I spent New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day hanging at home, getting recharged for the year ahead.
In general, a lot is coming up in 2018, and a lot of big and small decisions will be made that will have both big and small impacts on the environment.
There are definitely actions I can do better at and these are what I plan to focus on in 2018.
It’s been 25 weeks of eating local foods.
We received 11 CSA boxes, and now we are officially done. Overall, how did we like our experience? Read more to find out.
There are a number of aspects of the CSA that we really liked.
The location
We were lucky enough to live very close to our pick up location at Green City Market. It was easy to just walk over there on a Saturday morning, as opposed to having to get in the car and drive somewhere.
The variety
One of the reasons we picked this specific CSA is because it included fruit, which was important to me. We received a lot of different produce throughout the season, and it provided us with a lot of new experiences.
The quality
Our fruits and veggies were some of the most flavorful produce we had ever tasted. If you have grown up on commercial supermarket strawberries and then taste an actual strawberry, the different is life-changing.
The meal planning
It was nice to get our box and then plan the next week’s meals all around it. It also helped us make sure we got the most out of the box.
There were also aspects of the CSA that irked us a bit.
The lack of flexibility
If you are out of town the weekend of your CSA box, basically you are out of luck. There is no holding of your box somewhere, and you can’t get an extra box another time. Luckily, we were only out of town once and I finagled my cousin into coming to get our box for us and leaving it at our apartment.
The quantity
Our CSA options were a full share (once a week) and a half share (every other week). We consulted with the farm to see what was the right size, explaining that we cooked pretty often. They suggested a full share, but we were still concerned that would be too much, so we chose the half share. Thank goodness we did! The sheer quantity of produce was almost mind-boggling for our tiny kitchen and fridge. Every other week we had to play Tetris to fit everything in.
The pressure
This goes along with the quantity issue. We felt so much pressure to cook and eat our produce before it went bad, or before our next CSA box came. Half the time I would open the fridge and feel like, “OMG we have to eat the kale NOW!”
The waste
Waste also goes along with the quantity and the pressure. If we did not use the produce fast enough or did not figure out what to do with it fast enough, we often ended up with some rotten veggies. We do have compost, so we were able to at least use that, but I would have liked to not waste anything in general.
I would say it was worth it and we will most likely do it again next year. For now, though, we are going to enjoy being free from the pressure and only purchase produce we know we can eat in a timely manner.
Since making the decision to purchase a CSA share this summer, K and I also decided to take it up a notch.
We figured we were already devoting ourselves to local produce, why not add in locally sourced dairy, meat, and other staples? Since I will have to walk over to the farmers market every week to pick up our share, we might as well grab some eggs and meat too.
While our CSA share does not start until June, we are starting when our local farmers market returns outside tomorrow.
HRC telling us how it is on Sesame Street 1993.
Can we just put a CSA share on our wedding registry? Is that not normal?
Either way, I am beyond excited to purchase our first CSA share for this summer.
For those of you that don’t know, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is:
…a food subscription service that allows you to purchase locally and seasonally as part of a farm share. It is a great way to support local farmers. –FamilyFarmed.org
Basically each week (or every other week depending on your share), you pick up your CSA box (or you can have it delivered) that is filled with in-season produce from a local farm.
Whatever you get in your box depends on what is ripe and ready on the farm.
We already know that I am a nerd for maps, but I am also a nerd for Excel spreadsheets. So much so that I set up a spreadsheet to help decide which CSA we should pick for this summer.
The factors that are going to go into our decision include:
While there are many CSA options throughout the city, we are limiting our scope to ones that we can pick up from the nearby Green City Market.
A CSA may seem expensive up front, but when you spread it out over the course of 22 weeks, it is really not that bad. Plus, you know exactly where your food is coming from and create a connection with that farmer.
CSA Resources:
waste not want not 