CSA starting soon!

Each year, Harmony Valley includes an herb pack with the first few CSA boxes. I was wonderfully surprised to see the chives came back this year after a long, cold winter. I've since learned that allium-type plants can tolerate any sort of winter conditions, but still it was wonderful to see these coming in under the bed of decaying autumn leaves.



I used to plant a number of veggies in my garden, with varied amounts of success. Since starting the CSA three years ago, I haven't planted much for vegetables. I do still plant tomatoes since discovering fried green tomatoes. I can never get any green tomatoes from the CSA, so I grow my own. We usually get a several large batches of chives from the CSA. And now I've grown to love baked potatoes because of the sour cream and chives that go on top.

The CSA season is starting next week. My body surely needs the nutrition. Each year I come to learn more about eating in season. Early spring vegetables provide the detox for the bodies moving from winter to spring.

The price seems right to me. I prefer to buy organic and local vegetables from the coop or supermarket, but that gets expensive and seriously? The quality and freshness just aren't there in the way that they are with CSA produce. I split my share with my parents. We are a two-person household and the CSA boxes provide enough for a four-person household. I pick up the delivery and my husband drops off the my parent's share on his way to work as my parent's house is on his way to work. We split each box. And this works for me. I like sharing with my mother because she allows me to be selfish. Like if there's 3 boxes of raspberries, I keep two and only pass on one box. Hey, it's my mom! She lets me get away with it!

Others that I know share the box through two households, mostly between neighbors. Often this done by one household picking up a delivery every other week. This seems like a easy solution. The first year I started the CSA, I shared with a friend and neighbor. We split each box and it did get tiresome, especially in weeks where there was just one head of cauliflower, for example. Do you chop it in half or haggle over who gets what? The second year, my friend no longer wanted to continue, so I got my mother on-board. This is my fourth year with Harmony Valley.

The experience has been extremely enlightening for me! I've learned so much about various vegetables that I'd never eaten before like turnips and beets. Others that I have eaten before came to me in a quality that I've never experienced before. I really just can't say enough about the freshness of getting what is being harvested in season once a week.

I've also learned a bit more about cooking up whatever is on hand. I found some simple recipes that can accommodate just about any available vegetable and it can be done quickly.

I get so tired of the question "what's for dinner". Now the question is "what the heck am I going to do with this thing?" Which is much easier and much more fun to deal with!