CSA Tuesday #1

I joined a CSA.  After two weeks of anticipation, I got my first box today, and I’m excited to share the box contents and my plans for the box for the next fifteen weeks!

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and it is a great way for people to get good, fresh local produce weekly.  You buy a “share” in the produce, and you receive a (mostly) weekly box of food.  There are dairy, meat and vegetable CSAs available, you just have to do some searching.  It isn’t for everyone, and it isn’t financially practical unless you use all of the food.

I joined Cold Water Creek Farms, a farm with a stand at Atherton Mill Farmers Market, one of my favorite markets in town.  I have eaten a lot of their produce and I like the people there.  I paid $350 (half now, the other half will be paid later) for their 15 week fall CSA and I paid an extra $60 for a “variety pack” from Cackleberry Farms Dairy, which means that every week I will get either Feta cheese, yogurt cheese, or butter.  A half share is intended to feed two people for the week, and a full share is for a family of four.  We chose the half share, which seems right for our current family of three.

So, for the next fifteen weeks, I am going to write a bit on Tuesdays (at least that is the plan), to let you know what I got, what I plan to do with it, and how the last week progressed.

This week was a good one.  I received:

• One watermelon
• Three onions
• One head of garlic
• A bag of scuppernong grapes
• Basil
• Six red peppers
• Three purple peppers
• A handful of hot peppers 
• A bag full of okra

Here are my initial thoughts for what to do:

• Watermelon soup (from a recipe like this one)
• Grilled okra (I got an email with a recipe from Cold Water Creek Farms, but it was also inspired after running into Katie over at Charlotte Mom Favorites)
• Sweet and Sour okra (from this book by Madhur Jaffrey)
• Roasted red pepper (to be used in grilled cheese and a pasta recipe from this book by Giada de Laurentiis)
• Pesto

The onions and garlic will be used in, well, just about everything, the hot peppers, well, I have a lot of them, and I like spicy food, so I expect a lot of spicy food in my future.  As for the grapes, those I will happily snack on.

*Note: I am going to post a picture, but my card reader is lost amidst the piles of stuff in my house, so it will have to wait until tomorrow

~Aurora

UPDATE: Before I posted this, but after it was written, we grilled the okra for dinner.  It is a fabulous way to eat okra.  Just put the okra on skewers, rub with olive oil and salt, and grill for 8-10 minutes on each side.  And go!