Wednesday, June 4, 2008

CSA Week 1 - Spring Means Greens

This summer and fall our church is partnering with a local farm in their CSA (Community Sustainable Agriculture) program through ResCov's Just Food mission. TK and I bought into a share of vegetables and a share of meat (beef, pork, chicken, and eggs) with Amy and Andrew, and we'll be receiving veggies and meat from Mike and Clare's Farm from June through October. We've been thinking a lot about our food lately...where it comes from, who is making it, what it actually is. I've never been one to get excited about organic food or farmer's markets in general, but the more I learn, the more eating locally is making sense to me (not that I can live with out limes, mangoes, etc.).

Inside this week's box we received spinach, lettuce, radishes, baby kale, arugula, green garlic, and mizuna. In our newsletter from the farm, Mike and Clare wrote that cool weather and soil temperatures favor leafy vegetables, and that over the next month or so, our boxes will contain a lot of greens like spinach and lettuces. They also said that greens have a short season and that as soon as the hot summer temperatures come, we'll have to wait until autumn for these types of greens to return. I think that it will be exciting to know what's in season and eat what the land is producing according to the temperature, sun, soil, etc. I also think it will be telling for us to learn to differentiate between what vegetables are what, without the help of plastic packaging to aid us in the identification of what we're eating.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really wish I'd found a good CSA this summer. Of course, with Feast, Annual Meeting, and a wedding, it might not have been the best summer for it. Really, how often will I be cooking between now and August?

Melissa said...

I'm so jealous! Although I do have a pretty decent little garden in my backyard...hopefully it will yield great rewards. :)

Amy and Andrew said...

I am really enjoying overcoming my fears of some of these veggies. Not too long ago I'd think, "Kale? yikes!" Now I say, "Throw it in!"

Michael-Sarah-Greta-Calla-Samuel said...

so fun to find your blog! and i love the local eats...it's easy for us now (we are in the hub of agriculture here), but we did a csa box a few summers in chicago and i loved the way it expanded our eating...it's fun! i will be sure to keep checking in on your summer adventures-i'm jealous of the kane county flea market-i miss that! sarah

Vivian Love said...

Every now and then I visit our local farmers market. There's nothing like fresh local grown produce. Thanks for sharing.

Vivian Love, Cafilornia...I mean California!

Chris V said...

My roommate and I have a share in a CSA that is out of Congerville, IL. Lucky for us, we have many options for local food seeing there is farmland all around us!