Community Supported Agriculture

The wonderful world of CSA! 

Leaving NYC and heading to the suburbs has its perks such as joining a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). This a program that lasts from mid May through the middle of November, so approximately 26 or so weeks, and by paying for a share you are entitled to an abundance of fresh produce!

The farm that we belong to is organic, which is a huge plus, and they offer individual and family shares at different prices. I think we paid just under $400 for an individual share but we are only halfway through the season and have already made our money back! Yes, I am keeping a spreadsheet of what we get each week and average non-organic prices at the grocery store, so I can honestly say we have gotten our money's worth and then some!!

Here is what we got this week:

Amazing right! And this is just an individual share, a family share is DOUBLE that amount!

Ok here is the breakdown:

- 1 watermelon 

- 1 quart of raspberries

- 1 quart of snap beans

- 1 lb potatoes (red or white)

- 1 lb onions

- 2 lbs heirloom tomatoes

- 2 quarts plum/stewing tomatoes

- 1 quart tomatillos

- 1/2 lb grape tomatoes

- 3 lbs slicing (beefsteak) tomatoes

- 1 garlic 

- 1 zucchini 

- small bunches of thyme, oregano, sage (they have other but this is just what I needed this week)

- 1 bunch cilantro

- 1/2 pint ground cherries 

- 1 pint soybeans (edamame)

- 1 pint yellow cherry tomatoes

- 30 stems of fresh flowers (shown as an arrangement at the bottom of this page)

- 1/2 lb Swiss chard

- 1 bunch if kale

- 4 Italian sweet peppers

Yea, that's a lot!

Last week we got 5 lbs of heirloom tomatoes and I made this delicious heirloom tomato soup, don't worry, that will be the next recipe I blog about, it is just so good!

Our CSA does require some work on our part. We have to pick our own amounts of certain produce. This week we had to pick the berries, edamame, tomatillos, plum tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, snap beans, herbs, ground cherries, and the flowers. This took H and I just under an hour and a half but well worth the effort.

We were also supposed to get 15 hot peppers and sunflowers this week but they were over picked and unfortunately we got there too late. But I already have a ton of hot peppers frozen from previous weeks so it wasn't a big deal.

Even though it is some work on our part it is a great way to get outside on a beautiful day and do something different. The work is worth it because everything is just so full of flavor. You can't get produce any fresher than picking it yourself!

There are farms all over the country that participates in a CSA type program. Check your local produces farms or online here to find a farm near you!

Happy Picking!

JP