CSAs – anyone else get a farmshare?

[Elrohwen]

 Today is my first day of my summer CSA (Community Supported Agriculture, I think). I stopped by the farmer’s market to pick it up and I’m so excited! We got the half share, and I’m glad we did because I could barely fit it in our fridge with the other bunny veggies and broccoli we always get. 

Unfortunately Otto is still a picky jerk, but Hannah had a fun time trying all of the new stuff. She loves beet greens, was ok with kale (a weird heirloom kale, unlike what I see in the grocery store), and did not like the pac choy (seems exactly like bok choy to me). I forgot to let her try the kohlrabi leaves. The farm owner also said he’d bring in carrot greens for me, since he usually cuts them off his carrots before packing them up.

 

I’m super excited though, especially about trying so many new veggies (I’ve never had kohlrabi).

Is anyone else enrolled in a CSA? How long have you been doing it? 

[Sarita]

That sounds like fun! My dad is the member of some kind of co-op like this and I have a friend who is also a member of a co-op which I guess is just like the CSA.

[Elrohwen]

I’m a big fan of supporting local agriculture, and I also think it’s so fun to try different things every week.

This week I got:
beets
heirloom kale
kohlrabi
two kinds of lettuce
chives
pac choy

I also bought some killer strawberries and snap peas from another stand. I held back from buying baked goods or cheese – maybe I’ll get some next week. And I hear there are supposed to be stands for a meat seller and a shellfish company, but I didn’t see them today. Part of what I love about the CSA is that it gets me to the farmer’s market every week where I can get other things too.

[Sarita]

Do you get a choice of what you want?

[Elrohwen]

Nope, no choice – it’s a crap shoot every week depending on what’s in season. I haven’t met a veggie I didn’t like, so it works for us. And even if I didn’t like something, hopefully Hannah would clean it up for me. I’ll just have to make an effort to find some new recipes and learn how to cook some veggies I’ve never made.

I think you also get less early on, when not much is in season, and by mid-summer you get more because they have more to split up among everyone.

[Sarita]

That sounds like the one that my Dad is in – you get what they have. He seems to get lots of spring type greens.

It does sound like you are going to have fun!

[Elrohwen]

 I forgot to post the link. If anyone else is interested in CSAs, this site will let you search for ones near you. You can also search for farmer’s markets.

http://www.localharvest.org/

[mocha200]

how expencize is it?

[Elrohwen]

I paid $325 for a half-share (which is quite a bit for 2 people) for 20 weeks. So it ends up being around $15 a week, though I had to pay all of it upfront.

I also live in an expensive area, without a lot of land for small farms, so I imagine the same thing would be cheaper in a more agricultural state.

If you look up the listings on the Local Harvest link I linked above, a lot of the listings will have prices.

[Author]

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