where my CSA ladies at??

MamaFantastic · July 2014

i'm having a rare moment of (delusional) inspiration and i'm looking at an organic CSA farm that's just down the road from us. it has a summer CSA option for 18-20 weeks with anywhere between 7-10 vegetables per week.

am i crazy for considering this? i'm a lazy cook these days... i hardly ever make recipes in the summer. usually it's easy stuff like frozen turkey burgers, steamed veggies, english muffin pizzas, etc. if you participate in a CSA, do you really chop and steam and cook much more often? do you find the "lesser" veggies like parsnips or swiss chard go unused quite a bit?

moonsparkles · July 2014

No you're not crazy. We do CSAs. Do you have a grill? You can cook almost anything on the grill. Parsnips included. Just a little olive oil and garlic and salt. The swiss chard - put it in a non-stick frying pan with a little water. It takes just three minutes on high heat until just wilted. Adding a little olive oil and lemon juice is yum or even some balsamic vinegar. They really don't take much time at all, except for the washing part.

Also, CSAs support the farmer. I'm all for that.

RedDawnsRevenge · July 2014

Parsnips make a great first baby food and they freeze well. Swiss chard makes great chopped salad, we eat it with salmon on top. The nearest CSA to me is in Fresno so we just do multiple farmers markets a week. But if they were closer I'd so do it.

Rrrrrachel · July 2014

I've done one in the past but not lately. My issue with the ones around here is they tend to be small amounts of a lot of different foods. Is rather have a larger amount of fewer things. It is really fun to try new things and you can usually find an easy way to cook it. Some of the ones around here so eggs, meat, or cheese, too.

padma55 · July 2014

I'm looking into it also. I'm nervous that I'll feel like a failure because I won't have all the veggies mastered and we'll blow the budget on food I'm not good at cooking.

PoppySeedWindsor · July 2014

We have a delivery service called Green Bean and I get fresh, local, organic veggies and fruits every Friday. It's freaking awesome because:

a) I don't have to go anywhere to buy food

b) It forces me to be creative with cooking (which I love)

c) It supports local farms

d) It all tastes super good

Often times a CSA will have recipe ideas for what to make with what they give you in the box. If not, I'd recommend hopping onto Epicurious and seeing what might be simple to make. As PPs said, grilling is super easy too and you really can girll almost anything.

Also, I'd LOVE to be bugged every week for recipe ideas!!! :-) Go for the CSA and support your local agriculture!

WifeofaComposer · July 2014

CSA means...?

PoppySeedWindsor · July 2014

WifeofaComposer said:

CSA means...?

Community-shared agriculture. Farms sell CSA shares to the public, enabling people to get fresh, local produce. They're usually for a growing season and often times you put the whole money up front (ie you pay for 8-10 weeks of produce beforehand) but you're guaranteed really great food. In PDX our CSA also offered eggs and milk!

MamaFantastic · July 2014

Yeah, I live in a super saturated small farm area. I can go to a different farmer's market on pretty much any given day, and I can join probably 10 or more local CSAs. It's such a shame to not take advantage of these great resources! This place offers milk, yogurt, eggs and pork as well. I'm going to swing by later today to grab some stuff and check the place out.

@poppyseedwindsor if you have some good veggie recipes, I'd love to benefit from your knowledge and experience!!

olenkapdx · July 2014

A good CSA will give some suggestions for cooking those lesser-known veggies (Kohlrabi, anyone?) I used to work for a CSA and we would have little leaflets with recipes next to the bins of veggies when people would come for pickup (we didn't do delivery).

Personally, I'm not part of a CSA now but we have a pretty big veggie and fruit garden so I am familiar with the overflow of produce at this time of year. We freeze a lot of berries. I eat a ton of salads and throw what veggies I can into smoothies (carrots, kale, chard, and beet greens, etc.)

PoppySeedWindsor · July 2014

Hit me up anytime @MamaFantastic!

ladygali · July 2014

Re kohlrabi. It's one if my faves. Peel and shred 3 or 4 and squeeze out extra liquid. Add an egg, breadcrumbs, salt & pepper, ginger and red pepper. Drop spoonfuls into hot oil and fry like potato pancakes. Omg so good.

We did a CSA the last three summers and I threw a lot of produce away, mostly because I would get similar things each week and I started to get sick of it. I mean, how much cabbage can one person eat?!? We didn't do it this year because of DS and next year I might try planting my own garden. I do love the idea of buying local and supporting farmers.

PoppySeedWindsor · July 2014

@LalaMama81 Takes some work but you could dry out the hyssop leaves and then use them as an herb or salad topper. I think you could probably boil them in some water and let that water simmer and reduce down for an anise syrup or tincture.

Anise, btw, tastes like black licorice.

PoppySeedWindsor · July 2014

jellysparkles said:

I could eat chard for days =P~

I love soaking it so it gets nice and soft and then using it like rice paper for spring rolls. Of course, simmered in stock and bacon grease with nice fatty bacony chunks is always a winner.

WifeofaComposer · July 2014

I didn't even know CSA was "a thing" - such a great idea. My dad is an organic gardener and we have a huge organic farm a mile from our house (the wind turbines are breathtakingly beautiful), so we always have fresh veggies, eggs, meats, and dairy available to us.

PoppySeedWindsor · July 2014

I'm so excited to hear more and more people learning about and enjoying CSAs!!! (Organic, small farm and urban ag are crazy passions of mine)

ricekez · July 2014

We get a CSA box. I end up blanching and freezing a lot because we can't eat it all up. It definitely forces us to eat more veggies and get creative. I like how many veggies I eat now - today I had Swiss chard omelettes for breakfast, Napa cabbage slaw for lunch, and broccoli pasta with dinner. That's veggies for every meal, and I've got plenty of leftovers for the whole week. (I don't eat omelettes every day, that's just a Saturday thing).

RedDawnsRevenge · July 2014

As it turns out the CSA in our area is now delivering to my little area of nowhere land! Now to convince DH that 29.95 isn't bad for a week box. I casually mentioned it and he said that was way over budget for veggies. Funny as I spend way more than that at the 3 farmers markets I go to a week.

Jessimax · July 2014

Never heard of this CSA business before. We live in a small rural community and really work on the barter system, especially this time of year. I've traded eggs for yoga lessons, we make a ton of hay and don't have many animals so we've traded hay for butchered lamb and are getting 2 piglets next week in exchange for hay. Not to mention everyone's gardens are overflowing with veggies this time of year. Love summer on a farm

macynsnoop · July 2014

I haven't joined a CSA but we have our own backyard garden. Didn't know if we would be able to get it cleaned out & tilled this year since we had LO. But my mom who isn't really a baby person came for a week & got our plot ready for planting. We didn't get everything in that we wanted to this year, but it's still pretty good. My recommendation is to freeze if your not gonna eat. We normally have an over abundance of tomatoes & tomatillos. I used to can salsas & stewed tomatoes, which is nice, but a ton of work! I find it easier to just chop them up, throw into freezer bags. This way you have the awesome flavor of ripe summer tomatoes & tomatillos in the middle of winter for your stews, soups & chiles! Also, an over abundance of greens is great to freeze as well, super healthy & yummy to throw a frozen pile into a mid winter Thai soup! So, if thinking your gonna be wasteful is going to stop you, don't let it. Most of this stuff freezes beautifully so you can enjoy it later!

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