Our CSA (Root Down Farm) started pick up in June and I’ve been bringing home lots of wonderful veggies. Today was the first day the u-pick section was open and I brought home my first flowers of the year. Aren’t they beautiful?

The CSA moved its pickup and U-pick location this year and they are right down the street from the family farm. My family farm that is. My great-grandfather was a farmer. My grandfather and his brother took over the business and turned it into a successful greenhouse business, which is now run by my uncle.  The CSA is on land that was owned by a neighboring farm/greenhouse family. It’s kind of funny for me to go there, so close to where I spent so much time as a child. The home my great-grandparents lived in, where my grandfather was born and where my grandparents and my mother lived is a stone’s throw down the street from the CSA pick up. It’s kind of nice to be back in the neighborhood, noodling around in the fields, picking flowers like I used to do with my grandmother.

We’ve had many delicious CSA items this year. I’m loving the peas most of all. I love to eat them raw, out of the shell for lunch. We’ve had lots of garlic scapes so I’ve been making lots of sauces and pestos and freezing much of it. I bring home lots of greens to feed my son’s tortoise (kale and collard greens). Zucchini, cucumbers,  and squash are wonderful. For a few weeks there were radishes and salad turnips, which I am not a fan of. Napa cabbage has been coming home the past two weeks so I think I’ve got to make some sweet and sour cabbage with it or maybe a stir fry. And there is always plenty of lettuce and salad greens. This week’s newest item is purslane, which I’ve never cooked with. I think I might make some soup with it.

I love going each week and being surprised by what’s there.

While I was in the U-pick field today I also picked a bunch of basil (in the front in my photo) since someone is nibbling on mine in my herb garden! My parsley has also completely disappeared. I suspect the rabbits have been at work.

Our CSA (Root Down Farm) started pick up in June and I’ve been bringing home lots of wonderful veggies. Today was the first day the u-pick section was open and I brought home my first flowers of the year. Aren’t they beautiful? The CSA moved its pickup and U-pick location this year and they are … Read more →

My husband thinks I’m nuts. I signed up for a one-time winter share from our CSA. Approximately 100 lbs of veggies, they said. We picked it up yesterday and it filled the truck of my van.

Here’s what we came home with:

5 stalks of Brussels sprouts

4 cabbages

a plastic grocery bag of white potatoes

a plastic grocery bag of sweet potatoes

a paper lunch bag of onions

2 heads of garlic

1 bunch of small leeks

a plastic grocery bag of kale

a plastic grocery bag of beets and carrots

a plastic grocery bag of celeriac and parsnips

a plastic grocery bag of broccoli, radishes, and turnips

about 8 butternut squash

I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but that’s a pretty good list. We were told we would get acorn squash and pie pumpkins but those didn’t materialize and I was disappointed. I’ve been holding onto several acorn squash recipes I wanted to try! I thought there would be more potatoes and carrots than we got. Really, this isn’t nearly enough for an entire winter, but I’m happy to have locally grown, organic produce to use for as long as it lasts me.

The next problem is what to do with it all! When I signed up for the share, I thought, “Oh it’s in late November, it will be cool enough to keep it in the garage!” Silly me. The optimal storage temp is between 32 and 40 degrees. Our garage has been at about 50 since it’s been rather warm out. Our main basement is heated. There is a basement crawl space that is at 54 degrees. I have a second fridge in the garage, but it is completely full right now with Thanksgiving stuff (turkeys, cream, pie crust)!  So, for now, we’ve filled a cooler and a box in the garage and we will move most of it to the garage fridge after the holiday. And it should get cooler so that we can leave some of it out in a box in the garage.

I’m planning to pickle the beets. I will boil and freeze the kale (which I often add to dishes like you would chopped spinach – no one notices!). I am planning to make sauerkraut with some of the cabbage. I will cook and freeze some of the butternut squash. The potatoes, onions, and carrots will be used up quickly around here (Thanksgiving). The Brussels sprouts are a problem since I’m really the only one who likes them. I’m not too fond of celeriac, so I need to figure something out with that.  Any celeriac suggestions?

My husband thinks I’m nuts. I signed up for a one-time winter share from our CSA. Approximately 100 lbs of veggies, they said. We picked it up yesterday and it filled the truck of my van. Here’s what we came home with: 5 stalks of Brussels sprouts 4 cabbages a plastic grocery bag of white … Read more →

We signed up for a CSA for the first time this year. The idea is you buy a “share” from the farmer and then each week you go and pick up your portion of that week’s harvest. I was lucky enough to find Root Down Farm, which is 15 minutes from my house and which grows everything organically. Now that the CSA season is ending, it’s time to evaluate it.

