Yesterday Emma and I attended a farmer's expo. There were a bunch of local farmers and a lot of CSA info there. I've been wanting to join a CSA for awhile, but Steve doesn't like the idea of spending money and not really being sure what you'll get in return. I talked to a couple farmers who run a CSA that consists of five farms. The CSA, called Generations, runs throughout the entire year. When I brought it up with Steve, I wasn't met with as much resistance as I expected. Now that I'm pretty certain I can talk him into it, I have to make sure it's really something I want to do. Here's the deal: You pay $62.50 per week, and you every week you receive
-a selection of in-season or processed produce (fruit, vegetables, and herbs)
-one half a cut up chicken, 1/2 dozen eggs
-one half gallon of milk, 1/2 pound of butter (3 times a month), and 1/2 gallon of ice cream (once a month)
-a loaf of bread, and a selection of other baked goods such as pizza crusts, buns, rolls, wraps, cookies, or granola
-1.5 lbs of pork and 2 lbs of beef - this will be an assortment of pork chops, fresh ham, sausage, brats, polish sausage, ground beef, roasts, and steaks
My pros:
-The thought of eating all that organic, locally grown food is SO appealing.
-We'd be getting better tasting and healthier food. (Is this redundant?)
-We would probably end up trying a lot of new things.
-It would be fun to come up with ways to use the things we get.
-It would be exciting to get our shipment every week and see what's in it.
-Good for local economy and the environment.
My cons:
-A year is a long time to commit to something like that.
-I might get sick of having to come up with new ways to use everything.
-What if I don't like not being able to pick out my own food each week?
-We'd have to set a certain, rather small amount, that I could spend on other regular food every week and it might be really hard to do that. The CSA sounds like a lot of food, but would it be really?
What do you think?
Oh, and I saw another snake today. *shudder*
It sounds like a sweet deal. And if you don't like all the food they send you, just have it sent it to Kirksville instead.
ReplyDeletedont do it!ive tried something similar and even tho it sounds good in theory, u get stuck with alot of stuff u dont want,stuff that is bad quality or over or under ripe. and the place i used kept stuffing up and not sending what they promised to.it became a nightmare. an expensive nightmare. its really no different to giving a shop assistant money and saying 'u shop 4 me,il jus take whatever u choose '
ReplyDeleteMmmmm, sounds like a great opportunity to me, but I've never had experience with one. Makes me hungry reading about it!
ReplyDelete$250 a mo. isn't to bad. It does sound very yummy! I've been also contimplating this but haven't made up my mind yet.
ReplyDeleteDo you have to commit for an entire year?
ReplyDeletewe've done it before and loved it. i know a woman involved in the CSA you're talking about...one of the sellers. VERY good group from what I'm told.
ReplyDeleteI think it sounds awesome. Automatic menu planning! I would do it. The CSA I joined runs 22 weeks. I would be interested in an all year one. I like the idea of being able to go out to the farm and get to know others that are in the CSA, too.
ReplyDeleteI would not do it since the time you must commit to it is so long. I like to do my own meal planning. Wouldn't you have to give up your meal group (but afer that starting at 11:30 maybe that has some charm)? It seems like you are at their mercy to give you anything they want.
ReplyDeleteCould you contact some of their customers and see how they like it?
ReplyDelete