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Last Saturday we got our first "box" from Double Rabbit Farm:
http://www.doublerabbitfarm.com/

They had a tough spring, so our quarter share was pretty whimpy. A handful of this green and a handful of that one...

We did get rhubarb, a personal favorite of mine. We got just enough to make a wonderful rhubarb strawberry crisp.

I've been wanting to join a CSA for a while and maybe this spring is the right time. Anyone have any suggestions for one in the Chicago area?

We love the idea of CSA-ing but decided not to do it for 2 reasons.

1) Every CSA we researched in our area based their boxes on "family" sizes. Every single one. There were some that offered a "half" or smaller membership but that only meant that you got a box every other week instead of every week, i.e., the actual SIZE and content of the box was no different. I'm not criticizing the CSA, per se, but we're only two people. We would never use everything before it went bad.

We thought about going "in" on a membership with another couple but that just adds another layer of transport and complication to the whole idea. I wish a CSA in our area would offer a 2-person "couple" size box.

2) We live 2 blocks from the local weekend farmer's market anyway. It's mostly local, inner city people selling their community garden goods, and it's cheaper, better, and more convenient than setting up with a CSA. We can get a "box" of veggies that we'll actually use, every weekend, and it actually works out to be about 1/2 the price of the CSA. Also, many of the inner city farmers are Asian immigrants so there's always some cool, unusual veggies and herbs offered.

So there you have it! I still love to read about what you are all getting in your boxes, though! It would be a fun challenge to plan menus around what you get.

my neighborhood doesn't have a CSA.
how does one go about setting on eup?

Does some CSA give updates as to what you're receiving that week? This is my first year with CSA -- Our farmers farm out on the end of Long Island

Love my CSA (www.bewiseranch.com)! We're lucky that ours offers either a small or large box, with either weekly or bi-monthly delivery. In addition to our personal garden harvest, the bi-monthly small box adds the perfect amount of extra produce. This week I'll be picking up fresh organic carrots, chard, fennel, lemons, lettuce, onions, parsley, strawberries, and zucchini. I love that the box dictates my meals - keeps me creative!

I've been CSAing for years. It's great, but hard if you are just 1 or 2 people.
in Brooklyn we're a member with these folks http://heartyroots.com/
so far they're great, this is my first season with them.
this past week we got:
Arugula (super spicy!)
Radishes
Lettuce
Garlic tops
Bok Choy
Spinach

This is my first foray into CSA and I was so happy with our box this past week! Western PA doesn't have too much to offer this early, but we got:
-mixed greens
-spinach
-perfect, adorable strawberries
-carrots (thanks to greenhousing through the winter)
-asparagus
-honey
-raw milk cheddar

We are so pleased with our veggies! It's exciting to think about what we'll get each week.

ann,

Just Food is a non-profit in nyc that helps groups set up csa's - they will match you up with a farm and offer workshops on organizing a csa from the ground up. i think they've helped set up something like 50 csa's in nyc.

www.justfood.org

good luck!

I'm getting my first CSA box tomorrow from Red Fire Farm (www.redfirefarm.com). I'll let you know how it goes, I'm really excited.

I was on the fence, too, about CSA versus the farmer's market, because I love walking to the farmer's market in our neighborhood on weekends, and it has great food. I decided to try out the CSA because it's cheaper and because buying at the farmer's market doesn't support the farm in the same way. But we'll see.

Ooh, I'm so excited! We pick up our 1st CSA box on Thursday! I was so excited to find one in Reno! It is supposedly enough for a family of four, so the mister and I are splitting ours with my sister and her husband. So if there is anything extra challenging to cook I can just give it all to her ;)

Still have to wait a couple of weeks before I get my first CSA box...I'm really looking forward to it!

