This week, our CSA officially kicks off for the season! We love our CSA, Charlestown Farm, as it’s a great way to support our local farmers and reap the benefits of eating seasonally and locally. But, what, exactly, is a CSA?
CSA stands for community-supported agriculture. Think of it as a crop-share program. Community members like me purchase a portion of a local farm’s crop. And every week, from early June through mid-November, we pick up our share of what’s in season.
Why should you join a CSA?
I love when people ask me this question because there are SO MANY great reasons why you should join a local CSA.
- You support local farmers in your community
- You gain access to fresh, seasonal produce, picked at its peak (often the day you pick it up!)
- You know where your food came from and how it was grown. For example, our CSA grows all organic produce and uses crop rotation to keep the soil healthy.
- You’re exposed to new varieties of produce, including heirlooms and less-commercial varieties
- You eat more veggies and try more recipes
I also get a lot of questions from family and friends about how our CSA works, so I’m answering a few common ones below.
What’s in your CSA share?
The produce in our CSA share varies week to week. Early in the season, we receive a variety of greens such as mixed lettuces, bok choy, kale, collards, and Swiss chard. We may also pick up Napa cabbage, radishes, and garlic scapes, and scallions. This year, our first week included bok choy, a lettuce head, mixed lettuces, and garlic scapes.
As we move further into the summer, zucchini and summer squash are plentiful. We continue to see various greens along with cucumbers, green beans, tomatoes, carrots, and beets.
Heading into fall, we start to receive potatoes and winter squash, and if we’re lucky, sweet potatoes! We also continue receiving various greens such as kale, arugula, and bok choy.
Does your share include fruit?
Yes, it does. But we have to pick it ourselves. In June, we pick strawberries. In July, we pick blueberries. And later in the summer, we pick red raspberries.
Do you have to pick all the produce yourselves?
No. When we go to pick up our weekly share, most of the produce is bunched up and ready to go in the share room. The team provides the weekly quantities for each item based on share type and we pick up our portion.
There are, however, some crops where we do need to pick our own because picking these crops for all members is super labor intensive for the team. We pick our own strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, green beans, snap peas, cherry tomatoes, and hot peppers. There is also a herb garden where we can snip fresh herbs like basil, parsley, cilantro, rosemary, mint, thyme, dill…and probably a few others that I’m forgetting.
And in the summer, there are rows of fresh flowers, too. Most weeks we can pick a small bouquet.
Do you ever get huge quantities of a single item?
Most people have heard the stories of people getting huge amounts of tomatoes or zucchini or lettuce. And the truth is that sometimes, you do get an abundance of one item. My strategy for managing the large quantity depends on the item I receive. For example, lettuce doesn’t keep. So if we get too much, I often share with family or friends.
Zucchini and tomatoes, on the other hand, are easy to freeze. So if we get more than we can use, I put it in the freezer for use out of season.
Do you ever get weird veggies?
Over the years, we have received new-to-use veggies in our share. But I see it as an opportunity to experiment with something new. Kohlrabi makes an appearance in the spring and the fall, and before joining our farm, I had never even heard of it, let alone used it in a recipe. But now, I blend it into soups, shred it into a salad, or roast it up with potatoes and other root veggies.
This season, I’ll be sharing what’s in our weekly share over on Instagram, so be sure to follow along. I’m also planning some future posts where I’ll share more details about how I manage the share, recipes we’ve tried and loved, and more.