High Maintenance Mom

In an effort to take my new found cooking skills to the next level (albeit a low level) and become more of a locavore, I decided to try out a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) share this summer. That being said, I had a feeling a full share would be too much for my family of 4 so I am splitting a full share with my neighbors (it's a lot of food!). Community Support Agriculture is an amazing concept where a group of individuals support a local farm by buying into a “share” of the crops before the season begins giving the farm much needed cash to seed their crops. Many CSA’s offer half shares, plant your own shares, and work shares. So even if you don’t have the $500 (prices vary) for the summer’s full share, you can work for it at a much reduced fee. There are also winter shares at some farms which might be worth exploring if my neighbors are willing to go along with my insanity and split it with me again...(read more...)

Every Wednesday afternoon (pick up days vary from farm to farm) we head over to Drumlin Farm (www.massaudubon.org) with reusable bags for the pickup. The farm displays the vegetables (and sometimes flowers and fruit) in bins and posts a list of how much of each item you can take. Our farm even offered an egg share and a wine share from a local winery. There was a tasting at last week’s pick up and the wine was good. Which brings up another CSA joiner…winery’s. There doesn’t seem to be one site for wine CSA’s (check out www.localharvest.com for a directory of traditional CSA’s in your area) but you can search the web for “wine CSA’s” or search for local winerys and see if their web site mentions a CSA. Since the idea of a wine CSA is still in its infancy they are done many different ways. Our local wine CSA had a tasting and then you ordered your “share” a few weeks later. Some offer wine parties several times a year where you pick up your wine share, taste new varieties and meet others who share a passion for local wine.

Family favorites from our CSA share thus far include basil, beets, potatoes, tomatoes, watermelon & summer squash. My favorite treat is cooked beats with goat cheese and roasting all of the amazing vegetables at 450 with a little kosher salt and olive oil. It is so easy and amazingly delicious. Each week I get an email from the CSA farm with a list of what to expect at pick up, crop updates, recipes and thoughts from the farmers. It feels super local and the food has been top notch. My kids love doing the pick ups and sometimes grab for the vegetables before I even get them home. If nothing else, it shows them that food comes from the earth not plastic packaging in a super market.