Eating
-- Out of the Box
In 2008 we decided to
"upgrade" from our bi-weekly CSA share to a full weekly share. This
column chronicles what subscribing to a CSA is like and what you can do with the
bounty of the farm's harvest in which you share.
Our CSA comes
from Dillner Family Farm in Gibsonia, PA and we pick up in Sewickley, PA.
www.dillnerfamilyfarm.com
|
ABOUT Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) CSAs are an incredibly easy way to ensure you get the best and freshest local seasonal products throughout the growing season. In some places around the country this can be year-round. In other areas the growing season is limited to just a few months. With a CSA you enter an arrangement where an individual or family purchases a share in a local farm. In return, they receive a portion, or "share", of the farm's harvest as each crop comes in throughout the growing season. This arrangement provides a direct link between consumer and farmers that helps provide stability to the farmer and a bounty of fresh products to the consumer. Look for farms offering CSAs in your area...I promise you won't be disappointed! Subscribing to a CSA There are a number of different arrangements when subscribing for a CSA, but all typically entail paying a farmer up front before the season begins. Some farms ask that you help at the farm occasionally as part of your "payment". While some farms have CSA pick-ups only at the farm, others frequently offer a variety of "drop points" throughout a metro area in order to extend the reach of their CSA to customers in their area. Most farms offer weekly subscriptions while some offer a variety of flexible options such as half shares (either smaller quantities on a weekly basis, or bi-weekly pick-ups). To find a CSA farm in your area, check out the following sites:
|
On May 22, 2008, KDKA's Pittsburgh Today Live featured a segment on CSAs with
Rhonda...check out the video footage:
Part 1 -- Community
Supported Agriculture (CSA)
Part 2 -- Cooking from a CSA box - Chicken and Asparagus Lettuce Wraps
Week 7, July 17, 2008: As good as those hydroponic tomatoes have been, what a TREAT to
get homegrown, from the ground, vine-ripened tomatoes – 2 large tomatoes and a
box of grape tomatoes. Fresh basil
included in this week’s box and these sweet treats drizzled with unfiltered olive oil and white balsamic vinegar made the perfect salad!
Beets, raspberries and sweet corn were all new items. Rounding out the goodie box was green zucchini, yellow squash, green lettuce, and a fresh cut bouquet of
sunflowers!
Week 6, July 10, 2008: Our last box of strawberries for the season this week! Amazing though that we’ve had them so long –
one good thing about a cool spring, I suppose! Summer is here and zucchini keep coming both green and yellow, along
with garlic, kohlrabi, green beans, hydroponic tomatoes, and cabbage. New items this week included sweet onions,
red lettuce, blueberries and peppers.
Week 5, July 3, 2008: OK,
this is when it’s really great to have nice folks who host your CSA drop. I completely forgot to pick up my box during
the normal hours. The lovely family who
offer their front porch as a pick-up site for our farm called me late in the
evening to remind me. Must be the
holiday that had me all out of whack! Luckily it was a cool evening so I could head down in the morning to
pick up my box of goodies for the long weekend. More and more color is creeping into our weekly boxes with yellow
zucchini and squash, more tomatoes (I LOVE getting these hydroponic tomatoes so
early in the season!), cauliflower, strawberries (still!), green zucchini,
fresh garlic, sugar snap peas, lettuce, cabbage, kohlrabi and a curly parsley
plant.
Week 4, June 28, 2008: Hail damaged some of the crops this week so we didn’t have any lettuce
and the zucchini had some hail marks (but nothing to damage how tasty they
were!). We had fresh garlic this week
and cauliflower (with a little hail damage also), curly kale, green onions,
fresh basil, snap peas (yum!), cucumber, tomatoes, strawberries and 1 dozen
organic brown eggs (double yum!)
Week 3, June 21, 2008: It’s
green again this week, but with some new goodies…fresh peas and green
beans!! Zucchini are now arriving and
in our basket with 3 kohlrabi, flat leaf collards, green onions, lettuce,
cucumber, broccoli and a dill plant. More of those terrific hydroponic tomatoes and sweet strawberries off
set the green of the season.
Week 2, June 12, 2008: Back in town so we got to pick up our
first ‘treasure box’ of the season. This week was very green – color that is. This is typical for early in the season, but all that green was a
beautiful backdrop for the bright red of the basket of strawberries, which we
enjoyed fresh at breakfast. Our
greenies included kohlrabi, curly kale, green onions, asparagus, spinach,
buttercrunch lettuce, cucumber, broccoli, an Italian parsley plant and scapes
(the bud & tender shoot from garlic tops). And one more red item – locally grown hydroponic tomatoes. This is a real treat since tomatoes are
currently under watch due to a salmonella scare. We can enjoy our salads again knowing our tomatoes are locally
grown and safe.
Week 1, June 5, 2008: First week of our CSA and we were out
of town, so I 'donated' my box of goodies (a bummer for me, but lucky for
someone else). I would have had the following items had I been lucky enough to
be in town: kale, collards, green onions, asparagus, Italian basil plant; farm
raised hydroponic tomatoes; rhubarb; spinach, red lettuce; flower or tomato
pack and homemade jam. Can't wait until next week! Pics and Recipes will
begin!!
Recipe Box
We'll be adding recipes created with items from our CSA box...I just need to
translate my written notes to electronic version, but I'll get there soon!!
Meanwhile, if you have a favorite recipe or a recipe/ingredient question, e-mail Rhonda
See more of our season recipes at Table magazine's Recipe Box