Tell me about your CSA experience

[elizabethkott]

I'm thinking of joining a local CSA. Cost is $550 for 26 weeks of veggies and $140 for 16 weeks of fruit.
Have you been able to use your veggies/store in a frozen form of some sort? Has it ever been an overwhelming amount of food?
They don't do 1/2 shares, but you can split a share on your own, so I suppose that's an option. I think my babysitter would be willing to do a split...
Any info you have on your own experience would be welcomed!!!

[hellokitty]

Ours was not a positive experience, but I think it's b/c the CSA was not well run. We paid $20 a wk for veggies and it really did not seem like a good deal. Yes, they were organic, but a lot of times they were just not in very good shape. I also had to meet the woman (we actually know them through our church) on campus and she would park in faculty parking, and I couldn't park there. So, I would have to park in student parking, and get my kids out and lug them through a ditch to cross over to the faculty lot. I think my experience is one of those freak bad experiences. They are no longer doing the CSA, just a farmer's market type of thing, so obviously I must not have been the only one unhappy, b/c I am sure that if they had enough clients, they'd still be doing their CSA.

[wellyes]

I disliked my CSA, I got mostly veggies I couldn't identify and I'm not really adventurous enough to work with that. But this is 3-4 years back and it was a bad summer, not the farmer's fault that I got very little in terms of what I really wanted - tomatoes, basil, salad greens, any kind of fruit, etc. Plus, I had it delivered into the city and the stuff would sometimes get wilted by the time I got it.

The guy who ran it was great, he'd send an email each week explaining our items (not that that helped, my knowledge of root vegetables is limited to potatoes basically) and the farm conditions. He was extremely apologetic - but really, CSA is a risk, a bad year for the farm means a bad year for you and that is not the farmer's fault.

Friends of ours have a great CSA - they go directly to the farm to pickup, plus their CSA includes free flower picking at the farm which I think sounds awesome.

In retrospect I would not invest unless I was able to visit the farm personally.

[WatchingThemGrow]

Ours is great! I think this will be our 4th summer with this farm. I found it through a mom posting on CL. She lived too far and was having a second baby in Aug, so she found it difficult to go pick it up 40min from her house every week with a toddler in tow. Makes total sense to me! She sold if for $85/11 remaining weeks. It was a total steal b/c it also came with a cookbook put together by the farm. It was a gamble that year, but I had no expectations or what *I* wanted to be in the box. If you want certain items and certain items only, you need to go to the market and buy exactly what you want. If you're able to go with the flow and try some new things, the CSA is for you. It was the right amount of food for us, maybe a little more herbs and onions than we would use, but that's fine.

Reasons I like ours:
CONVENIENCE -
1. Pickup has been really, really close to DH's work. Every Wed. for 22 weeks, he'd stop there on his way home. She sends an email reminder. He turns in the empty box when he gets a new one. THIS SUMMER, my farmer lady (who has 6 grown kids and a PhD) is being SOOOOO kind. She passes my house on the way to the market near DH's work, so she is dropping off boxes for us and for 8 neighbors/friends ON MY FRONT PORCH!!! Now we'll get to have playdates with friends every week AND get our veggies a few hours early. If your pickup is not easy, consider how you're going to like doing it weekly for 5 mos.
2. Meal Planning is the best! Our practical, smart farmer mama plans out how we can use up all the items in our box. For me, this is the best thing ever. Truly, I use this as my base and throw in some kid food to supplement. We've enjoyed OAMC also in recent months, so I may do a couple of those each week as well. Here is a sample of the paper we get (http://sfc.smallfarmcentral.com/dynamic_content/uploadfiles/292/example%20meal%20plans.pdf) each week that tells the contents, meal plan, and a shopping list for what to buy to finish making the meals! How can one NOT love this? I seriously circle the items needed, write down a few other groceries and head to the store - or order a batch of groceries for DH to pick up at the drivethrough grocery.
3. Her cookbook - She has Kinkos print up a cookbook each year with recipes she's tried and gotten feedback from . They're mostly online, so you can go back to those websites and find more if you like ones from a certain site. I stick the cookbook in a yellow 3prong folder and it stays out on my counter all summer, with the meal plan taped to the cabinet or fridge. All I have to do is walk in and follow the directions. Sometimes I've had to google the contents or ask here to figure out what something was, but that's part of the fun.
4. Ours includes a farm tour/visits but we've not done it yet (seems like I was alway pg and not interested.) This spring we will visit.

