produce selection is more… limited. You will truly learn how many varieties of kale and chard exist on this great green earth.

We love Be Wise Ranch had have been customers for many years now (possibly close to six). We continue to love this service and still have as much fun with it from the first day we signed up.
We have always chosen the biweekly small box which is plenty for two adults who have fairly busy professional lives. On a less busy week when we are eating home every night, we go through the produce fairly quickly. However, most times, we do end up wasting some of the produce after about 2 – 3 weeks just because we didn’t have time to cook it. i would like to point out, though that the produce is so fresh that it will last several weeks or more. We have some cabbage in our fridge that has been their for over a month and it still looks very fresh.
Over the years, they have changed their mix of produce and now there is fruit and less kale/​collard greens. We used to get some interesting stuff like rutabaga. The days of mountains of zucchini week after week are also over and now we get a better variety of produce.
This service is so popular that it is very difficult to find a drop site that isn’t closed. I think it speaks to the quality and reliability of their product.
PROS:
— you are supporting locally grown
— you are getting fresh, organic produce
— cost is less than if you bought anything remotely similar in store.
— you will get to try something that you never imagined buying at the store (or it might not even be available)
— you start to appreciate the ebbs and flows of agriculture in San Diego; sometimes you get a lot, and other times, you get average amounts produce; just depends on what your CSA could produce based on a variety of conditions.
CONS:
— you might end up wasting something that you otherwise would not have bought in the grocery store
— you might wish you could go to your store and buy more delicious something they gave you in the box, but realize that you can’t b/​c it’s not available in a regular store, or worse yet, it’s there, but totally overpriced organic.
Well, I’m probably preaching to the choir, but CSA, just do it!

I was debating between Suzie’s Farm and Be Wise Ranch and chose to join Be Wise Ranch. One of the reasons is that Suzie’s Farm seemed to be too vague about the amount and what was in each box. I like that Be Wise Ranch has a weekly picklist updated regularly on their website, so I can preview the contents before I pick them up. Another reason is that Be Wise Ranch has fruit.
I’ve been subscribing for almost a year now. I originally got the $ 30 large box bi-​weekly to share with 3 other friends, but I’ve since downsized to the $ 25 small box bi-​weekly because I couldn’t eat enough before the food spoiled especially during strawberry season — way to many strawberries. I love the convenience of picking up the box. I don’t have to deal with crowds and parking at the Farmer’s Market. The produce is really fresh and it’s made me eat a lot of new things.

I love Be Wise Ranch. I’ve been getting produce as part of their CSA for about 6 months now, and I’m very pleased with the service I get from Be Wise, as well as the quality and varity of the produce.
I get the $ 30 large box, biweekly. The produce varies throughout the year based on what’s in season. In the winter there are more root vegetables, in the summer there’s more fruit. We consistenly recieve citrus fruit, berries, avocados, and salad greens, and we often recieve unusual items that we would never think to buy on our own but enjoy immensely. Turnips and radishes are wonderful roasted with beets and carrots, collared greens with bacon, shallots, and pine nuts have become a favorite, and bok choy turns top ramen into an «almost» balanced meal.
I love the feeling of eating organic, local, sustainable food and plan to stay on with Be Wise for a long time!