Community Supported Agriculture

Well I've always enjoyed the farmer's market because the produce is typically better and I can usually meet who grew my food. and rather than have it waste tons of gas and sit on a truck for a few days, I can rest comfortably knowing that outside of picking the food myself, I am getting the foods into my kitchen relatively quickly. My partner and I have just finished our first month with a new CSA that delivers to a home nearby.

I must say, we have been consistent pleased with the quality of the food. The unique thing about this CSA, Eating With the Seasons, is that we can pick which produce we would like to include in our share.

The fact that we can select what goes into our order is big help particularly since we have a full veggie garden right now. We are currently sticking with a small bag of produce, which seems to work out well for the two of us. Though, I can see times where we might like to add onto our order, if we had guests and/or prepared a few bigger dinners. The other great thing about Eating With the Seasons, unlike many other CSA's, is the fact that because these are several local farms working together cooperatively, they operate the service year round.

some of our summer favorites:

nectarines
corn
strawberries
cantaloupe
garlic
potatoes
spinach

Our initial intention was to try to avoid produce we can buy organically at a better price, like certain herbs or salad greens, but some weeks the pay off of not having to make a special trip to the store is worth the cost. And lately we've been plenty busy. We have found we use all the produce more efficiently and creatively, and that so far our participation in the CSA has actually saved us money as opposed spending more one a few extra shopping trips a week...when things we really don't need find their way into our cart...