Things that may make it not for you:
-a bad pickup scenario
-not being willing to try new things (or a DH like this)
-not having the supplies or patience to wash/chop the produce
-no meal-planning or ideas about what to do with it
-wanting the rock-bottom price for food, period. Ours is organic, plus it is already selected, bunched, bagged, paid for and delivered. That HUGE in my book as that would take me hours each week to go to the store, do all that, THEN sit down to plan. yuk. I'm willing to pay $21/week for all that plus the box of food.

[Twoboos]

We're signed up for our first one. So I'm happy/nervous!! I wish they would give recipes, that would ROCK! I usually need a little help figuring out what to do with stuff.

We will pick up right at the farm in the next town. We only got a half share, so we'll see how it goes. It's fruit/veg.

[mctlaw]

I'm thinking about signing up for one, so I am curious to see the responses, too. It seems the ones I have searched for this area, a 1/2 share seems to refer to less weeks of produce, not less produce work weeks.

The one I am looking at is $230 for 9 weeks or $440 for 18 weeks. It advertises that it comes with a newsletter with recipe suggestions.

[Seitvonzu]

we loved our CSA last year. it was fun to go out to the farm each week with lucy and pick up our fruits and veggies! we bought a full share last year because while the farm we chose DID have 1/2 shares-- the half share was only picked up every other week and i was afraid we would miss certain things that weren't always available (carrots, brocolli, sugar peas-- things that only happened a couple times and we could have missed them altogether). this year, for a little extra, you can get a "weekly" half share-- which you still can pick up every week , but it's less food. we had WAY too much last year (especially when we had several weeks in a row of a dozen corn.... i'm diabetic, so i'm not supposed to have too much corn and my husband doesn't like to eat more than one ear at a time, etc) we also let a few melons go bad because we couldn't get to them in time-- so when they told me "you might not get a melon with the half share" i was totally fine with that. one melon a year would be fine with me :)

oh-- and last year was a "bad" year apparently. i didn't feel cheated at all. strawberries, for example, were "less." we actually go pick our own strawberries to make jam anyhow...so i don't know what i would have done with MORE strawberries!!!! (we got quarts and quarts and then did the picking) the reason we chose this farm over the organic one in the first place was because they have a good mix of fruits and veggies and most of the things they put in the shares are pretty traditional-- peas, asparagus, spinach, salad greens, garlic, apples, squash (yellow, zuchinni, patty pan, acorn), CORN (this farm is HUGE on corn and it's delicious!) , peppers-- you know, NORMAL stuff. :) there is a good variety and they coop to do apples in the fall (and they have strawberries and melons too). it's just a good mix.

the farm isn't super close, but we enjoy the drive out there. we go around 11amish and drive home eating raw green beans or brocolli or berries. she would try anything right out of the box! its a nice time with my girl :)

the main benefit to me was realized AFTER the season was over. all of a sudden- i had to start going to the grocery store again. during the "season" i was getting my meat at the farmer's market (or sausage at the dairy) and my dairy (milk/eggs/yogurt/cheese) at a local ice cream dairy and my produce from the CSA box (with a few supplements here and there for "normal" stuff that wasn't in my box). i hardly EVER went to the grocery store! it was FANTASTIC!!! i say this as a person who used to love grocery shopping. i would get a special thrill when my meals were "more local" -- i just loved that i could make entire dinners that were sourced within 10-20 miles! neato :) if simple HAD to get a grocery item, i could send dh on the way home from work. it was just really magical :)

i need to send in my check. i missed the "early" spring share already by futzing around. :) i think i'll write that out today!