Here in CA we get ours 50 weeks of the year. What do you do for vegetables in the off-season if the CSA is only open part of the year? The farm we belong to ran part of the year, oh, 15 years ago when they started, but has been full-time ever since, and I know people in New England who are growing vegetables in the winter (fewer of them, admittedly). Is being part-time just one of those things like having multiple box sizes that comes when the CSA matures? The box dwindles in size and we get dried fruit and some other "value added" stuff in the winter but kale can grow right through snow so it should be possible to operate year round -- not that snow is an issue here.

this is my first year of CSA (mcminnville, oregon) and i got my first box two weeks ago. i order the family size for me, husband and two kids. it's a lot but that's great, it makes us focus on healthy proportions (i.e., meat takes up tiny space on plate, fruits and veggies take up the rest). i'm going through oakhill organics farm. it's a young couple with loads of energy. they hand out a newsletter each week with preparation ideas for that week's produce, which is very helpful. the produce has all been beautiful so far, too, which makes it easy to be creative.

my kids love the whole experience -- going to the stand and picking everything out, getting the greens home and washing and spinning them, and tearing them up into big salads. i've been braising the darker greens (kale, shard, mustard greens) and working them into pasta with a little butter and good parmigiano-reggiano cheese.

this week's take: radishes, baby beets, swiss chard, kale, giant bag of arugula, giant lettuce, onions, turnips, broccoli. i'm following their advice to stock a few key staples (pasta, rice, butter, oil, salad dressings) and master a few basic techniques (braise, sautee, grill) so that cooking with the veggies as the focus is/will be effortless.

my CSA pickup is on tuesdays and our farmer's market is on thursdays, which is where i pick up cheeses and meat and fruit. it's unbelievable, i feel so spoiled!

amyd: I'm in Chicago and subscribe to Angelic Organics. This will be our 2nd year and we're very happy with them

http://www.angelicorganics.com/

We get a full share for just me and my husband and it works out just fine. We end up eating a ton more veggie-heavy meals, but that's kind of what I'm more in the mood for in hot summer weather anyway. I find it cuts way down on our grocery bills in the summer.

We usually get an email on the pick up day of what will be in the box and then I make a meal plan for the week and pick up whatever else I need to make meals with all my veggies when I go out to pick up the box.

Among other things, we got the last of the strawberries and the first of the blueberries and blackberries.

Then we left town for a week.

Fortunately, I bought a Food Saver for this very reason (to make fresh produce last longer), so I either vacuum-sealed or froze everything before we left.

Keeping our fingers crossed that it's all good when we get home!

I am so jealous, this system doesn't exist in Spain.

Ours starts here in Detroit next Tuesday, and we've been told to anticipate greens, radishes and strawberries. This is our first year, and my husband and I are splitting it with a friend. My husband pointed out to me yesterday that once it arrives, everything in our fridge except the condiments and oj will have come from within 75 miles of our house. Granted, that's not practical all year in Michigan, but it's a nice thing to notice in the spring.

Hi MoM - where are you getting your CSA box from? In other words, how to hook up with one here in Mtl?

dot,

the ground freezes here in Minnesota. It is impossible to grow anything here for a large part of the year. While many farms have starters in their greenhouses in March, nothing can go into the ground until April at the earliest, sometimes May. We will NEVER have year round CSAs unless they are just sending things they have been storing.

What do we do in the winter for veggies? Buy things grown in California and beyond, or eat canned, frozen, or otherwise stored veggies.

leeds,
Equiterre seems to organize and coordinate CSA boxes across the province (I prefer the French term "paniers bio" myself). They have a handy page at:
http://www.equiterre.org/agriculture/paniersBios/listeFermes.php

I'm personally getting mine from Les Jardins du petit tremble, as their drop-off is most convenient for me. Here's their page:
http://www.lesjardinsdupetittremble.com/news.htm

We're a 2-person household and get our box every other week (from Tierra Miguel in SoCal). We've never had anthing go bad in the two weeks between deliveries because it's so fresh when we get it. In fact, we had half a head of romaine that got forgotten in the back of the fridge and was still crisp and sweet 3 1/2 weeks later.

Before we joined, I was unsure I'd be ok with not having a say in what I'd get. However, in addition to getting very fresh, tasty, organic produce, I love the surprises. We had the most beautiful beets last night--they looked like ordinary beets, but when I sliced them after roasting, they were red/white striped and absolutely gorgeous, besides delicious.

I'm joined my first CSA this year with Stillman's (i'm in boston). I can't wait for it! With my work schedule I never have the time to get to the farmers' markets near me, it will be thrilling to have fresh local produce that I didn't buy at Whole Foods for once.
They started a meat CSA this year that I am really curious about. mmmmm grass fed lamb.

http://www.stillmansfarm.com

Caitlinp, let me know how Stillman's goes. I looked into it, but the pickups in JP and Brookline seemed like a hike for me.

