Thursday, July 3, 2008

CSA: Week 2

On Sunday we went and picked up the 2nd week of our CSA share. Again, we got more greens, radishes, strawberries and beets.


When we pick up our share we walk down a series of tables of vegetables and get to choose which ones we want. For example, last week we were able to choose one item of each type - so they have red beets, and orange beets, and round beets and cylindrical beets. You choose what you want and shove it in your bag. (We went with the cylindrical beets and radishes this time.)

Soon they will start distributing the shares in boxes. I think most of the distribution will be done beforehand and we choose a couple items to customize our share, rather than choosing every single item. Right now, with everyone choosing every item, it takes a little while to get your share.

The share pickup location is next to our favorite bakery and it seems that most people come in twos. One person waits in the line to pick up their CSA share and one person waits in the line to get bread. It reminded me of when I was as a child, being told of people waiting in line for bread in the former Soviet Union.
It is hard to see, but there are 2 lines here. On the left is the line for the CSA. On the right is the line for the bakery.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

CSA: Week 1

We joined a CSA this year. If you don't know, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Essentially, you pay a farmer upfront for a share of the crops during the season. You get whatever is in season at that moment. It is a good way of supporting a local farmer and eating locally grown foods.

We joined the Stillmans Farm CSA. I don't think the farm is 100% organic, but they call it "Conscientiously Grown". We signed up for a half share.

We have only had 2 weeks of crops so far, but it has been very exciting for us, since we are food nerds. I thought I would post some pictures of what we are getting. Right now the selection is a bit limited because it is early in the season.

We got radishes, beets, strawberries, chard, spinach, arugula, lettuce and some greens that I don't recognize.

I was out of town last week, so Kate had to eat all of this herself!