[ewpmsw]

We were happy enough with our fruit-berry CSA last season to enroll again this year. We received a few non-fruit items, which were all yummy and in good shape. The berries, apples, pears, melons, etc. were all delicious and worth the price and awkward pick-up. Our CSA is pretty new and hasn't reached organic status yet (more time needed and hoops to jump through). It's very well-run by a family who has other very well-established farms in the area. We went in on a share with two other couples last year and had enough for DH and I to enjoy each week. Now that DD is going to be enjoying the fruit as well, we're going in with just one other family and alternating weeks. The shares were huge last year, so we're anticipating sharing and freezing our haul this time. So ready for some strawberries and raspberries! Mmmmmmm... (They were so much better than anything I've ever tasted from the store!)

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

We do a co-op, Bountiful Baskets. We can but one week, and not the next so no commitment. I like it. I have considered the CSA, but I am a food commitment phob apparently.

[elizabethkott]

The one I'm looking at does have a really easy pick up location in my town, and does offer the farm tours in the spring, which I think J would really love. They also have the weekly email newsletter with recipies that involve all the produce from that week, so that's a major plus.
DH is the one having "food commitment issues", and he's the one who is really really picky... I'm feeling like if I make the commitment, it will really force me to actually eat better, as opposed to my "oh, we'll just wander down to the dock for the farmer's market on saturday and pick up our produce there" which never actually happens in reality.
Thanks for all the replies so far... I think I just have to convince DH! :)

[WatchingThemGrow]

Sounds like yours is a more "complete" one as well. IKWYM about wandering down to the farmer's market not really happening as often as you'd like. Even though DH picked up on Wed. near his office previously, we have a FM on Saturday mornings right by house. I can literally see the people setting up the tents, but getting over there with DC in tow weekly is another story.

[Pepper]

I love our CSA too. It's a co-op, so they work with many different farms in the area - each week the buyer calls around to see what's available. We had a lot of variety last summer, even with the terrible rain. In addition to veggie shares they offer fruit, cheese, herbs, and flowers, plus optional extra orders in the fall and early winter for root-cellar type vegetables, honey, and maple syrup.

In addition to a weekly newsletter with ideas for using the items, our CSA has a blog with recipes contributed by the membership:
http://blog.farmdirectcoop.org/

[gobadgers]

Last year was our first year subscribing to a CSA, and we loved it. We had a newborn and I'm sure we ate 100% healthier than we would have otherwise - because we had that nice box of veggies/fruits waiting for us every week. I really liked taking quick breaks from the craziness to cook with our fresh produce!

There were some unrecognizable things in our box, some of which were good. I'd never had swiss chard before - loved it! Baked it into everything! Green garlic, some fun mushrooms were great too. Could have done without the celeriac, kohlrabi, etc... but after the fact I'm glad to have tried them anyway. Only very occasionally was I disappointed at the quality or quantity (for instance, we didn't get any corn, and I had a couple bruised tomatoes).

I think it takes a certain mindset, to be able to enjoy taking a random box of produce and cook for your family for the week with it. We did get 1-2 day's notice of what would be included, but that's not much. I talked to my mom about it, who is pretty passionate about eating local and healthy, but we both decided that she would not enjoy a CSA. She needs to go to the market, see/smell/feel everything and choose things for herself (maybe a control issue :ROTFLMAO:).

I decided that we would not subscribe again because I plan on hitting the farmer's market this year. I may still buckle. We loved it.

