It’s my second year taking part during a community supported agriculture program, and I am hooked!
Last year, I loved my CSA therefore abundant that I joined 2 this year! I’m splitting them with an admirer I apprehend who was additionally interested, and I’m glad I did, as a result of although I like vegetables, I am practically overwhelmed right currently, even once dividing each of my shares in half!
I’ve been interested in the CSA concept for years. It appears like such an amazingly commonsense, nonetheless innovative idea. You get fresh, healthy, domestically grown (and typically organic) foods, typically at a lower price than what you’d notice at the supermarket. The farmer gets a designed-in market, and typically they get paid at the start of the season, after they want it most. And you’re serving to out the surroundings by eating locally grown rather than having foods shipped in from different areas (or even other countries), plus supporting tiny farms that tend to control more sustainably and take better care of the soil & water they use.
The problem was, I did not understand how to search out a CSA, or if there even were any in my area. I searched online some times many years ago, however didn’t have abundant luck. But in the few years since then, the farming community has embraced the use of the web, and many farms currently have their own websites, that makes it abundant easier to seek out participating programs. There are a minimum of five or six CSAs that deliver regionally to my hometown now, and many others in outlying areas in the vicinity.
I’ve told several friends regarding it, and for the general public, the community supported agriculture concept sadly appears to be a well-kept secret.
For those that are unfamiliar with the thought, it is somewhat sort of a co-op. People subscribe by buying a “share” of a given farm’s (or group of farms) harvest for the year. Sometimes this can be done before the start of the season, thus you create a one-time payment, and then collect your shares weekly or monthly throughout the harvest season.
Historically the concept has been largely used with vegetables. However, there are all kinds of CSAs cropping up these days, from vegetables & fruits, to dairy and even meats. Here in Ohio, where the growing season is not that long, I subscribe to a vegetable CSA within the summer, and a meat CSA (with one among the same farms) in the winter months, thus at least I apprehend I’m eating locally in part throughout the year.
One among the farms I’m subscribed to is organic. The other has mostly naturally grown produce, aside from the fruit. One share I choose up at a local farmer’s market. The other is delivered right to my office!
Right currently I’m overwhelmed with the summer’s bounty. My refrigerator is stuffed to overflowing with amazing, recent vegetables (and my freezer still contains some organic meats from the winter share). It’s been years since I lived on a farm, and with all the years of looking at supermarkets and just choosing up whatever I felt like, I had forgotten what a bounty the summer really brings…. It makes me feel thus abundant a lot of connected to my atmosphere to solely be eating things that are in season. It also forces me to cook more creatively!
These days, in my fridge I’ve got turnips, turnip greens, sweet corn, inexperienced beans, red cabbage, white cabbage, red onions, white onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, 3 quite hot peppers, eggplant, summer squash, patty-pan squash, zucchini, broccoli, cantaloupe, and honeydew melon…and pasture-raised eggs that are included from one amongst the farms. And all of it is organic or naturally grown, and was picked among the last 2 days.