A CSA box means fresh from the farm all year
A CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box is nothing new. I first heard of them way back in culinary school, now a good 14 years ago, and was intrigued by the concept. Short on cash, I actually participated in our very first CSA by driving out to a rural farm and bakery every week, and picking up the bread and goat cheese for the boxes. I earned a discount on our share and got to see the places where our food was being made and grown. Our second CSA subscription led to a catering job for me– the farmer’s wedding, in fact– which felt like a huge compliment. They trusted me to feed them on their most special day, with ingredients they’d grown with their own two hands. It was such a blast!
The last few years, as life has gotten increasingly busy, and I’ve become more realistic about my food production capability, I’ve gotten back into participating in a CSA. I thought it might be fun to dive into how they work, why I love them, and why you might want to give them a try!
What is a CSA box?
A CSA share or “box” is (usually) a weekly subscription where you pick up, straight from the farmer, a box, a bag, or portion of seasonal produce. You often head out to the farm itself, or pick up at a drop site in town. Sometimes farmers even use the Farmer’s Market for pickups. In addition to produce, boxes can also include things like bread from a local bakery, local cheeses, farm fresh eggs, milk or meats.
How does a CSA work?
By selling “shares” for the season, the CSA model allows farmers to have some guaranteed, upfront income, and creates an invested partnership between the subscribers and the farm. Members share with the farm in the risks of weather, insects, disease, etc., but when the harvest is abundant, members also share in the rewards.
Here’s how our specific CSA works:
- Every Sunday the farm sends out an email with a reminder for pickup, as well as a menu for additional items you may add to your weekly share. They also send out a preview of what will be in the box- with photos!- so you can plan your weekly menu accordingly. I appreciate this SO MUCH!
- On Tuesday afternoon, the farmers drop the boxes on the porch of a house in the small town nearby. We stop on our way home from our homeschool co-op, usually hit the library, and then head over to grab the CSA box. My boys LOVE seeing what’s in the box each week, and insist on gathering it all themselves.
- The farm has a nice, waxed cardboard box waiting for each customer, labeled with your name. You remove your items from the box into your own bag or container, then fold up the box and pile it up with all the others for the farmer to reuse. My boys LOVE this part and come running to the car to excitedly tell me all the things we got that week.
- We head home, store the items in their proper places, and enjoy the beautiful produce all week long. By Sunday, the cycle starts all over with the email from the farm, and we start to get ready for the next week’s share.
Why choose a CSA over the grocery store?
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been participating in various CSAs for over a decade. It’s a model that I really believe in and has enhanced my life and my table for years. Here’s a few reasons I keep coming back.
- Healthiest way to eat. Here’s the cold, hard reality friends, most grocery store produce is severely lacking in nutrition. Aside from the fact that many of the items we see have been bred for shelf appeal and storage capacity, rather than nutritional value, most of it has also been picked before ripening and shipped many, many miles to our big box stores. When you participate in a CSA your produce has usually been picked that day, or shortly before. This means the freshest possible produce, at peak ripeness, with the most vitamins and minerals available. It tastes better and it’s better for you.
- Supports real farmers. No matter what kind of cute bucolic packaging the things at the store might be wrapped in, realistically the people who actually grew that item are likely seeing pennies on the dollar. Trust me, I’m married to a berry farmer. The difference between what he gets paid for his fruit and the price of those little clamshells on the shelves? Appalling. I get a LOT of satisfaction out of giving my money to a fellow farmer. And the CSA model allows me to do just that.
- Learn new things. As I’ve mentioned before, nothing takes the romance out of cooking like the grocery store. Participating in a CSA adds an element of surprise and delight each week as you discover what is or will be in your box. As everything is seasonal, straight from the fields, you get to learn how to cook and eat the best the season has to offer. You may have to do some (fun!) research to explore how to cook a new-to-you type of fruit or veggie. You get to eat the things growing from the land around you, and likely just what your body needs nutritionally in that season.
Why I love it
As a person with a background in the food world, having married into an Oregon farm family, and holding strong convictions about the quality of things I consume, a CSA is a natural fit. Here’s a few of the reasons I love it so:
- Heirloom varieties. A CSA box means cooking with things you’ll likely never see in a grocery store. Heirloom tomatoes, special, colorful varieties of fruit and veggies, and maybe even meat or eggs from heritage breeds. I LOVE cooking with these sorts of specialty foods, hand-selected by the farmer for their taste, plant health, beauty and nutrition. Brings the romance back into the game.
- Keeps it fresh. Planning meals can become a chore at best, and lead to serious burnout, at worst. I love how receiving a seasonal variety of produce each week keeps me on my toes in the kitchen. Having at least one or two ingredients already decided for you spurs on the creativity, and gives you a great jumping off point.
- Exciting for the kids. I can’t believe how much joy my kids take in our weekly CSA, and how much more willing they are to try new things. They love going to pick it up, chatting with the farmer if he’s there, and asking me all sorts of questions about each fruit or veggie. We are planning to do a cooking study the second half of our school year, and we’re all really looking forward to it.
Resources for seasonal cooking
Oftentimes your farmer will send out recipes, ideas, or suggestions for ways to use the fruits and veggies in your box. But in case you’d like more resources or inspiration, here’s a few places I look to for guidance.
- Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden. This is an in-depth seasonal vegetable cookbook, written by a Portland chef. It celebrates vegetables in a way I’ve never seen before. But it’s also not necessarily an “everyday” recipe collection, so enter at your own risk. If you’re looking to truly celebrate the produce in your box though, this one’s for you.
- Dishing up the Dirt. This blog was recommended to me by the very first CSA we did and it’s still a great source of recipes and ideas. You can even search by ingredient! I think Andrea has a few books too, and she lives in Oregon as well. Which is obviously helpful for those of us in the PNW.
- From Season to Season: A Year in Recipes. This cookbook, a hard-to-find UK edition, is one of my favorites for eating seasonally, and is written by the face of my favorite obscure British cooking Show, Sophie Dahl. I love the way she leans into the best of each season, and balances healthy eating with comfort dishes.
How do I find one?
Where you live can obviously inform the availability of a CSA. But even if your homeland has a short growing season– I see you, Montana– there might be more options out there than you think. Here’s a few ideas of places to look for or ask after a CSA:
- Farmer’s Markets. The best way to find farmers is…at the Farmer’s Market. I have found local meat growers, flower farmers and even a CSA membership this way! Make friends at the market.
- Local Harvest. This website has a great directory of CSA options nationwide. Just put in your zip code and see what comes up!
- Eat Local First. Another CSA finder, enter your zip code and away you go!
Leave a comment
Have you tried a CSA? Need help finding one? Leave a comment below, and I’d love to chat with you about this amazing resource. Or pin this image below so all your friends can be reminded of the fresh, local, seasonal food that awaits with a CSA membership.
Hi, I'm Kali.
Mama, farmer’s wife and the creator of the Potager book + blog. Follow along as we cook and garden the seasons, as well as fix up our little Swedish cottage in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
