What is a CSA? You join a local farm and pay a membership fee and in return you get the bounty of the farm and you participate in the community of that farm. . From Eatwell we get a box of super fresh produce every week along with 2 dozen eggs. Some people get a box every other week, and you select how many eggs you want. How much food is it? A lot. It's two grocery bags full or organic produce each week. We do a great job of eating our box – or put something up for winter, like the wonderful basil – every week as well as easily eat our 2 dozen eggs. Getting farm fresh produce means our food is super fresh, and stuff keeps longer, so sometime we save the garlic, onions and acorn squash for a few weeks. It also really forces you to up your veggie eating, as in yikes - the box is here, lets get cooking and eating! We also try new veggies we wouldn't have normally have tried - my husband now makes a mean kale chip - and pretty much anyone who tries them ends up eating handfuls.Prior I would guess that hand;t been a vegetable he considered purchasing and eating.
The veggies and eggs are fantastic, a good deal, money wise, for organic produce and free range, bug and tomato eating, chicken eggs. Two bags of organic produce will run you 60 - 100 dollars at Whole foods or the local farmers market, and it's just 27$ a box. The eggs are a super food and a amazingly healthy source of yummy protein for our egg loving child. We pay $108 every four weeks (27$ a box) and eggs are 8$ a dozen. But by going with a CSA we eat super fresh, local, organic produce and are saving at least $160 a month, if not more, on groceries.
Apart from the giant box of super fresh organic produce being a super deal, every year Nigel (our farmer) has multiple events at the farm where you can visit, tour the farm, camp over and can - free for members! There are two strawberry days, two tomato days, a pumpkin day, a garlic braiding day, and a chili cook-off, to name a few. At these events you can really can a ton for winter – we have yet to be super organized about this, leaving with a dozen of so jars of organic tomato sauce, but some farm members manage to can 90 (!) jars of tomatoes for winter. The strawberries are all you can eat and then 1$ a pound - I have made some amazing jam and fruit roll ups from the Strawberry Days. And these are shockingly low prices for organics - you can spend $7 a jar for organic tomato sauce, and how much are organic strawberries a pound? So look around for a local to you CSA and check them out! And hey, if you sign up at Eatwell tell them daslael sent you - I get a jar of Nigel's homemade tomato sauce if you join!
One event that was fun last year was the chili cook-off! We met lots of other farm members, some from our town with a little girl just a bit older than our bean! Little bean bounced in tents with other kids, held baby chicks that will grow up to lay our eggs, swam in the pond with little fishes and a little snake, and slept like a rock. We stayed up late, ate chili, drank home brew, toasted marshmallows around the campfire, and had an awesome time.
My husband’s chili – a Chicken Curry Chili – was a giant hit! And we did manage to can a few cans of tomatoes for winter too.
A great weekend was had by all, and a great deal as these are free!
What are some of your secrets for low cost high quality organic food?
- daslael
