I had a meeting at my son's school this morning to discuss the end of year picnic. At one point the conversation turned to Community Supported Agriculture and how Margie the music teacher subscribes to Highland Orchard and gives her extra veggies to some of the teachers at MLC. The other mom's in the meeting were curious about the CSA programs and what they involve, the quality of the fruits and veggies, how much does it cost, etc. Our conversation inspired this blog.
I would not have known about CSA if it was not for my friend Kym Kelly. She participated in a summer CSA in 2008 and brought some of her extra veggies and greens to me at work. We would chat about it and discuss cooking methods . One day she came into the office, her cheeks flush with excitement, clutching a plastic bag full of what appeared to be thin, orange slices. "No, not orange slices!" Kym exclaimed. "Darce, I found a food dehydrator at a yard sale this past weekend and guess what I did?" Of course I blurted out, "You dehydrated something?" "Yes", she tells me. "I dehydrated the cantaloupe I got this week in my CSA box." "Try this." She placed two white powder covered orange strips in my hand. "What's the white powder?" I asked peering down. "It's all of the natural sugar that results from the drying process." So, I bit into the hard orange flesh and was instantly surprised. "Kym, this is amazing, I mean, unbelievably good!" "Everything I love about cantaloupe, fruit in general, is in this perfectly dried little snack!" It was so incredibly good, the sweetness of the sugar but the essence of a cantaloupe was in each bite. The texture was chewy but substantial like a thicker fruit roll up. It was the ideal healthy treat and the flavor still stands out in my mind, like a bit of summer captured in a dried little snack.
I decided then and there to participate in the CSA as soon as I could. It was a 6 week Fall subscription out of Calvert Farm in Rising Sun Maryland. I picked up our box of food every Wednesday at Marini's Produce on Veale Road. I paid $170 plus a $10 fuel surcharge. (this was back in 08 during the gas crisis)
Each week there was a variety of veggies and sometimes fruit. We received apples, a lot of beets, onions, Swiss chard, broccoli and cauliflower. There was more Kale than I care to admit and various salad greens including spinach. There were potatoes for a few weeks and also a veggie that I had heard of but never cooked, kohlrabi. I am sad to say it went bad before I had the chance to try it. We also had a ton of radishes, beans and a few eggplant, peppers and garlic.
That Fall I made broccoli and cauliflower gratins almost every night to accompany dinner. I felt like Forrest Gump after a while; braised kale, sauteed kale, baked kale, kale with bacon.... We were eating salads everyday with the greens and spinach with grated or cut up radishes. The beets were a messy proposition, I highly recommend disposable gloves when peeling, but otherwise when roasted and added to the spinach along with some goat cheese, orange segments and a nice vinaigrette, you will be a happy subscriber. The Swiss chard with it's brightly colored stems alluded me because I had no idea how to cook them. It would be later on I would find out that after removing the thick stems and stalks Swiss chard is amazing sauteed like spinach in olive oil finished with a little bit of salt, pepper and red wine vinegar.
Probably the most profound lesson learned with my CSA experience was how I began to question the source of my groceries and began to look for seasonal produce at the grocery store. I could not believe the difference in taste between an apple shipped in from California mid Spring and the small, red delicious apple from Calvert Farms in October. It's an experience with any fresh veggie or fruit you must try at least once in your life, even if you just grow a little pot of your own fresh herbs.
CSA is a good idea for a few obvious reasons:
-supports your local farms by keeping them in business
-keeps you and your family eating nutritious foods
-tastier and fresher than anything in the supermarket
-some CSA's even deliver to private homes for a fee
A few more things to consider:
-organic, fresh food goes bad quickly so you have to know how to prepare them quickly, or cook them and freeze them for future use. This is where canning or preserving skills could come in handy.
-the summer subscription at Calvert Farms is $450. A $50 non-refundable reservation fee and $400 for the food. ($20 a week x 20 weeks) See registration form.
-Get into a subscription with a like-minded friend or family. You can split the cost and still get tons of fruits and veggies at half the price.
-do your research on the fruits and veggies and have some recipes ready. This way you will be able to quickly saute or grill something or tackle a more involved recipe if you have the time.
-subscriptions are popular and fill fast. For summer subscriptions the farm starts taking reservations in March.
Here is some more helpful information if you are considering becoming a subscriber or a shareholder in a local CSA farm:
http://www.localharvest.org/csa/Calvert Farm Subscription Form and info:
http://calvertfarm.com/csa_app.htm
