My First CSA Part II

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We’re approaching the end of month two and I’m still very pleased with the CSA. Beet chips are a new favorite at our house. Zucchini and carrots are regular favorites already, so they fit right in. We had our first small share of wine berries two weeks ago. Wow! Absolutely delicious. One week there was a cooler of extras so I got double the usual selection of green beans and some large zucchini. Those kinds of foods are big hits around here. The beans were gone within the week, and the zucchini shortly after.

I’ve been getting creative with fresh garlic as well. This is never something I would have considered eating.  I made garlic mashed potatoes, and used roasted garlic as a savory base for a vegetable soup.

It is interested to see what I’m learning about seasonality. In this area, it is almost impossible to have lettuce and tomato ripe at the same time. I really wonder how recent the advent of those two items in salad is. So I’ll find myself tempted to buy lettuce at the store to supplement the tomatoes coming from the CSA. But instead I’ve been forgoing salad all together and instead using the tomatoes in omelets or just sliced up raw for my son. He loves his “matos.”

I think I’d like to do a full share next year. For two reasons. First, wider variety. There are a number of yummy things that we didn’t get very much of because we only had half shares. We also did a half share because we were afraid we wouldn’t eat it all. But we haven’t had too much trouble, except maybe the braising greens, which I can always freeze for smoothies over the winter. So now I have to figure out how to save the full amount needed for next year’s full share.

This has really changed my feelings about eating locally and seasonally. I’ll still be buying imported produce (whether nationally or internationally) in winter because in the north east there isn’t much you can grow from about November-May. But I’m learning to modify what I cook and eat around what we get each week. It’s been rather fun. I wish we could more easily and affordably get other things locally, such as fruit, meat and eggs.

I’m looking forward to what the next few months bring as winter squash, apples and potatoes come into season and we see a second crop of greens and peas.

Whether you buy your foods locally or now, what have been some of your summer favorites?

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My First CSA

My First CSA

Photo Credit: Katarina 2353 via Compfight cc
Today ends my first month of CSA pickups. If you’re not familiar with it, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically you pay a fee to a farm at the beginning of the growing season and then you get a selection of produce each week for the entire growing season.

We’ve been discussing doing this for two years and this is the first year we are finally doing it. We’re participating with Hunter Hill Farm CSA which is run by Daniel Hunter and Bethany Towne. One of the things I love about this CSA is that they have a drop site located within 5 or 10 minutes of my house, here in the city. You can pick up at the farm in rural Easton or at the home of the owners of the farm (Daniel Hunter’s parents) in Bethlehem. I’ve met Gene Hunter, the owner, twice and he has been friendly and helpful. The communications from Bethany Towne have been very informative and she’s also been accommodating and helpful with information about what is in each share and pointing us in the direction of new recipes, for which I have been quite grateful.

Week 1 was mostly greens of various kinds, plus some radishes. The herbs I honestly didn’t know what to do with. I ended up drying the oregano, and I don’t know what to do with the cilantro, though I have a recipe for cilantro pesto that I might be gutsy enough to try. I really enjoyed the roast radishes. The wilted arugula wasn’t a hit with anyone but me, but I didn’t mind much.

Week 2 was more greens, plus turnips, and some onions. Which led to baked onion rings, caramelized turnips and kale chips all of which were amazing. I wasn’t sure what to do with the collard greens yet so I froze them for future use in smoothies.

We missed Week 3 while we were on vacation so Week 4 was an extra large portion, plus there was a cooler of extras for anyone who wanted them. I grabbed a large bag of peas. Wow! I spent over an hour shelling peas and my kids finished them in one sitting. The strawberries were a surprise and very tasty. More turnips, radishes and onions, led to repeat of the above recipes. I could eat those all summer. Broccoli and carrots were tasty too.

So one month in, I’m enjoying this so far. I’m not sure whether we’re breaking even yet. I’ll probably have to figure that out at the end of the summer, though I’m not even sure how I would know. Looking forward to the midsummer produce coming soon.