Tag Archives: vegetables

Adventures in CSA, year 2: this has all happened before and it will happen again

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After my angst over potentially switching from the program offered through work to the week-by-week CSA offered by my local farm, we’re now officially beginning week 1 of my 2012 Adventures in CSA. This particular box came from our local farm, at a cost of $22; purchasing in advance for the entire season gets the per-box cost down to $20. The suggests that someone out there thought that around $20/box is a good price that people will consider reasonable for a week’s worth of vegetables. Of course, your mileage may vary on the number of people to be fed by a box; both programs advertise the box as being enough vegetables for 1-2 adults for a week. Hmm. I’d tend to think that 2 adults could whip through those veggies in far less than a week. What primarily holds us back is that the kids won’t eat everything out of the box.

Ah, but this is neither here nor there. Let me start out by presenting you with the contents of the box:

  • Strawberries
  • Sugar snap peas
  • Snow peas
  • Zucchini
  • Spring onions
  • Red russian kale
  • Red mustard greens
  • Carrots

 

2012 Week 1 CSA

Our first veggie box from the farm in town

 

The first thing I noticed about this box when the cashier handed it over was that it was startlingly light. I’m used to the later summer and fall boxes, which are weighed down with apples and potatoes. As I told dh when I met him at home with the box: “There’s NO WAY this box will come out to $22 in value.” We will have to see. The quantities are also a bit odd; we got only 1/2lb of carrots (just about three small carrots) and light bunches of other things. I’ll post about the value of this box after I have all of the prices together, probably tomorrow.

One important distinction between the two box programs is that the one from our local farm is 90% fulfilled by produce from that very same farm, whereas the other box program (the one through work) is fulfilled by somewhere between 10-20 farms that are all within an extremely close radius of each other. The latter is bound to have more variety than what you’d be able to get from a single farm…but that shouldn’t (and likely won’t) be a deterrent to getting that particular program.

I consider us extremely lucky to live in an area where we can get into not one but TWO different CSAs within our town. It’s extremely unlikely I’d ever do the other CSA in town; that one requires that you help plant and harvest, and I’m willing to bake into the cost of the CSA my never having to pick strawberries ever ever EVER again. (Ow – my back.) So, if you have access toany CSA, it may not be the utopian CSA, but if it has fresh fruit and/or veg and it’s local, then you’re already doing something really wonderful for a local farm and your local economy.

Fear not; I haven’t turned into a complete loca-bore. I like to eat oranges all year round, and since I don’t live in Florida or California, you better believe those suckers are shipped in from out of the region. Still, there’s something really wonderful about telling your kids that you have a veggie box in the car and then hearing them explode with joy, clapping and cheering. That’s pretty priceless, to me.

I’m planning on having an affair…

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…with my CSA.

(wait – whut? get your mind out of the gutter)

Now that we’ve gotten into the habit of WANTING fresh fruit and veg in the house in greater quantity than just a bag of stuff here and there, we were itching to see when the next veggie box program would kick off at work. Thankfully, it starts soon – but we may not make it that long.

As it happens, our local farm (which has the farmstand we visit frequently) has its own CSA. They’ve set up their share program as either a “full season” or “one at a time” box, so you can either pay in advance for all of the boxes, or you can call them up a few days before one of the two scheduled pick-up days and decide that you want the box that’s offered that week. The price difference is only $2 a box.

Pluses: VERY local farm (more local than what’s at work, since I work ~30mi from home, and the farm is less than 3mi from my house), and no schlepping a 15-20lb box from my office to my car (a distance of 1/4-1/2mi). Minuses: we won’t get the same variety as from the CSA we got last year (which culls fruit and veg from over 10 local farms), and I feel like I’m cheating on the other CSA.

Seriously? Cheating on a CSA?

Yeah, that’s me – feeling like a jerk because I’m trying another CSA. It’s very much like how I feel when I eat at the (relatively new) Szechuan restaurant in town. The Mandarin place we’ve been going to for the last decade is really quite good, but I grew up eating the spicier Szechuan style, so I eat there on random occasions when I want my Kung Pao Chicken with some oomph.

And I feel like I’m cheating then, too.

Honestly, what is WRONG with me? I’m patronizing local businesses, I’m spreading around what little wealth I have…why should I feel like I’m going behind one business owner’s back by going to a competitor? It’s not like I’m married to them or anything.

But still, I have these nagging feelings of guilt. Then again, with the CSA, it’s a little easier to justify. That schlep from office building to car really isn’t fun when you’re carrying a heavy box. It really would be nice to get that down to more like 50 feet.

So, I suppose it’s all well and good to nurse my guilt with kale chips or some other tasty produce…but I’ll have to keep you posted. The first pickup of the pay-as-you-go boxes from the local farm is this afternoon and I don’t intend to be late. Assume that this year’s Adventures in CSA will be a little different, since I may be switching up my farms. ‘Scuse me while I go drown my guilt in some fresh goodies…OMNOMNOM

Time to get your CSA on!

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Having had a really fun time getting into a CSA “veggie box” program offered through work last year (and blogging about that for several months), I’m definitely looking forward to getting going with this year’s CSA options. Since the veggie box program at work won’t start for another several weeks, we’ll likely jump on the bandwagon with our local farmstand earlier. They offer a full season package or, for a couple of dollars more per box, you can pay by the week only for the weeks that you actually want to get a box. Going with the latter is a fantastic way to check out what the farm has to offer and see how they run their program.

For those of you who aren’t in a CSA and who would like to learn more, you can find your nearest CSAs through a fantastic search tool offered at the LocalHarvest web site.

Last year, I found that the veggie box program at work ($20/box) was a deal for the Fall boxes until we got to the late Fall ones, where the bulk of what was in them was apples, potatoes and onions. Those items, it seems, are pretty much priced fixed all year at low enough prices that it didn’t save us money to get the veggie box versus buying the same type of produce at the grocery store. I will note, though, that I was typically pricing the “regular” versions of the produce, not the “organic”, which often have higher prices attached.

Naturally, the price wasn’t the only consideration; I also wanted to branch out and try new fruits/vegetables, and I wanted to see if we were able to sustain using more fresh items in our weekly meal plan. All of our goals were definitely met the first time out, so now it’s a matter of keeping things going.

Once we get up and running with the next veggie box (wherever I get it), I’ll post about the value from what I got as well as, of course, any new recipes! In the meantime, feel free to revisit memory lane by looking through how last year’s Adventures in CSA went…and buckle up for 2012!