[jent]

Our CSA becomes another weekly activity for us. We go to the farm for pickup, and members are welcome to wander around the farm. There are PYO areas of fruit and vegetables, and also we're allowed to take 1 bunch of flowers from the farm. The farmer keeps chickens and pigs (though unfortunately we don't get a share in that) and DD loved going to pay them a visit.

The thing that is really great about our CSA was that they allow for some choice in what you bring home. They have several tables of stuff, and each week they'd leave instructions for what we could take, eg 1 bagful from table A, 1 bag salad greens, 1 bag cooking greens. So you weren't stuck with say, turnips, if you hated them-- just take more carrots.

They also have a weekly newsletter that would usually feature one recipe using a few of the week's veggies, and their website has a ton of recipes, indexed by vegetables.


I'm feeling like if I make the commitment, it will really force me to actually eat better, as opposed to my "oh, we'll just wander down to the dock for the farmer's market on saturday and pick up our produce there" which never actually happens in reality.

I found this to be true for us. It's a lot of veggies, but with some meal planning, we usually ate it all in a week. Last summer, I managed to get into a good routine of going to the farm on Sat am, making a weekly meal plan later in the day, then doing the regular grocery shopping on Sunday to round out our ingredients. Sometimes we would freeze some things-- not a huge amount, though. Some people buy more (either 2 shares, or our farm sells some additional produce in bulk) just so they can freeze for the rest of the year.

It is true that the amount varies year to year-- this year we lost most of the tomatoes due to a tomato blight :(.

[corrie23]

This will be our 6th CSA season, and in all we've worked with 3 different farms. The first farm that we worked with was run by a very nice older couple who had limited experience. We picked up each week AT the farm. They would put the produce on a long table with instructions for how much to take of what, but you were selecting your own items. Most weeks they offered some sort of "you pick" option for an item that was more labor-intensive to pick in addition to the weekly share, e.g. beans, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, etc. I only had one child at the time who was around 2.5 yrs. and it was nice to take her to the farm to learn about how things grow and to have her pick veggies each week. We also brought compostables to the farm weekly and could help ourselves to finished compost as we desired so that helped her learn about that cycle too. The quality/quantity/size/variety of the vegges was okay. Not comparable to what you'd see in a Whole Foods or the like, but by the end of the season, we had enjoyed a nice variety of items and my willingness to linger at the farm and supplement our share by picking items helped round things out.

The next year we decided to try a different farm because I had a newborn and didn't want to drive an hour round trip to pickup and knew we wouldn't be able to hang out and pick much at the farm. The other CSA had a weekend pickup option so DH could go with DD#1 while I stayed home with the baby. This experience was disappointing. It was run by a family of four without additional assistance and their lack of experience showed when the entire crop of staple veggies like cuces and summer squash were lost and there was not a single one to be had. I remember receiving A LOT of spring onions, peppers, and potatoes throughout the season. I made so much pepper jelly, we still have some in the basement 4 years later. On the plus side, they offered a free canning "workshop" where I learned how to can tomatoes (and thus the basics behind canning/preserving).

Year #3 we returned to the first farm, but they had made some changes. They now had their pickup point about a mile away from the main growing farm. There was a "you pick" herb garden, but otherwise there was only one you pick opportunity throughout the season. The pickup farm did have goats, sheep, and chickens which the girls enjoyed visiting/feeding and we did try to make the most of the you pick herbs (I made/froze a ton of pesto). By this time though, the farm was selling at 3 weekly farmer's markets and had restaurant clients. It seemed like the shareholders got whatever was left AFTER their other clients were served, and I didn't like that. Again, the produce quality was fine but not spectacular. I documented/photographed what we got on the blog I kept at the time, if you want to see http://crunchyparent.com/?cat=11 Keep in mind though that fresh herbs pictured were the you pick that we opted to get. To get a truer sense of what we received week to week, imagine the photos without the herbs :)

