Sniffle sniffle. I’m mourning the end of our CSA season. We picked up our last box of goodies on Sunday.
I remember last winter when I said to the Mister, “Hey, I have this idea, and you’re probably going to think I’m nuts.” I explained to him the CSA concept and how I thought it would be a great way for us to eat local and healthy, and branch out in our food choices. And, to my surprise, he was pretty much supportive right off the bat.
Through the last 20 weeks, we’ve been mostly happy with our decision. We’ve been exposed to dozens of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and other goodies, a great many of which were new to us. Sure, we’ve had the frustrating nights where we just didn’t want to deal with preparing more veggies and would rather order pizza. But most of the time, we pushed through and were grateful on the other end that we’re fortunate to have a fresh and nutritious meal on the table.
I said to the Mister a few weeks ago, “It will be interesting to see if we decide to do this again next year.” And he nearly scolded me. “Of course we’re going to do it again!” There you have it, world: our commitment to be CSA-ers again.
I highly recommend you look into the CSA option in your community. Ours cost $400 for 20 (actually 21) weeks of produce (we get a “half share;” you can get twice as much per week if you’re a giant family or a veg-aholic). It may seem like a lot of money, but really, I think $20/week is reasonable for this much organic/naturally grown produce (obviously your grocery store bill goes down as a result).
Well, here it is folks. Our last haul of the season: collard greens, decorative Indian corn, green peppers, turnips, apples, butternut squash, onion, sweet potatoes, white potatoes.
The meal plan this week is not really concrete. I’ve gotten kind of annoyed with Sundays: the planning, prepping/cleaning, putting away veggies, plus the extra grocery shopping (not to mention cooking/baking and dishes). This week I revolted and said “no, we’ll fly by the seat of our pants.” So I guess this repreive is just in the nick of time.
It’s back to boring old meal planning next week (yay!) and grocery store produce (boo!). However, I’m sure I’ll hit up the last few weeks of the farmers’ market to get my fix in before it’s no longer an option. You should too!
:( I feel your pain. We added a Fall share, and though it just started, I know it will end Thanksgiving week and I will be bereft for 6 months until we start back up in May. I do put my CSA stuff up, however, so each week we will end up eating *something* from our farm share.
But it will be with some sadness that I start cruising the sale/marked-down produce at the store. If you’ve still got the turnips, the Washington Post has a tasty Silken Turnip Soup recipe that my whole family enjoys.
Our freezer is packed. If we lived in a house instead of an apartment, I’d have a second freezer and I’d be canning, etc. Someday…
I’ll have to check out the soup for sure. Thanks for the tip!
Indian corn! So cool. We are so lucky that our CSA runs all year. We’re just moving into some of the really good stuff now.
That must be nice. Temperate climates are not something I’m used to, being from Minnesota. Everything dies and we all go into hibernation. Delaware’s quite a bit milder.
Sorry to hear that this will be your last haul…come and link up at this week’s link party when you get a chance…http://inherchucks.com/2012/10/17/2750/. Looking forward to seeing you there!