I mentioned recently that it's time to sign up for 2009 CSAs. This goes for most winter CSAs as well. While we are certainly signing up for another summer share, we've decided to pass on the winter share. The first month was amazing, but the rest of them have been like this (only with cabbage). We haven't made the best use of our share and have thrown out more gone-by produce than I care to admit. The sad fact is, I just can't handle so many root vegetables. (My Scandinavian and Irish ancestors are now rolling over in their graves.)
Where we live, nothing else is available locally in the winter, so other than the fresh lettuce for our salads and the occasionally indulgence of imported fruit, we've been relying on frozen vegetables. Some are summer share surplus that we froze for exactly this purpose; others are bags that we've purchased at our local grocery store. Frozen seems to work well for us. While I feel bad about the food we've wasted from the winter CSA, we've learned an important lesson - a winter CSA is just not for us. (Now, I'd be singing a different tune if we lived in say, California, and a winter share included fresh citrus and greens - but alas, we live in a land of thrice-weekly blizzards.)
So the plan for this year is to sign up for our summer share - once again, a small share from Luna Bleu Farm - and to take the money that would go for a winter share and designate it for farmer's market purchases. That way, when our favorites like kale and spinach are in abundance, we can buy a lot and immediately freeze it for winter use.
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4 comments:
Sarah....you need to remember, your very own yard produces a lot of produce. All you need to do is pick whatever you want. Organically grown. Seed ordering is just a few weeks away....make suggestions.
Hi Sarah, Your previous CSA post was the final incentive that actually got us researching CSAs. I was thinking we'd just sign up for the summer one to start, so your experience with the winter variety is good to know. We looked at Luna Bleu since it looked like you'd gotten great stuff from them, but decided we are going to go with Cedar Circle Farm becuase it is literally just a few miles down the road from us and we can pick up the weekly box (which includes flowers!) on any of three weekdays between 3 and 6. I am very excited! We'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for helping to motivate us.
That's great, Amanda! I checked the Cedar Circle Farm site and their CSA looks so nice. If I could improve the Luna Bleu CSA, I would have them add fruit - they don't grow any (other than tomatoes).
Holly, you're so sweet! The two things I can think of are greens and cantaloupe. I just can't get enough greens - especially kale and chard. And I would love, love, love to have cantaloupe in the yard.
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