CSAs?

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

And to counteract my other thread about eating pork rinds, I'm going to go in the opposite direction.....CSAs.

I live in Lexington, KY - which is surrounded by family farms, so have access to dozens of CSAs in the area. For the uninitiated, you pay in advance for fresh veggies (and sometimes flowers, herbs, eggs and meats) that you pick up weekly. I'd proably do a box, which would be $550 + half a dozen organic eggs at an additional $66, so $600 for veggies from May through October. That's at least 24 weeks, so would be roughly $25/week. I probabably spend at least $35/week for fruits and veggies anyway when I go grocery shopping. Only difference is lack of choice in the CSA baskets.

Has anyone done this? Good, bad, ugly?

[cael]

I was thinking about doing one this year, have heard good things about the ones near me. Not sure we have the money though... will probably shop at the farmstand for this year. Down the road I'd love to do a CSA. I think sometimes you can end up with a lot of random stuff like kale or whatever that you may not necessarily like or use - more uncommon veggies, so just be aware of that.

[Deleted]

We have a done a half share of a CSA for the past two years and will do it again.

We like it a lot. We get veggies that we normally wouldn't eat. The only problem is that the farm is a 25 minute drive away, plus time to get the veggies and it is a 2 hour time commitment every Saturday morning.

[NancysSummerSip]

Community Supported Agriculture is what CSA stands for, and we have very few of them here. You would think South Florida would have more.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

The one I'm looking at delivers to the local Liquor Barn (how convenient!) weekly, probably about 3 miles from my home.

CSA = Community Supported Agriculture.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I think sometimes you can end up with a lot of random stuff like kale or whatever that you may not necessarily like or use - more uncommon veggies, so just be aware of that.

This really isn't an issue for me. The single veggie that I cannot tolerate is okra. I've not run up against anything else that I'll balk on eating.

My only issue is that I do travel out to see TD quite a bit, but I have a coworker that I know who would fill in for me. In fact, he may even split one with me. I'll need to talk to him about it too.

[ihearyou2]

A nice fad not very practical in a global economy.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

How so? CSAs have been around for ages. I remember a friend of mine belonging to one when I lved in TX - about 15 years ago.

[swamp]

I belong to an informal one. My friends have a huge garden. You want fresh veggies, you stop by and help yourself. Or, put in an order via FB and they'll have 'em ready to go for you.

[ihearyou2]

People live where they live and those locations and the food supply are quite often in very different places for certain products. Yes most of us can grow tomatoes and lettuce in the summer but that doesn't quite make the tossed salad. Advocados in the winter come from Chile, etc....

[973beachbum]

Mar 2, 2011 14:03:11 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

The one I'm looking at delivers to the local Liquor Barn (how convenient!) weekly, probably about 3 miles from my home.

CSA = Community Supported Agriculture.

In my part of the country they call it a CO-OP. Most also require a certian amount of volunteer hours from everybody. This is to goget the produce and pack it up in indiviual boxes. The people I know who did it loved it. My problem is our meals are a little less predictible in the summer than the rest of the year.

I also like things that aren't local like strawberries after our 2 week season.

The most famous one I know is the Park Slope Brooklyn one.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Yes most of us can grow tomatoes and lettuce in the summer but that doesn't quite make the tossed salad. Advocados in the winter come from Chile, etc....

Agreed, but for the most part, I do tend to buy 'in season' produce. In winter, tomatoes suck and I don't buy them and tend not to eat as many salads. Since avocados do not grow where I live, any of those are going to be shipped in, regardless.

I do like using the Farmer's Market and do so frequently during the summer. The idea of this means that I take the work out of it for me, I don't have to be downtown at 8 am on Sat. to get the good pickings. It's merely a matter of putting a box in my car and taking it home rather than perusing all the stands and choosing - at a much greater cost of both time and money - and when I do this, dropping $30 isn't unusual.

[dragonfly7]

I thought about using part of our tax refund for a CSA, but there are so many vegetables DH refuses to eat, I'm afraid we'd end of wasting quite a bit of it. He volunteered most Saturdays at a local farmer's market last year, which sometimes meant free random vegetables and a loaf of bread on top of our regular purchases, so we will likely go that route again.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I'd have to look to see if we had any. DH and I are thinking about starting our own garden this year in the backyard for produce we tend to buy the most of.

Personally I've gone to trying to eat local/seasonal as much as possible. I don't really care if I can't eat certain produce at certain times of the year. Strawberries just taste better in the summer than they do in the winter and also are a hell of a lot cheaper!