What I Didn’t Expect

Friends who use CSAs talk about what’s in their “CSA box” each week. We didn’t get a box. Instead, we went to a little covered hut and each week there was a white board telling us how much we could take. Usually there was one wall of vegetables and then one wall of greens, and then bins of tomatoes, squash or melons. Most weeks we could mix and match anything we wanted on the veggie wall to fill up a plastic grocery store shopping bag (I know: I’m still not over an organic CSA distributing plastic bags). So although there might be things on that wall I didn’t want (eggplant, hot peppers, kohlrabi), I could fill my bag with anything else, so I appreciated that flexibility.

What I Loved

I loved the freshness of the food. A bag of lettuce greens would last almost two weeks because it was so fresh. My kids were nuts about the carrots. I loved the potatoes. There were some greens I’d never heard of that I really liked: tat soi and vitamin greens.

I liked that this encouraged me to try new things. I always took things that were new to me to try at least once, something I would not do in a grocery store.

Everything tasted better to me because it was organic and it was super fresh. This made everyone more likely to eat it. I’ve never seen my children get excited about vegetables before, and every Monday they would come home and ask what we got at the CSA. There were squabbles over the carrots (who would get to take them in their lunch).

I loved the U-pick part of our CSA, particularly the cutting flowers section. They had a nice selection of herbs in U-pick as well, but I planted an herb garden this year, so I didn’t use those.

I felt as though the price I paid for the share was a good bargain.

What I Didn’t Love

There was some disorganization happening at times. My mom went to pick up my share when we were out of town and although I told the farmer this was happening, my mom still felt as though they were rude to her when she came and looked unfamiliar. There was also a mix-up about a payment that still bothers me.

It was at times hard to keep up with the food that came home. I was drowning in tomatoes and I threw out a lot of greens, which made me feel terrible.

I did not enjoy having to pick my own beans in the U-pick section. I would be happier if those were picked and part of the share.

Somehow I don’t feel as though my weekly grocery bills went down as much as I would have liked and I don’t quite know why that is.

I had to be sure to plan my grocery shopping around the CSA. If there was no lettuce that week and I had just been to the store and didn’t buy lettuce, then there was no salad! But if I bought lettuce at the store then went to the CSA and there was lettuce, I had another problem on my hands.

Will We Join Again?

The answer to that is a resounding yes. I plan to sign up again next year. I also signed up for a winter share, the details of which still has my husband twitching. For $100, we are getting 100 lbs of winter vegetables in one pick up in November, and it will include things like cabbage, squash, pumpkin, carrots (my kids will be happy), potatoes, beets, etc. I’ll post once we pick that up and figure out how the heck we will store it!

So, overall, the CSA experiment was a great success and I highly recommend it to everyone!

We signed up for a CSA for the first time this year. The idea is you buy a “share” from the farmer and then each week you go and pick up your portion of that week’s harvest. I was lucky enough to find Root Down Farm, which is 15 minutes from my house and which … Read more →

We joined a CSA this year and I have been going every week to pick up my share. While we were away, my mom got my share. We’re now at the point in the year where I bring home bags and bags each week. This week I came home with a quart of potatoes, onions, 14 tomatoes, squash, zucchini, beets, carrots, cucumbers, Swiss chard, green pepper, kale, a big bag of lettuce greens, a watermelon and U-pick beans and cherry tomatoes. I also picked some dill and cilantro.

Our CSA also has a U-pick flower section, which I am taking advantage of every week and am really, really loving. This week I brought home enough for two beautiful bouquets. These flowers last at least a week, so I always have fresh flowers now. I need to buy a nice big basket to use when I go to pick them. It makes me so happy to have fresh flowers in the house.

We joined a CSA this year and I have been going every week to pick up my share. While we were away, my mom got my share. We’re now at the point in the year where I bring home bags and bags each week. This week I came home with a quart of potatoes, onions, … Read more →

We joined a CSA this year so we could get local, organic vegetables. So far it has been spectacular. I am rarely able to use it all up in one week. We’ve enjoyed many types of greens (tat soi, vitamin greens, arugula, spinach, kale), lots of lettuce, cukes, kohlrabi, squash, broccoli, scallions, chard, turnips, and more. This week something new started: u-pick. You can help yourself to as much as you want in the u-pick fields that is ready for picking. They put little signs with labels so you know what is ready. This week it was herbs and cutting flowers. I planted my own herb garden this year (which is much handier because I can just pop out the back door and grab what I need for dinner each night), but I don’t have any dill, so I picked a bunch of that and some flowers (daisies and black-eyed Susans).

It was so fun to walk back into the fields and cut what I

wanted.  I’m already wondering what will be ready next week! And in the meantime, I need to roast the beets I picked up today so we can use them in a salad.

Heading back in the fields made me think of my grandfather, who was a farmer and built a successful greenhouse business with his brother, now run by my uncle.  By the time I came along, everything was grown in the greenhouses, but I did go with my grandfather to pick corn in his brother’s field a few times. The CSA fields aren’t far from my grandfather’s fields. On the way home I was wondering what he would think. I can hear him saying “Why cripe, why don’t you just plant it in your own backyard?”

