For several years I have been trying to convience Mark to get on board with joining a Connecticut Farm that participates in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) without much luck. However, the stars finally aligned this summer after he finally realized two things 1) We eat a ton (not literally...ok maybe literally) of vegetables year round and 2) He saw the diversity of produce one of his co workers' received each week from a CSA at Bishop's Farm last year.
CSA programs provide a great opportunity that links the farmer directly to the consumer It's a great way to cut out the middleman, develop a relationship with a local farm and get weekly or or twice monthly fresh produce during the spring and summer growing season.
Over the winter we signed up and paid a membership fee to buy "shares" for the spring and summer growing season. These membership fees do vary by farm and depends on things like production costs, what produce you receive, and growing season.
Beckett Farm had the option of an early Summer Share and a Regular Summer Share. The early Summer Share ran from May to the end of June. Pick up throughout the entire season was on Mondays from 4-7pm. If they had "left over or extra" we had the option to purchase additional items.
From the first week we knew that we had made the right decision - fresh asparagus, lettuce, radishes and beets were filled our first box along with lemon basil - a new to me herb. The difference between fresh picked asparagus cooked on the grill and what you find in the grocery store is like night and day.
During the summer we opted for the Summer Share where received a box of produce every other week. We chose this option instead of the weekly share since it is just Mark and I we were not sure 1) how much produce we would get each week and 2) how much of the food that we received we would actually eat and how much would go to waste.
I am happy to report that only about 5% or less went to "waste". The rest was happily eaten and some itemzs (like the snap peas and green beans) have been frozen for winter use.
The produce varied from week to week depending on what was ripe and ready to be harvested. Some weeks we had a variety of different fruits and vegetables and other weeks we had a lot of the same thing. This was trulely an adventure and definately got Mark and I out of our comfort zone. It forced us to try things (like mustard greens and japanese eggplant) that we would probably not bought on our own. That's one of the beauties of Becktt Farm and CSA program in general - the ability to get fresh fruits and vegetables and a chance to expand your culinary horizons.
I also loved the fact that I received an email each Monday before our pick up to let us know what would be in our shares.
I can honestly say this was an awesome experience for Mark and I and we can't wait until 2013 to sign up again! read more