Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) - Part I

I have been eating WAY more produce this year, now know what a shallot is, and have a great recipe for beet chocolate cake all because of CSAs.

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and is like bringing the Farmer's Market home with you every week.  Most work like this:

1. A group of local farmers organize to offer the local community their fresh produce.
2. You buy a "share" of the CSA and in return get a box or bag of produce - whatever was just harvested - each week during the growing season.
3. Since you don't pick exactly what you'll be getting each week, recipes are usually included with the box so you can learn new ways to eat new foods!

Depending on the CSA and region, the length of the season and how the food is delivered varies.  We bought into the Food Matters CSA which serves Northern Virginia.  Our growing season lasts from March 5 - November 19 and includes farmers from Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.  We've gotten an amazing variety of foods so far.  A lot of different types of greens in the spring (red lettuce, romaine, kale, mustard greens), dried beans, fruits (strawberries, blueberries, apples, peaches), goat cheese, tomatoes, corn, onions, and the list goes on and on with something new arriving every week and some favorites sticking around for a few weeks. 

 This was our produce from the very first week: shallots, carrots, red leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, kale, and wildflower honey!

I have to say that I LOVE my CSA!

First, it's all organic, so I feel really good about sharing the food with our new eater. 

Second, it hasn't traveled far and so it tastes really, really great.  Freshness really does make a difference! 

Third, I am learning so much about cooking!  Each week brings something different and since I wasn't a master chef to begin with, I usually have to look-up a couple new recipes.  I've found allrecipes.com to be an excellent source for CSA-based recipes.  All you need to do is type in the ingredient you have at the top and it will bring back a list of recipes ranked by hundreds, sometimes thousands of amateur cooks who have tried the recipes.  It does take a bit longer to plan meals each week, but it's worth it to discover how best to cook each fantastic new food.

Fourth, I'm saving time each week by simply picking up a bag of pre-packed produce.  If I didn't have the CSA, I would probably spend longer walking through the Farmer's Market and, for me, it's a lot easier to wrangle the baby into the car, then to navigate a market with her in tow.

Fifth, as I mentioned above, our family is eating more produce.  I don't want any of this amazing stuff to go to waste, so we try really hard to eat it all each week, which leaves less room for over-priced, over-packaged foods.

I highly recommend joining a CSA.  To find one near you, either google Community Supported Agriculture or try one of these helpful sites:

Local Harvest
USDA