We joined a CSA this year so we could get local, organic vegetables. So far it has been spectacular. I am rarely able to use it all up in one week. We’ve enjoyed many types of greens (tat soi, vitamin greens, arugula, spinach, kale), lots of lettuce, cukes, kohlrabi, squash, broccoli, scallions, chard, turnips, and … Read more →

Week two of the CSA share brought even more food. Tons of lettuce, more kale and bok choy and fresh peas, which I was very excited about! We also bought a quart of strawberries (not included in our CSA share price). One item in our share was garlic scapes, which are the top shoots that grow out of a garlic bulb. I’d never tried them before. I decided to get out some of the chicken leg quarters from our chicken share and whip up a dish with them. This dish is VERY simple and easy to put together but has a ton of flavor. I had 4 chicken leg quarter which I put in a pan and seasoned with salt and pepper. In the food processor, I put 16 garlic scapes and chopped them up. I added a tablespoon of olive oil and half a cup of sour cream (I wanted to use yogurt, but I was out). I added salt and pepper and a little paprika. That’s it. I rubbed it all over the chicken and baked at 400 for about 45 minutes until the chicken was cooked through. The scapes have a garlic flavor but they are not as strong as garlic bulbs and were milder and sweeter. We really enjoyed this dish! I served it with some steamed rice.

I also steamed last week’s broccoletti and just put some butter on it. We ate the peas and berries raw (my favorite way!).

Week two of the CSA share brought even more food. Tons of lettuce, more kale and bok choy and fresh peas, which I was very excited about! We also bought a quart of strawberries (not included in our CSA share price). One item in our share was garlic scapes, which are the top shoots that … Read more →

We picked up our first share from our CSA from Root Down Farm this week. Wow! We got 2 heads of lettuce, 2 bunches of radishes, 2 bunches of bok choy, 2 bunches of broccolini, 2 bunches of broccoli raab, and a big plastic produce bag of mixed greens: kale, arugula, tot soi (no idea how to use this) and komatsuna (again, no clue). It all looked so FRESH! Now begins my challenge of learning to cook from my CSA share each week! It’s going to be fun I think.  It was a lot more food than I expected, so I’ve got to buckle down and arrange our dinners around this. I usually eat salad for lunch, so I can use at least one head of lettuce for that per week.

The way this worked was that we showed up on our appointed day, checked our name off on the list then read what we were to take on a blackboard (it listed how many of each thing you could take). They provided plastic bags, but next week I will bring my grocery totes. You walked around the bins inside a little shelter and picked up your share. Quick and easy and convenient.

I’ll be sharing my cooking adventures as I learn to use new produce and find new ways to use others.

We picked up our first share from our CSA from Root Down Farm this week. Wow! We got 2 heads of lettuce, 2 bunches of radishes, 2 bunches of bok choy, 2 bunches of broccolini, 2 bunches of broccoli raab, and a big plastic produce bag of mixed greens: kale, arugula, tot soi (no idea … Read more →

We have just signed up for a share in a CSA. For those of you who haven’t heard of this, a CSA is community supported agriculture. You pay a fee up front for a “share” which entitles you to pick up your portion of the farm’s output each week during growing season. I’ve been wanting to do this for years, but had some requirements I was having trouble with:

–  I needed a farm that was reasonably close by. I did not want to drive 45 minutes each way. I found one that is literally 10 minutes away.

– I wanted weekday pick up times. Many farms schedule pick ups on weekends and we spend many weekends at my parents’ lake house.

– The farm had to be organic (not necessarily certified, but meeting standards at least).

I finally found all of this in The Root Down Farm. We’ll be getting a share every week for 22 weeks, from June to November. The farm also has a u-pick section which includes cutting flowers and some veggies you can just help yourself to. I wish they also had fruit, but that’s asking a lot! The cost is $540 for the season (which works out to about $24 a week) for a share that feeds 4 people. That is probably a bit more than I spend each week on produce, but it feels like an investment that will be worthwhile. I think it will force me to use more veggies, and to try veggies I might not be using at this point.

My dad used to have tons and tons of veggies he shared with me, but in recent years, he hasn’t grown as much at all, so I’ve been buying more at the store. I’m also excited to be supporting a local farmer. My grandfather’s family was one of the original farming families in our town, so this feels like going back to my roots.

A local store called Farmers and Artisans sells locally grown produce, dairy and meats, and also has a bakery. They are selling organic milk shares. I toyed with doing this, but ultimately it didn’t make sense. The cost per gallon was at least $1 more than I pay at the grocery store, I would have to drive farther to get it, and the milk does not come in glass bottles. As far as I’m concerned, that is the holy grail I am searching for – milk that is organic and in glass. I can get organic milk in plastic or I can get regular milk in glass.

What has your experience with CSAs been like?

We have just signed up for a share in a CSA. For those of you who haven’t heard of this, a CSA is community supported agriculture. You pay a fee up front for a “share” which entitles you to pick up your portion of the farm’s output each week during growing season. I’ve been wanting … Read more →