The past 2 years we have been with a very large/experienced CSA-really one of the founding farms of the CSA movement in the USA. http://www.angelicorganics.com/ They are an organic/biodynamic farm and have something like 1200 shareholders in the area They only do a CSA, no markets or restaurants. They also run an educational center to promote small farming in rural and city areas. The downside is that the farm is about 2 hrs away, thus we just pickup at a dropoff site close to us, so we don't get the full farm experience, but they do run open houses twice/season. The quantity/quality/variety of produce is excellent, as good as anything you'd find at Whole Foods. They really have things down to a science so we don't get an abundance of any one thing in a given week and they spread common things really well throughout the season (like we get lettuce almost every week all season vs. a ton of lettuce the first several weeks and then nothing the rest of the season). The farm also has a great cookbook http://www.amazon.com/Farmer-Johns-Cookbook-Real-Vegetables/dp/1423600142/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269133860&sr=8-1 that they give to all new shareholders to help guide us through the season. (There's a movie about our farm/farmer too, but I haven't seen it http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/realdirt/). We also get a weekly newsletter and they have a nice blog as well. We have a 20 week share that we extend an additional 4 weeks with an optional winter share. The first year we also tried a fruit share (that came every other week). The fruit share was not grown by them though, just sourced from other organic farms throughout the country. I wasn't impressed by the quality/value of the fruit share so we didn't do it again. We found a you-pick organic fruit "farm" about 2.5 hrs. from us and made a couple pilgrimages last summer for bulk strawberry and blueberry picking (they also offer rasp. and blackberry) and ate/froze/preserved/baked en masse. I also keep an eye out for organic fruit sales at local grocery stores and stock up then on things like plums, peaches, strawberries, cherries, etc., and we planted some strawberry plants and blueberry bushes here at home. We got a couple strawberries/day for several months, and that was enough to keep the girls happy-hoping for more this year. I am very pleased with the value we receive veggie-wise although I do sort of miss the adventure of having a ton of a given item and needing/being able to do large batch cooking/preserving (if I want to do this, I supplement at the Farmer's Mkt. which is a block from our pickup site)...to compare to the other farm, here are some sample weeks of our share (forgive my horrible linking skills) Late June: http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b13/mamatoto2/CSA%20veggies/IMG_3018.jpg Late July:http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b13/mamatoto2/CSA%20veggies/DSCN3465.jpg Early Aug: http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b13/mamatoto2/CSA%20veggies/IMG_3094.jpg Late Oct: http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b13/mamatoto2/CSA%20veggies/IMG_3270.jpg


To speak to your other questions...most farms have some sort of "swap box" where you can trade out something that you don't like/need for something that you do. It's no guarantee, but can help avoid you ending up with items that you won't use. From my experience, you'll also be forced to discover new recipes over time to use these "foreign" ingredients, and once you hit on one you love, you'll be looking forward to all those beets, kohlrabi, chard, turnips, etc. that you once feared. I typically make batches of muffins (zucchini, carrot, berry, etc.) and freeze those for the kids to eat as snacks throughout the year. I also make big batches of soups that feature common CSA veggies and freeze those to eat throughout the colder months (lentil/kale, a borscht that features about 8 different farm veggies, minnestrone, etc.). I make huge batches of nut/dairy-free pesto and freeze that in ice cube trays and then bag the cubes for easy portions to have on-hand whenever. I make/freeze tomato sauce, I've done pumpkin butter, refrigerator pickles (with cuces or zucchini), I've also canned fruit jam, dill pickles, dilly beans, salsa, applesauce, and tomatoes. In many cases I've needed to seek out extra produce to make freezing/canning worthwhile but occasionally our regular share provides plenty of something to make batches of "stuff," especially soups/muffins that don't use a TON of any one ingredient.

In all, I think that the CSA model is excellent and well worth supporting, but there is a vast continuum of experience, quality, variety, convenience, and commitment from one program to the next. For the prices you've quoted, I'd give it a try and then you'll have a reference point to work from into the future.

