I Love my CSA

I love vegetables and in my first years at our house I had a thriving vegetable garden. Then as I had kids and they got older, I got busier. And to make matters worse, my soil developed all kinds of problems - different microbes and such that limited my harvest.  My tomatoes got black spot mildew, my potatoes attracted pests, my corn was hijacked by squirrels, my rhubarb roots were nibbled up my voles, etc.

So I scaled back my garden, focused on herbs and went cold turkey with tomatoes for 4 years to see if I could get rid of the mildew. Said I would go to Farmer's Markets. 

Well, I started sneaking in some vegetables and Farmer's Markets can be very expensive (sorry Farmers, they are fun but they do get pricey).

I found a wonderful alternative - Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). 

What is this new fangled thing? Actually not so new.... from Learn More about CSAs

Here are the basics:

For over 25 years, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) has become a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer.

A farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a "membership" or a "subscription") and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season.

This arrangement creates several rewards for both the farmer and the consumer. In brief:

Advantages for farmers:

• Get to spend time marketing the food early in the year, before their 16 hour days in the field begin
• Receive payment early in the season, which helps with the farm's cash flow
• Have an opportunity to get to know the people who eat the food they grow

Advantages for consumers:

• Eat ultra-fresh food, with all the flavor and vitamin benefits
• Get exposed to new vegetables and new ways of cooking
• Develop a relationship with the farmer who grows their food and learn more about how food is grown

Amazing idea, no? 

This is my second summer with a CSA. I live in New Haven County, Connecticut and there are a lot of choices. Wherever you live I am sure you have some options.

We use Defrancesco Farm in Northford CT. 

They've been great. They offer a wide variety in our weekly boxes (this week we had 6 ears of corn, 6 large tomatoes, basket of cherry tomatoes, an eggplant, two zucchini, 4 apples, 4 large sweet potatoes, head of leaf lettuce, two heads of broccoli, and a small jar of honey). We get boxes each week from the last week in June until the last week in September.

Is this too much food? Absolutely not!  My husband and I share this weekly allotment and we don't waste any food. We do love vegetables. And if you are not a big vegetable eater, this may encourage you to become one!

One of the cool things about our CSA, they provide us a recipe (or two) each week to go with the produce they have given us. This is really fun too, and I've tried some delicious recipes!

Next week is our last week. Wah. But that's okay, I'm so busy with school that I can't focus so much on cooking and veggies right now (in fact I missed the CSA pick up yesterday, plum forgot until 4:30 this morning when I woke up and said "oh crap, I forgot my CSA"). But they let me pick it up today. I love them.

So next week I think they will let us sign up for next year. Absolutely I'm going to do that. I'll share information on how to sign up if you are local to Northford CT, otherwise - search in your area for next year. This is really a wonderful thing to get involved in.