Mystery Box
Spice up your kitchen and your nutrition with community-supported agriculture
By Kate Jonuska
In today’s urban, modern world, seed money is capital gathered to fuel a start-up business and shares are the investments in your retirement account. For a growing number of food-conscious Americans, however, the term “seed money” is returning to its roots, meaning money laid out at the beginning of the season to buy seeds in exchange for a “share” of the harvest.
These shareholders are participating in what’s become broadly known as community-supported agriculture, or CSA programs, and I personally have been a CSAer (as we sometimes call ourselves) for more than three years.
It’s simple. I write a check early in the spring. When the crops begin to grow, I show up at a set location to pick up my weekly share of locally grown – usually within 200 miles, at most – amazingly fresh produce.
And then again, it’s not at all simple. Unlike the supermarket, you can’t pick and choose what you take home, nor the quantity. Unlike the supermarket, not everything you pick up is readily identifiable.
Do you know what a hubbard squash looks like, or how to cut it? What on earth do you do with kohlrabi, which looks like a UFO? How do you make use of only one potato but a bagful of fresh basil?
Joining a CSA has been a wonderful experience, but it can also be intimidating. As a three-year veteran of the system, let me give you a few helpful hints to get you started on your local food adventure.
Are you a CSA candidate?
Not everyone is cut out for CSA membership, and that’s OK. As a CSAer, you must have time, both to go outside of your routine to pick up your weekly share and to devise what to do with it.
If you’re the type that walks into the kitchen at 6 p.m. without prior planning and wants something done at 6:30, do not CSA. If you’re family is uncomfortable eating outside the box – or the boxes of processed food – do not CSA. I would also advise some degree of confidence in the kitchen, though even if you’re a novice, a healthy spirit of adventure is likely all you need.
To give you a taste, here’s a list of produce I’ve received from CSAs: red carrots, purple potatoes, sorrel, turnips, parsnips, kohlrabi, leeks, mustard greens, beets, shelling peas, acorn squash, delicata squash, more squash than I can name and some I honestly couldn’t.
Don’t despair if CSAing isn’t a fit for your lifestyle. Visit your local farmers markets instead, where you can buy the type and quantity of produce you want on your own schedule.
Choosing a CSA
Not all CSAs are created equal, and not all will be a good fit for your family. A few things to keep in mind:
- Pick-up time and location. I’ve been a member of great programs that I began to hate because picking up my share took me far out of my way on a day I had little time to spare. Map the location and look at the situation honestly. If it’s inconvenient, you won’t like the experience as much as you otherwise might. Some programs have multiple days or locations for pick up, and others are able to leave your share for next-day pick up.
- Share size. How many people are in your family? If your answer is one or two adults, with maybe a small child, a full share will be too much unless you’re full-time vegetarians. Not all programs offer half or smaller shares. If your family is larger, make sure the share is large enough, especially if vegetarian.
- Growing method. Farms that take part in CSA programs are often smaller properties, trying to make a profit outside the corporate supermarket system, and profits are thin. Therefore, few can afford true organic certification. Most are uncertified organic, but all have different tactics for dealing with pests and blight. Thankfully, CSAers can usually communicate directly with their farmer, the man or woman on the ground and in the fields.
Support system
Igniting your enthusiasm and sending in your check is only the first step. Believe me, it’s very easy to find your much anticipated and delicious produce rotting in the fridge after a few days because you weren’t proactive in preparing it – which is not only a waste for you, but is a waste of fresh, healthy veggies that could have fed another. I’ve developed a few ways of being proactive:
- Make a list of your produce as you put it away, and then plan your weekly menu immediately. Do any grocery shopping the day after pick up with that menu in mind.
- Use the Web. Search your favorite sites using the name of vegetables you’re unsure how to prepare.
- Look for seasonal recipes. It’s amazing how often you find dishes that call for two, three or even four of the items you received that week, because recipes have always been designed with harvests in mind. Ratatouille and borsht are excellent examples.
- Keep an archive. I started my Web site and blog www.localdish.net in order to document my CSA adventures and catalog different recipes I’ve tried. Year after year, I can look back to see the recipes that worked during the same time last season.
- Eat raw. Who says you need a recipe for everything? Especially on the day of pick up, throw together a big salad. Use scrubbed raw carrots, radishes and sliced cucumber as a side dish, or splash cherry tomatoes with balsamic vinegar.
Hungry for the culinary adventure of community-supported agriculture? I salute you, fellow traveler, and wish you well. Check back with me here or at Local Dish to tell me all about the triumphs and tragedies, foibles and fun.
This article published in the Spring 2012 edition of Marmapoints magazine.
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