Good luck and enjoy!

[WitMom]

A thread highjack- can you tell me how I would go about finding a CSA in my area?

[elizabethkott]

A thread highjack- can you tell me how I would go about finding a CSA in my area?

http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

Corrie - wow! You're like a CSA vet!!! :D
All this info is very encouraging. I'm totally going to do it. :D
My DH can go suck some kale. I'm sure he'll have plenty of opportunity over the summer!!!

[sadie427]

We love our CSA, too. It's year-round, because they do some trading with other organic farms, so some of it's not local but it's all organic. There's a website, you get an email every week reminding you to log into your account and change your order if you want--I think you can substitute up to 3 things, and also request that certain things be automatically get removed/swapped (e.g. you can say I do not like turnips, and you will never get turnips!) There's a yearly party w/ a pig roast on the farm, which is great, but otherwise you don't go to the farm, there are local pickup sites. Everything is good quality and they do suggest recipes. CSA's vary widely--the one we belong to is a larger, a bit more commercialized one, but it works for us and you might spend some time looking around for one that fits for you. We really do eat more veggies because we get them every week, and it's kind of a relief that I don't have to make up my shopping list totally from scratch, because I will always have some veggies and fruits.

[jgenie]

What a great post!!! Thanks for taking the time to share. Any chance we'll be seeing some of your recipes in the "what's cooking" forum? ;)



This will be our 6th CSA season, and in all we've worked with 3 different farms. The first farm that we worked with was run by a very nice older couple who had limited experience. We picked up each week AT the farm. They would put the produce on a long table with instructions for how much to take of what, but you were selecting your own items. Most weeks they offered some sort of "you pick" option for an item that was more labor-intensive to pick in addition to the weekly share, e.g. beans, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, etc. I only had one child at the time who was around 2.5 yrs. and it was nice to take her to the farm to learn about how things grow and to have her pick veggies each week. We also brought compostables to the farm weekly and could help ourselves to finished compost as we desired so that helped her learn about that cycle too. The quality/quantity/size/variety of the vegges was okay. Not comparable to what you'd see in a Whole Foods or the like, but by the end of the season, we had enjoyed a nice variety of items and my willingness to linger at the farm and supplement our share by picking items helped round things out.

The next year we decided to try a different farm because I had a newborn and didn't want to drive an hour round trip to pickup and knew we wouldn't be able to hang out and pick much at the farm. The other CSA had a weekend pickup option so DH could go with DD#1 while I stayed home with the baby. This experience was disappointing. It was run by a family of four without additional assistance and their lack of experience showed when the entire crop of staple veggies like cuces and summer squash were lost and there was not a single one to be had. I remember receiving A LOT of spring onions, peppers, and potatoes throughout the season. I made so much pepper jelly, we still have some in the basement 4 years later. On the plus side, they offered a free canning "workshop" where I learned how to can tomatoes (and thus the basics behind canning/preserving).

Year #3 we returned to the first farm, but they had made some changes. They now had their pickup point about a mile away from the main growing farm. There was a "you pick" herb garden, but otherwise there was only one you pick opportunity throughout the season. The pickup farm did have goats, sheep, and chickens which the girls enjoyed visiting/feeding and we did try to make the most of the you pick herbs (I made/froze a ton of pesto). By this time though, the farm was selling at 3 weekly farmer's markets and had restaurant clients. It seemed like the shareholders got whatever was left AFTER their other clients were served, and I didn't like that. Again, the produce quality was fine but not spectacular. I documented/photographed what we got on the blog I kept at the time, if you want to see http://crunchyparent.com/?cat=11 Keep in mind though that fresh herbs pictured were the you pick that we opted to get. To get a truer sense of what we received week to week, imagine the photos without the herbs :)

