CSA Week 6 Share and What is a CSA

CSA for those of you who don't know stands for Community Shared Agriculture. I just heard of this wonderful farming concept in the past year.

I couldn't wait to try it out since our garden failed miserably last year. Bonus is organic produce.

Here's how my CSA works.  Our CSA is a nonprofit educational farm. It is run by a head farmer and 3 intern farmers. The farm offers educational programs to preschools and elementary schools along with summer camp.  My daughter LOVED Cooking camp.  A few times during the summer there are movie nights at the farm (free) where you can purchase homemade pizza made in their outdoor (built by hand) oven with fresh farm products. They also hold free classes on canning and other informational things. This year they even started offering an outdoor  yoga class.  How cool is that...communing with nature while you exercise?! Love it!

Our CSA offers whole shares and half shares. You purchase the size that best fits your needs.  I chose a half share that my family splits with my parents. This is our first year so I wanted to start small. This is also my second year growing my own garden. I wanted "veggie backup" in case it tanks again.

The first month (June) we received a variety of greens...salad mix, left lettuce, kale and Swiss chard to name a few. We're now getting zucchini, cucumbers and beans. Yum!  Soon we'll be getting peppers and tomatoes too. Double yum! Growing season here runs June through  November so we have plenty months left of fresh veggies.

This weeks CSA (only partially pictured as I gave my parents their portion already):

Kohlrabi (A first for us)
Parsley
Chard
Red Torpedo Onions
Red Leaf Lettuce
Beans
Beets (Little Bee loves these raw!)
Cucumbers

If you're looking to buy local a CSA is a great addition to your food shopping. I love the variety it offers. My kids are trying new things as are my husband and I. It's a wonderful winning situation.