My Adventures in CSA, Part I

I do quite a bit "locavore" shopping, i.e., I love finding ways to get my food from local sources.  It is a little more expensive, but let's just say a Georgia tomato tastes better than one shipped in from Chile or New Zealand. I'm just saying...

Purchasing food from local sources is possible. It isn't all that hard, as there are a couple of local farmers markets in my area that sell produce from farms in the state of Georgia. The farms bring their product in on a particular morning (Saturday for Morningside neighborhood, Sunday for my Grant Park neighborhood).

I've always wanted to be a part of a CSA program. CSAs are "community supported agriculture" programs. Essentially, for a set fee for a season, you can receive a box/or bag of food from a local farm.  It is as it is described... It's a great way to support your local farm. It also forces one to eat more vegetables and to learn new recipes, both of which I was looking forward to.

My coworker Lady M found a good CSA program. It is through a farm near her home up in Loganville (some 25-30 miles from downtown Atlanta). It is reasonably priced ($100/4 weeks). I thought this was a good price, as I have seen some that are much more expensive. (That's the reason I didn't care to get involved. What is great about this deal (through the Wrecking Barn), is that it is organic. Glory.

Anyway, I have the produce from my first 4 weeks.

Week 1:  potatoes, squash, zuchinni, cucumbers, eggplants and blueberries.

Those blueberries were great for my smoothies and my salads. I am not a big fan of eggplant, but I put those in the sauce for my spaghetti. These are small eggplants, so I buy those from time to time. (I hate the large ones.

Those round balls at the top left side of the picture are cucumbers. I'd never had those before. I have a love/hate relationship with cucumbers, but these are nice because they are mild. You can eat those like you eat an apple, and they were great on my salad.

The bicolor squash... let's just say it's 4 weeks later and I am STILL eating off of that. I have made 2 skillets of squash and I have had 2 or 3 salads with squash cubes on them.  I still have some squash left. That was a big azz squash!

Week 2: eggs, onions, cucumbers, blueberries, basil, eggplant, potatoes,

More eggplant. Gotta figure out how to do more with that than spaghetti sauce. Now those potatoes and eggs... I hooked up some serious potato salad. GLORY!!!  I am not a big egg eater (takes me 2-3 months to go through a dozen), but we had some omelettes. I tend to spend big money on pastured chicken eggs. They taste better. These were REALLY good.

Week 3: tomatoes, peppers, mint, purple bell peppers, potatoes, sunburst squash, onions, zuchinni

This is where it gets interesting. Why? Because I wanted to start with a CSA when they were REALLY picking more stuff. Like, during the summer months. I tell you one thing: those tomatoes are the BEST I have ever eaten. I don't know if I want to buy any more store bought tomatoes that have been trucked across country. NOPE!

The sunburst squash. I don't know what to do with those. I looked around on Pinterest, and found out that they could be stuffed. That is too much work. I may just cut them up and fry them.

Week 4: Eggs, okra, eggplant, sage, tomatoes, red bell peppers, purple bell peppers

So ya'll can get the hell on with this eggplant. NOPE.  I will just bring those to work to my coworker. (She would bring me her extra produce from her CSA.. I can surely return the favor. And she likes eggplant more than I do).

The eggs... I still have 10 from the last dozen I received in a CSA box 2 weeks ago. So I got the bright idea to take this dozen to a coworker. As you can guess, I dropped them! I saves 6 of them. The other 6 cracked. Gonna have some omelettes tonight, lol!!

Those peppers are good. Those went on my salad. The tomatoes are great! I put one in smoothie this morning. I have NO idea what to do with that sage. I think I am gonna use it in a smoothies and maybe put that in a stuffing for the sunburst squash. I don't know.  We will see.

I am frying up ALL that okra. Indian style. YUM!!!! 

This has been a good experience. I think I will renew for another 4 weeks. That will be it for me after that, since the summer will be then pretty much over.

We shall see.