About year round CSAs, as Kassie mentioned, when the ground is frozen, the ground is frozen. I know there are a few places that have set up elaborate greenhouses on tracks here in New England, so they can provide some produce to local restaurants, but my understanding is that there are a lot of complications with doing this (figuring out how to rotate crops, for instance) and that it's expensive. And it's not really feasible for a small farm to put acres and acres of land under greenhouses.

It's not so much the size of the CSA but the facts of our climate.

Merci, Michelle of Montreal! Very helpful. I like 'paniers bio' too!!:)

I have run into a similar problem with a CSA with regard to the amount of food. I wanted to join a CSA right near me, but I am single and the amount of food that I would have received was ridiculous. I had asked at the CSA if there was anyway I could reduce the amount and was told no. I am a vegetarian and already eat tons of veggies and though I love them there is only so much that I can stomach! Luckily I live near a farmer's maket that is open on Sundays so I prefer to go there and shop for more appopriate portions.

My mom just sent me this link after I told her about our CSA - apparently Barbara Kingsolver's new book is about taking a whole year and only eating locally, the site seems to have some good resources and gorgeous recipes.

http://animalvegetablemiracle.com/

Just contacted several CSAs in manhattan, and they are all full. Would anyone know of one nearby still taking in participants?

thx

My CSA starts today! I'm so excited! We are getting lots and lots of greens, strawberries and a gallon of honey!!!

Kat1: Split a share with a friend, thats what I do. My husband refuses to eat that much veg, so it would be a waste if I got it just for me.

Second box pick-up is tomorrow in Lambertville, delivered by Honey Brook Organic Farm (Pennington NJ). Lettuce, lettuce, lettuce, greens, broccoli, garlic scapes, snap peas, snow peas, flowers and stawberries. And then maybe a surprise or two. If I get ambitious I can do PYO at the farm, too (four more quarts of strawberries)

I'm a single who bought a full share. I eat a lot of vegetables, but better yet, I get to give a lot away and it's always appreciated by the recipients (mom, neighbors, co-workers, etc.) Even giving almost half away it is an incredible value--especially because the quality can't be touched by anything I buy in the store and the variety is better than most farmstands in the area which stick with the tried and true. I have found that getting a delivery every week really ups my vegetable intake, makes me a more creative cook and more adventurous eater. BTW, the striped beets were probably chiogga beets. The things you learn from a CSA!

my CSA is located in Edmond, OK. I recevied golden beets, brocolli rabe, fennel, carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, the zephyr variety of yellow squash (green tips) and radishes.

Our orientation/initial meeting is tomorrow. The first pick-up will not be until around the 16th.

I part of a Brooklyn CSA.

It's not exactly a CSA, but we order from Urban Organic in NYC. They have different box sizes. We got the small box which was perfect for just the two of us and now that we are a larger family we get the regular box. It's not all local, but that also means organic oranges, grapefruits, mangos and pineapples. They deliver the box right to your apartment every week.

A big perk I did not realize until our CSA orientation is the community part of it. (I was considering the local, organic food mainly.) It is great way to meet neighbors, volunteer with your local community center, get involved in your community. I am thrilled with my CSA. I am already excited about the get togethers planned, working the pick ups, taking my son to the farm, supporting a local small farmer and much more. The 4 hour summer share commitment seems minimal compared to the 22 weeks of local, fresh, organic fruits and veggies.

i live in windsor terrace brooklyn,have been talking about my local CSA all spring only find out last week that they're all booked. Anyone out there know another brooklyn CSA? what was cool about this one was they had fruits, veggies and FLOWERS!! thanks! gemion@hotmail.com -dolly

I'm splitting a share with a coworker. We've received two weeks of boxes so far with the next one coming Tuesday. Mixed greens, rhubarb, broccoli, garlic, leeks, asparagus, jalapenos and snap peas so far. Oh, and snapdragons and other pretty flowers. And they also gave us heirloom tomato plants for our own gardens. We're getting garlic scapes and a little bit of goat cheese this week in addition to the list above. Our C.S.A. farm is located in Western Massachusetts. They are all about micro gardening and they have a very impressive hoop house that allows them to start things earlier than most.

In 2008 we are starting a new CSA in the DUMBO / Vinegar Hill neighborhoods of Brooklyn, NY. We're excited to be working with Sang Lee Farms. Check us out at dumbocsa.org