… and there are farmer’s market people. This statement came up during a conversation when I was visiting the farm store at Breezy Willow. We had always been market people, wanting to touch and select the veggies like you can at the market.
We were also fearful of what we would get. Would we like it? Would it be too much for two people? We didn’t need to worry.
After 25 weeks in a summer CSA from Sandy Spring, and 8 weeks in their fall CSA, now 10 weeks into The Zahradka Farm winter CSA, I have covered almost a year of getting veggies, either in a box at a pick up point, or delivered to my doorstep. I was converted quickly.
Today my husband officially became a CSA person.
This is what did it. Two pounds of skirt steak in the cooler from the Farm, that they sourced from JW Treuth Butchers. Sounds like some good cooking will be going on. He wants to marinade and grill it on a warm night in the next couple of weeks while he is still the main chef around here.
This week we also received:
Mixed root onions, two yellow and two red
Beautiful red potatoes
Collard greens
Spinach
A double order of brussel sprouts
The beauty of this CSA is the online ordering. You can double or triple one item if you are already heavy on the others offered this week.
I had considered continuing with them because I do like them, but like the freedom at the market to choose my own meat and eggs in the summer. In the winter, with limited market availability, they are a perfect match to our needs.
For summer, though, we are being true to our first CSA, Sandy Spring. This year we will be going on line Friday night or Saturday to see the probable contents of the box. Monday a confirming email will tell us if any substitutions were made during picking and bagging.
The CSA box on the benches in the Montjoy Barn at the Conservancy is always a present to be opened with anticipation.
The quality and quantity of items was well worth the $30 weekly investment. Tell me where in Howard County you can find 10-14 organic veggie items, including the most exotic or heirloom varieties and I will quit the CSA and shop there. Some weeks our box weighed 35-40 pounds. Less than $1 a pound. Other weeks the haul of heirloom tomatoes alone was worth the fee.
Two months until the May beginning. I can’t believe I get this psyched over veggies, but then hey, everyone has their addictions. Mine include garlic scape pesto and mushroom pate, made with my CSA veggies.
AnnieRie Unplugged 