The past 2 years we have been with a very large/experienced CSA-really one of the founding farms of the CSA movement in the USA. http://www.angelicorganics.com/ They are an organic/biodynamic farm and have something like 1200 shareholders in the area They only do a CSA, no markets or restaurants. They also run an educational center to promote small farming in rural and city areas. The downside is that the farm is about 2 hrs away, thus we just pickup at a dropoff site close to us, so we don't get the full farm experience, but they do run open houses twice/season. The quantity/quality/variety of produce is excellent, as good as anything you'd find at Whole Foods. They really have things down to a science so we don't get an abundance of any one thing in a given week and they spread common things really well throughout the season (like we get lettuce almost every week all season vs. a ton of lettuce the first several weeks and then nothing the rest of the season). The farm also has a great cookbook http://www.amazon.com/Farmer-Johns-Cookbook-Real-Vegetables/dp/1423600142/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269133860&sr=8-1 that they give to all new shareholders to help guide us through the season. (There's a movie about our farm/farmer too, but I haven't seen it http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/realdirt/). We also get a weekly newsletter and they have a nice blog as well. We have a 20 week share that we extend an additional 4 weeks with an optional winter share. The first year we also tried a fruit share (that came every other week). The fruit share was not grown by them though, just sourced from other organic farms throughout the country. I wasn't impressed by the quality/value of the fruit share so we didn't do it again. We found a you-pick organic fruit "farm" about 2.5 hrs. from us and made a couple pilgrimages last summer for bulk strawberry and blueberry picking (they also offer rasp. and blackberry) and ate/froze/preserved/baked en masse. I also keep an eye out for organic fruit sales at local grocery stores and stock up then on things like plums, peaches, strawberries, cherries, etc., and we planted some strawberry plants and blueberry bushes here at home. We got a couple strawberries/day for several months, and that was enough to keep the girls happy-hoping for more this year. I am very pleased with the value we receive veggie-wise although I do sort of miss the adventure of having a ton of a given item and needing/being able to do large batch cooking/preserving (if I want to do this, I supplement at the Farmer's Mkt. which is a block from our pickup site)...to compare to the other farm, here are some sample weeks of our share (forgive my horrible linking skills) Late June: http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b13/mamatoto2/CSA%20veggies/IMG_3018.jpg Late July:http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b13/mamatoto2/CSA%20veggies/DSCN3465.jpg Early Aug: http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b13/mamatoto2/CSA%20veggies/IMG_3094.jpg Late Oct: http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b13/mamatoto2/CSA%20veggies/IMG_3270.jpg


To speak to your other questions...most farms have some sort of "swap box" where you can trade out something that you don't like/need for something that you do. It's no guarantee, but can help avoid you ending up with items that you won't use. From my experience, you'll also be forced to discover new recipes over time to use these "foreign" ingredients, and once you hit on one you love, you'll be looking forward to all those beets, kohlrabi, chard, turnips, etc. that you once feared. I typically make batches of muffins (zucchini, carrot, berry, etc.) and freeze those for the kids to eat as snacks throughout the year. I also make big batches of soups that feature common CSA veggies and freeze those to eat throughout the colder months (lentil/kale, a borscht that features about 8 different farm veggies, minnestrone, etc.). I make huge batches of nut/dairy-free pesto and freeze that in ice cube trays and then bag the cubes for easy portions to have on-hand whenever. I make/freeze tomato sauce, I've done pumpkin butter, refrigerator pickles (with cuces or zucchini), I've also canned fruit jam, dill pickles, dilly beans, salsa, applesauce, and tomatoes. In many cases I've needed to seek out extra produce to make freezing/canning worthwhile but occasionally our regular share provides plenty of something to make batches of "stuff," especially soups/muffins that don't use a TON of any one ingredient.

In all, I think that the CSA model is excellent and well worth supporting, but there is a vast continuum of experience, quality, variety, convenience, and commitment from one program to the next. For the prices you've quoted, I'd give it a try and then you'll have a reference point to work from into the future.

Good luck and enjoy!