If you missed your chance in the Spring to jump on the CSA bandwagon, you might just be getting a second chance later this month. Around mid-to-late Fall, local farms start signing up members for their winter CSAs. What’s a CSA, you might ask? Great question! CSA stands for community supported agriculture.
To break it down a little, let’s say you live in New York City. Upstate, four hours away, there lives a farmer who has a small farm that produces tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, and lettuce. He sells his produce to local farm stores and restaurants, but that’s not enough for him to go through his entire season’s crop. So he reaches out to a community organizer in your neighborhood in NYC. They team up to create a group where the organizer will round up local residents who are willing to pay upfront for a season’s worth of fresh fruit and vegetables, and the farmer agrees to set aside a certain number of “shares” – a section of crops designated for the community. These “shares” are dispersed to each CSA member on a weekly or sometimes bi-weekly basis and includes whatever he happens to be growing at that time. And thus, the CSA is born.
CSAs come in all different shapes and sizes, from groups that only offer fresh produce to groups that source from multiple farmers in order to offer multiple shares for vegetables, meat, and dairy. Sometimes, they even offer wildflowers as part of their CSA shares.
There are a lot of benefits to joining a CSA; the most obvious being the regular delivery of freshly grown produce to your home (or at least somewhere close by in the neighborhood). But if you’re still undecided, ask yourself the following questions to determine if a CSA is really for you.
1. Are you adventurous in the kitchen?
Participating in a CSA is sort of like having someone surprise you with a birthday gift each week. You might have an idea of what’s in there, but you really never quite know what you’re going to get. Because of that, it forces you to find your adventurous side. Never bought and cooked an eggplant before? Well, you’ve got one now, and there’s no reason to waste it.
2. Do you care about local food producers and farmers?
CSAs are a great way to support the local economy. When you pop into the nearest chain grocery store, you’re usually not purchasing ingredients that were grown nearby. In fact, it’s more likely that you’re buying produce that’s shipped halfway across the world. While this produce may not be bad, nothing compares to produce that’s just been picked the day before. And by supporting local producers, you ensure that they’ll be around for the long-term, providing lots and lots of delicious food.
3. Do you like a good challenge?
Pretty much every CSA is going to end up supplying you with an abundance of one or two things. When a crop is good, it’s good. When a crop is great, it produces a LOT of produce. What does that mean? It means that when you get a pound of cucumber each week for 5 weeks straight, you’re going to have to start experimenting with different ways to prepare and cook cucumber. So be prepared to break out the laptop for some food research. Who knows, you may even stumble across something unexpected, like a recipe for cucumber ice cream.
4. Do you want to be part of a community and meet your neighbors?
If you’re new to your neighborhood, joining a CSA can be a great way to plug yourself in and meet your neighbors. Along with buying a share for the season, CSA members are also usually required to put in a few hours of labor during the season. Volunteers typically help the farmer load and unload produce, divide up each person’s shares, and check members in as they stop by to pick up their boxes of food. Along with that, CSAs tend to be really good about sharing recipes with each other, organizing trips to the local farms that they support, and acting as a great resource for other neighborhood inquiries.
CSAs can be a great option for all types of people in all types of situations. Have you ever been part of a CSA? What’s the most unique thing you’ve ever gotten in a CSA box? Share with us in the comments!
