At the end of March, my husband Steve and I took a leap, and
did something we've never done before: we signed up for a CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) program for this spring, summer, and fall.
Here's one way to look at this: a CSA is an amazing investment in an entire growing season of deliciously fresh, local, and (almost all) organic produce and other products. Each week is a bit of a surprise in the best way; it's like a mini food-Christmas once a week for six months. CSA is a great way to invest in your local or regional farmers, economy, and use your dollar-power to support sustainable agricultural practices.
On the other hand, a less optimistic approach might sound something like this: when you sign up for a CSA, you pay a great big wad of money up front for a whole bunch of food that you might not know what to do with, enjoy the taste of, or even recognize. Not to mention the perishable nature of said food: in most cases you've got to use it or lose it (or preserve it, which also usually takes time and effort). I would wager that most of us (Steve & I included) tend to plan our weekly menus by asking the question, "What do we want to eat this week?" and then grocery shop based on the ingredients required for those meals. With a CSA, this process is flip-flopped. You have to start with the question "What is available to me right now?" and plan your meals around those central items.
Happily for us, we fell well into the excited/Christmas-surprise/we're-being-good-citizens region of the spectrum. But we still had, and have, a lot of the doubts and questions invoked by the above. Will we know what to make with the produce we get? Will we even like the food that we're going to be forced to eat for the next six months (or risk letting it, and our money, go to waste)? Between the upfront cost of the CSA and supplementing with other grocery store necessities, can we afford this? Basically, will we be able to do this? Is it practical?
We're in a place right now where it all feels like a fun challenge. We both love cooking and eating (I love to eat = extreme understatement), and are not afraid to try new things, which I'd say is a pretty solid foundation for this kind of undertaking. In the month between signing-up for the season and our first delivery, I have been talking pretty much non-stop (sorry, friends) about our plans and how excited I was for the season to start.
Well, slight spoiler alert: in the week since our first delivery (Thursday, May 15th), we've dived head first into the foodventure and have been having a ton of fun! I've eaten really well (read: delicious, healthy, fresh, decadent) in the past week, and my incessant food-talk to anyone who will listen has not slowed down (sorry again, friends). That's where this blog comes in. I'm hoping to use this space over the next six months to share what we get in our CSA each week and at least some of what we manage to do with it. I'd like to be as transparent as possible about what works for us, what falls flat, and what we learn as we go. It will hopefully also serve as an easy way to archive some of our favorite meals for our own future use and maybe it will even prove useful for others too.
Feel free to join us for the fun. More to come soon!
Here's one way to look at this: a CSA is an amazing investment in an entire growing season of deliciously fresh, local, and (almost all) organic produce and other products. Each week is a bit of a surprise in the best way; it's like a mini food-Christmas once a week for six months. CSA is a great way to invest in your local or regional farmers, economy, and use your dollar-power to support sustainable agricultural practices.
On the other hand, a less optimistic approach might sound something like this: when you sign up for a CSA, you pay a great big wad of money up front for a whole bunch of food that you might not know what to do with, enjoy the taste of, or even recognize. Not to mention the perishable nature of said food: in most cases you've got to use it or lose it (or preserve it, which also usually takes time and effort). I would wager that most of us (Steve & I included) tend to plan our weekly menus by asking the question, "What do we want to eat this week?" and then grocery shop based on the ingredients required for those meals. With a CSA, this process is flip-flopped. You have to start with the question "What is available to me right now?" and plan your meals around those central items.
Happily for us, we fell well into the excited/Christmas-surprise/we're-being-good-citizens region of the spectrum. But we still had, and have, a lot of the doubts and questions invoked by the above. Will we know what to make with the produce we get? Will we even like the food that we're going to be forced to eat for the next six months (or risk letting it, and our money, go to waste)? Between the upfront cost of the CSA and supplementing with other grocery store necessities, can we afford this? Basically, will we be able to do this? Is it practical?
We're in a place right now where it all feels like a fun challenge. We both love cooking and eating (I love to eat = extreme understatement), and are not afraid to try new things, which I'd say is a pretty solid foundation for this kind of undertaking. In the month between signing-up for the season and our first delivery, I have been talking pretty much non-stop (sorry, friends) about our plans and how excited I was for the season to start.
Well, slight spoiler alert: in the week since our first delivery (Thursday, May 15th), we've dived head first into the foodventure and have been having a ton of fun! I've eaten really well (read: delicious, healthy, fresh, decadent) in the past week, and my incessant food-talk to anyone who will listen has not slowed down (sorry again, friends). That's where this blog comes in. I'm hoping to use this space over the next six months to share what we get in our CSA each week and at least some of what we manage to do with it. I'd like to be as transparent as possible about what works for us, what falls flat, and what we learn as we go. It will hopefully also serve as an easy way to archive some of our favorite meals for our own future use and maybe it will even prove useful for others too.
Feel free to join us for the fun. More to come soon!
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