We are halfway through the Vegan Month of Food!
Today is the weekly pick-up day for our Community Supported Agriculture box. If you are not familiar with how CSA works, you pay a local farmer at the beginning of the season, and then receive a box of fresh produce every week (or every other week, or however your farm's plan works). Today's box includes turnip greens, tatsoi, bell peppers, eggplant (read: more caponata), arugula, sweet potatoes, zucchini, butternut squash, radishes and tomatoes.
CSA is a great way to support local farmers, and to eat in a local/seasonal way that does not involve shipping food around the world. The cost is very reasonable when you consider the amount of produce you receive over the year, and the quality. Our CSA, Delvin Farms, offers both a regular season (May - October) and a Nov-Dec extension for those who want the kale, sweet potatoes, and winter squash to keep flowing through the holidays. I am always excited to see what vegetables, fruit, and herbs each week will bring. It can be a challenge to use (or preserve) everything, but it prompts me to try new recipes and helps to ensure we eat lots of fresh vegetables. We split our box with the neighbors which also helps. If one household is unified in dislike of a vegetable, the other household can take it.
If you are in the greater Nashville area, you can find information on local CSAs here. Asheville area readers can look here. For the rest of you, google should do it.
3 comments:
You have to make the butternut squash soup I posted about today, let me know if you want it and I'll give you the recipe. It's really basic, but the caramelized roasted seeds are soooOOo good.
We don't have a CSA down here, big surprise. But even if we did, I doubt we'd be able to get a share unless we split it with a few people. Unfortunately, I tend to let produce rot in the fridge. I know!
xo
kittee
CSAs are awesome! I have less & less time to get to the Farmers Market these days & I'm debating signing up for one.
Melisser,
It's really great. We're on our fourth year with Delvin Farms. As long as you have other people around who can use the occasional overdose of eggplant or whatever, it works out fine. Most of the local CSAs give any boxes that aren't picked up (e.g., by people who are out of town) to the local food bank. I could go on... It's a good thing!
Post a Comment