CSA is A-OK

I have been thinking about joining a CSA for years. For those of you who might be unfamiliar with what that is, it stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It works a lil' something like this: local farms have participants purchase shares of their harvest at the beginning of the season and you pick up the bounty each week at a determined location, lots of times at your farmers' market. The money helps cover the cost of running the farm--you are an invested party! If the crops do well, you reap the benefits. If there is some sort of drought, flood or pest that overruns the crops that year, you don't. It is definitely a risk, but we decided to take the plunge this summer and go for it.

The farm we chose is Elmwood Stock Farm and it's about 25 minutes from our house. Mother's Day was their annual open house for share holders, so we took advantage of the gorgeous weather and went for a Sunday drive to check it out. Curt was a little lukewarm about hanging out on a farm--my man is from Western  KY and he grew up surrounded by rows and rows of crops, but this gal still thinks they they are pretty fascinating. It was Mother's Day so I won!

Plus we've got kiddo's, and as far as I can tell any time you tell a kid you're going out to a farm, they pretty much think it's the coolest thing imaginable. What could be better than open fields, barn cats, roaming chickens and a perfect spring breeze? Not much, that's what.

Although we did not partake in the egg or meat shares (they also raise turkeys, cows and sheep), we loved getting to see where it all comes from. Fields just beginning to show signs of what is to come. Greenhouses filling up with sprouts ready for transplant. A little slice of heaven right down the road--and we get to eat it!!!

The weather so far this spring has been a little nuts, so our shares haven't been as plentiful as they usually are this time of year. Even so, here's what was in our box last week:

Some strawberries, asparagus, over wintered spinach, sage, dried black beans and garlic greens (my personal favorite--look like green onions but taste like garlic--awesome). Now this is a mini share, meant to "feed two adults who eat out often". Since we have our own garden we didn't want to overdo it and have more than we could reasonably consume. This size seems like a good fit for us, at least for now.

Oh, and did I mention all of this is organic? Yeppers. Tasty delish mixed with wholesome and healthy. Mommy likey. The girls eat the strawberries, we mix the spinach with other greens for salads, I'm saving the herbs and beans for when we need them, and the asparagus... oh the asparagus. The newsletter said "if you've never had farm fresh asparagus you're in for a real treat". I admit, when I read that I sort of snorted under my breath. A real treat? Asparagus? Really? Oh. My. Goodness. Really. Best asparagus I've ever had.  

I'm currently obsessed with this marvelous green, pee altering "treat" combined with the garlic greens in a quiche (I think this one had mushrooms and swiss cheese as well). Happiness on a plate.

I don't know if it's the novelty of the experience or if it really is that fantastic, but so far I am in love with this whole CSA business. Every Monday night I'm giddy to read our email of what is coming in our share the next day. As soon as I get that box in the car, I rip it open like a kid on Christmas to have a look at what's inside. Our weekly newsletters include recipes so if there's something in there we aren't familiar with we have an idea of what we can make.

All in all, it's big time fun--and we still have 19 weeks to go! Talk about the gift that keeps on giving. God willing, weather permitting, I hope so.


(If this has piqued your interest about finding a CSA in your area, check out www.localharvest.org and do a quick search. You can also find farmers' markets, grocery co-ops and more. Happy local fooding!)