Community supported agriculture is a direct farmer-to-consumer pathway to receive farm fresh foods. These foods are raised in an organic, sustainable environment and raised locally; the three various tiers that are touted as eating green. This relationship cut out the middle man, and gets you food from a farm you know and trust when food is most ripe, and not sitting on a truck for days during transport. Moreover, as a share owner, you are buying into small family farms that have struggled (and many collapsed) since the overgrowth of industrial farms.
Last night as I was lying in bed and wasting time before actually falling asleep, when I checked out the top NYT news stories on my phone when I came across this. In March, Chris and I loosely discussed getting a farm share, but for financial reasons we only got through the inquiry stage. (You must pay for the share in it’s entirety up front, not know how much or necessarily what you will receive). But back in May , David, Chris and I bought into a full farm share at Easy Bean Farm, located in Milan, Minnesota.
The good folks at Easy Bean Farm suggest that a full share of veggies is enough to feed a family of four vegetarians each week. Being that none of us are vegetarians this is more than enough food. (Despite the portrayal of my eating habits on this blog, I try not to eat copious amounts of meat throughout the week.) For $490 for the full share that lasts approximately eighteen weeks. Not only do we get organic vegetables and herbs, but the cost also includes transportation from the farm to a drop-off/pick-up point in your area.
Some of the goodies we have received thus far include a variety of lettuces, spinach, cabbage, pok choi, spring mix, broccoli, radishes, green onions, broccoli raab, summer squash, and kohlrabi (or “alien plant” as I juveniley like to call it). Granted, some of these items I had no idea what to do with other than eat them raw or mixed in a salad, but I find that to be one of the most fun parts of getting all of these vegetables; it allows/forces you to be creative with the items that you receive. You get to cook with new ingredients that you may not have bought, but only seem at farmer’s market (kohlrabi). Also, we get a weekly newsletter with each delivery describing what is going on at the farm, what to expect in the coming weeks as well as a few recipes pertaining to your new delivery.
There are many benefits to becoming a member of a C.S.A. My favorites include buying locally, buying organic (On the cheap – the three of us pay $9/week!), buying in to a sustainable farm, and helping maintain small farms that have a purpose. All of these reasons contribute to the rich taste of the vegetables that we receive in our box every week. I know that the best broccoli I’ve eaten came from Minnesota, and not the Salinas Valley crops of California. The small price we paid up front does not equate to the benefits we receive, it surpasses them.
I’m really interested to see how different CSAs in Minneapolis shake out. This is our first year with ours, and I wish there were a better resource to find out about a particular CSA before you bought in.
This is the first year I have done it as well, so it’s all new and kind of exciting each week to get our box. The farm share we bought in to has had both a good and rough year; they are able to give us a lot of salad mixes, way too much pok choi, but things like radishes and beans have been lackluster due to little rain and pesky deer.