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Success after IF
cjsbdl
member
anyone here use a CSA?
cjsbdl
member
We are thinking about doing this starting in the Spring, for veggies and locally grown meats and eggs.
If you've done it, please tell me about your experience. I'm particularly concerned about waste, so I'd like to know if you were able to use all or most of the food you received. Did you try canning/freezing any of it for later use?
We're thinking of splitting with some friends because they did it last year and just coudln't use all the produce.
TIA!
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Re: anyone here use a CSA?
We use a CSA. It is the BEST investment we've ever made. Our daughters are so excited each week when we bring home the box of veggies. They dig in and start eating.
We used most of our food. I won't lie, sometimes I had too much food and not enough time to process. However, from what I've heard the first year is the hardest to keep up, the second gets easier and by the 3rd year you have it mastered.
I canned, picked and froze as much as I could. For me it was the cooking greens that posed an issue. I am not as good with finding ways to use them.
For us splitting wouldn't work. Even though we get a lot of food it isn't a lot of any one particular item. Think 4 ears of corn, 3 tomatoes, etc.
Our farm gives us weekly produce from May-October and then bi-weekly Nov-Jan.
I would invest in some books about eating local food. We have the book "From Asparagus to Zuchinni". It helped a lot, but I'd try to find one by an author in your area. Your farm of choice should provide some recipes and be able to direct you to websites or books that have suggestions for the food you'll receive. For canning I use the book Put Em Up.
It is the best money we've ever spent and has drastically changed our food budget and has resulted in two toddlers who love to eat healthy.
So this past year was your first?
Did you can before, or was that something you started because of the CSA?
I grew up on farm-raised meats and we always had a huge garden...I spent every summer of my childhood eating whatever was harvested and canning and freezing the rest. So I would have a fabulous resource in my mom.
This was our first year and next year we are adding a fruit share too.
I've always canned just not nearly as much. It was a lot of fun and we are loving it now. The variety that is. Of course we are still getting fresh veggies too.
I, like you, grew up on the farm meats and large garden. So this was a very natural step for us. I wouldn't have the desire to garden myself though.
We've done one for 3 years now!! We've tried 2 different farms - let me know if you're still looking around and I can let you know which ones we used/ liked.
We always split ours with a friend and had more than enough. The first year we just split every delivery in 1/2. The second year we alternated, where each family kept the entire delivery every other week - and that seemed to work best. That way you have more of say, cucumbers, to work with when planning a cucumber dish (does that make sense?)
We did have some waste but most of it was because of the abundance of greens. A) We're just not big on greens in our house, and
I'm pretty uneducated about cooking them.
This past year we skipped the CSA and just made it a point to go to the neighborhood Farmers' Market every Saturday we were in town. Several of the CSAs have booths there. We travel about 1 weekend a month and DH was OOT a lot last year, so I just wasn't cooking as much, so this was a better option at the time. . .
I'm so jealous of your experiences/ resource in your mom! I'd love to learn how to can one day
Another question...
Do you know what's coming ahead of time? For instance, do you know that you're getting squash before you actually go and pick it up, so that you can plan to shop for any staples you'd need from the grocery store? Or do you just have to keep a well-stocked pantry?
We're looking at Avalon Acres, only because that's the only one that's been recommended to me! I'd love to have your thoughts!
I've never known ahead of time, which is part of what adds to the waste. If our pick up was Wednesday, if I didn't have time to go to the grocery Wed. or Thurs. . . I often didn't have what I needed or wanted on hand to make a recipe, kwim?
They do give you an idea ahead of time (At the beginning of the season) of what is usually in season week to week. . . but of course no guranatees, particularly as to quantity.
Absolutely! I get them confused
Let me email my friend who was "in charge" and I'll send you a message.
we joined a csa last year. we did a full veggie share... it was way too much. there was stuff my boys loved, and then stuff that they wouldn't eat, like swiss chard and kale.
our csa allowed us to pick from what was available each week, so i often would order extra of something if i planned to make a dish for a party or make tomato sauce or something.
this year we'll probably do a half-share, just because we did have a lot of waste and too much food last year.
This for us also! I just learned abt this and its getting kind of popular in my area..
Yes we know 3 days in advance, best guess.
We do every year. Now that we are a family of four it will be much easier to eat through everything that our CSA gets. There are some weird things we get, like garlic scapes and other oddities I can't think of right now. But for the most part everything is familiar. I (used to) cook a ton.
When we'd get loaded up with things I would just make freezable meals (like ratatouille, steak and peppers, etc.) One of the things that was a benefit with our CSA is we could go and pick up at a farmer's market which meant we had six vegetables that came with our share that week and we could pick the other 4-7 items (depending on the week) based on what was harvested. This meant if we loved arugula, but didn't care for potatoes we could load up on what we wanted. It was worth the added "inconvenience" to pick up this way.
We also do an egg and a fruit share. If you are interested in hearing more about our CSA let me know and I can PM you a link to their farm and what they give, etc.
I have never heard of this... but I just googled and I'm in love with the idea... and (shock of shocks...) there are a few farms here in Vegas offering this! I had no idea this kind of thing even existed and I cannot wait to try it!
Thanks for the tip!