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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