[Deleted]

Maybe you can in to Richard Simmons':
blocked due to malware/_tNOND6_o1Sg/TCgEL-Y_zBI/AAAAAAAAAiE/ODElO5iHeyw/s400/richard+vegetables.jpg[/img]

[Wisconsin Beth]

oooohhhhh, there should have been a space/spoiler warning Beer! Shame on you. Where's the mindbleach?

[Becks]

I belonged to one a couple of years ago and split a half share with a coworker, I think my part was $125. It was a fair deal, but if the growing season in your area is just so-so due to weather or natural pests, then it's not cost effective. As long as you understand that they will try to provide you those items on the list, but sometimes it may not work out that way. I think my better option is to hit the farmers market in season. No disappointment in quantity or getting items that you may not like or use. But my hats off to them for their efforts!

[lurkyloo]

Not cost-effective for us because we'd wind up throwing out too much of it. We got a smallish one for FIL a few years ago; it turned out to be mostly lettuces and herbs. I think he liked the lettuces a lot, as well as the weekly excuse to go pick the box up at the farmers' market, and it was a good cause--the farm was a transitional job for rehabbing mental health patients, I think? We're on the waiting list for a better one for him. Meanwhile, I'd like to point out that the stand a block and a half away from us sells The Best strawberries you've ever tasted...seriously, the first time we bought a box we got them home, washed them, ate a couple--and jumped in the car to run back and buy a three-pack. Yum!

Has anyone else noticed that strawberries are a big crapshoot lately? The growers seem to be selecting for size and color, so they look fabulous but tend to taste meh.

[Deleted]

I did one a few years ago and I really liked it. I was able to get organic produce (the farm was certified organic), eggs, meat, etc. I got a lot of heirloom tomatoes that I had never even heard of. They were delicious! I tried kohlrabi for the first time then too. I was able to try a lot of veggies I had never heard of. I love my veggies so this was a fun little adventure for me.
I stopped doing it because it was expensive and a lot of stuff went to waste because I just couldn't eat the stuff fast enough. I keep meaning to sign up for a half share, but haven't yet.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Has anyone else noticed that strawberries are a big crapshoot lately? The growers seem to be selecting for size and color, so they look fabulous but tend to taste meh.

I've gotten better in looking at the berries and smelling them. Many times, they look so gorgeous I grab a box and do find that they are tasteless, so I have found that I MUST sniff the box.

Strangely enough, I have gotten some of the best strawberries at Sam's. Unfortunately, they tend to keep them in a cool case - which makes it more difficult to check the scent.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

I did some research and it looks like TD has access to a coalition of small farms in a CSA that is very reasonable.

I also discovered that my employer has a CSA as well, but it seems to be more expensive than one of the local ones that I was looking at (and I like the idea of getting organic eggs and possibly meat too). LOL.....easy enough though, the pick up area is on my way off campus, so I drive by it daily! I think I know someone who does this, so I'll have to ask her about it.

The problem is that I need to make a decision by the end of this month....

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I found the best Strawberries at Aldis, otherwise I wait till I see them at the farmer's market.

I've found it's a crapshoot with potatoes. I've learned to examine the potatoes in teh bag, examine the OTHER bags (if one is already bad, the rest are ticking time bombs), to smell the bags and check to see if the store has put them in the same area as the onions (they make each other rot).

Can't wait till the farmer's market starts up again. Though I am rather nervous about what the prices might be this season.

[rangefinder]

We have used a CSA for going on three years now. I like it. My goal when we started was to use everything at least once. After that we could give it to someone else if we really could not go for it.
Beets were just about the only thing my family could not get used to . Other than that we get an incredible salad mix almost every week (this becomes my lunch for work) and through the summer the best heirloom tomatoes. Last year they added eggs, they were quite expensive. I also found that I really don't use eggs that much. This year they are offering eggs and pork along with the standard veg. We are debating it.
I wish we could do a fruit CSA as we go through a ton of that.
Our Aldis scares me with its produce.
We also have a farm near us that does pick your own strawberries and cherries in the early summer, so that is almost exclusively where we get ours now. I also found a blueberry one!
If it is not too expensive I would recommend trying it. We thought about it for a few years before getting involved and now we are big fans. The kids love going to "our farm". Our farmer is also very cool with the kids and he will help them choose veggies if he is there when we pick up or show them the fields, etc.
We even took them to visit the chickens that lay the eggs. To five year old girls this was great.

[kimber45]

bluebirdgardens.net/content/5455

This is our local CSA. The also have stands where you can go buy their produce as well. Their sweet corn is the BEST!!