Hal Hackleman knelt in the garden at The Pickery Tuesday afternoon, sifting his hands through the dirt to snap a carrot off the vine.
Rows of vegetables and herbs were open for customers to fill up on fresh food, but the pick-your-own organic produce business has expanded to offer online ordering of select garden staples.
The service is geared toward customers physically unable to pick or busy families on a tight schedule, but Hackleman said he hoped it would help encourage others to visit the gardens.
“The more people come out, the more they’d be interested in picking their own, I think,” said Hackleman, a Pickery employee.
Customers can place their order at thepickery.net and schedule same-day or next-day pickup at the business on Margaret Drive or The Pickery’s booth at the Downtown Terre Haute Farmers Market.
Along with carrots, other products currently available online include kale, red beets, green cabbage, small red cabbage, celery, collard greens and various herbs.
The Pickery is among a growing number of farm stands across the country taking online orders. Stands in Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York and Oregon have expanded their footprints online.
Internet services like Farmigo, Good Eggs and Our Harvest also link customers to local producers of fresh foods.
Two orders have been filled at The Pickery since the service went live less than a week ago, and owner Laurie Elliott said online ordering extends the experience of freshly-picked food to more customers.
“We wanted to make it easy for people to get fresh organic produce,” she said.
Other Valley farms are using the Web to complement face-to-face sales.
L&A Family Farms in Paris, Ill. began offering online ordering two years ago. Until then, owners Brian and Andrea Lau were carting their products to multiple farmers markets.
“We were spending a lot of time just sitting and not necessarily selling a lot,” Andrea Lau told the Tribune-Star.
Several customers request favorites by email and the Laus bring their order to farmers markets in Paris and Terre Haute. One regular customer likes jumbo eggs and chicken breast and ox tail are also popular.
Members of the farm’s buying club or Community Supported Agriculture system can also buy eggs, grass-fed and regular beef, chicken, pork, turkey and produce through the business’s website. The online store is open to members only.
“We’d like it to be bigger than it is,” Lau said.
Back at The Pickery, Elliott said she hoped the online ordering would encourage customers to rely on her gardens to fill their dinner tables.
“We’re trying to encourage The Pickery to be their produce store, not just a once-a-year activity,” she said.