Some of you might remember last May when we bought a CSA share from Plan B organic farms. It was our first time ever buying a CSA share and we were excited for local and organic food each week.
Well to clarify, it was mostly ME who was excited…but excitement is contagious and I think Eric secretly enjoyed it too.
…I think it was all the cooking I did!
We quickly learned that there were things we loved about the CSA share and things that we didn’t love.
CSA PROS:
1) Value for dollar
At just $20 something dollars a week, we were given a huge box of organic produce. It would have cost much more had we purchased this at the grocery store. Even so, we wouldn’t have been able to find everything organic at the grocery store and I can bet it wouldn’t have been local either.
2) Support local organic farmers
3) Fresh & Crisp produce, better quality than what we find at grocery store
4) Our veggie consumption went way up and we felt amazing.
5) We tried so many new vegetables. Even scary ones!
CSA CONS:
1) Lots of Repetition
By August/September we were getting tons and tons of potatoes and squash (among other things) and we got so sick of the repetition. I’m sure if we lived in a tropical climate, there would be a better selection of produce each week, but around here I think we are more limited.
2) No choice in what produce you get
We often found ourselves longing for some items that were in season and they never came (e.g., tomatoes).
3) Picking up the box each week
We opted not to get a delivery to save money. We found out only after we purchased the share that the pick-up location was a 25 minute drive from our house and it wasn’t overly convenient for us. Plan B does not disclose the pick-up location until your make the purchase. Obviously, this was a con for our particular circumstance, but pick-up location is still something to consider before buying.
Our 2011 Produce Plan
This year, we decided that we are going to change things up and do things a bit differently!
Our plan for the 2011 season is to:
1) Possibly plant a garden this Spring, time willing!
2) Buy produce from the Milton Farmer’s Market. We aren’t working at the Oakville market this summer so we hope to attend the Milton Market (as customers!) as much as possible this year. It opens May 14th.
3) Buy produce from local organic farm. I recently discovered that there is an organic farm not too far from us. This organic farm lets you buy produce on Wednesday evenings and they will also be selling at the Milton Farmer’s Market on Saturdays.
(If we plant a garden, we won’t need to rely on the farm/market as much…but we’ll have to see!)
If we manage to build a garden, I plan on showing the process on the blog. I really have NO CLUE how to build a veggie garden (and I don’t know a thing about vegetable gardening!), but my RMT has been teaching me a lot about it because she is a pro. :) I’m sure I can find some tutorials online too.
I hope our new plan will work out well this season. I will keep you updated on our progress!
Do you have a plan of how you will be buying your produce this Spring and Summer? Do you ever use a CSA, Farmer’s Market, local farm, or plant your own veggies? If you plant your own garden, how did you start it up?
Oh wow, you have a lot of comments on this one! :)
My boyfriend and I started out first garden last year. I had worked on several farms in the past, and he grew up in a family that had a garden, so we just read some books and websites, and made some guesses. The main problem we had was knowing what to plant when, so I’m spending a day later this week to determine what can go in the ground now, and what needs to wait until after our first frost.
Besides our garden produce (and we have amazing berry bushes in our yard), I stick to the farmers’ markets and some farm stands. I like the idea of a CSA, but we live in a really rural area (with no CSAs nearby), and think it’d be too difficult with the driving. Plus, I like choice.
I can’t believe you drove 25 miles each week! I would love to have a garden and can’t wait til I graduate and get a house to start one. Until then, I try to go by local farmers markets as much as possible. They are tons of fun!
I joined a CSA for the first time last year and loved it for all the reasons you mentioned. We too got a little tired of some of the veggies (e.g., turnips!), but we got way more variety than what I would have purchased at the store. I love learning about new vegetables and trying out new recipes with them. Our CSA is only a couple miles from our house, so it is an easy bike ride to pick up the box. Plus, we live in a condo, so having a garden is not a practical idea. I’m already counting down the weeks until our first veggie box arrives!
We do a CSA, but the pickup is super close to our house so it’s no big deal for us. And I kind of like not knowing what we’re getting :)
I do however agree with some of the other “issues” you commented on…we got so.much.squash last year. We at one point got one that was larger than our cat!
I would love to have a larger garden this year! But we have to change some things in our yard to make room for a larger patch if its going to happen. I do however grow basil, thyme and tomatoes (I also grow cherry tomatoes at my neightbors house, its vacant and they are letting me use their small garden area). I REALLY wanted to sign up for the CSA this year but not sure I’ll have the funds on time. But I DO plan to get a meat and egg share (local pasture raised eggs and beef!! I know that’s not your thing ;)). Nonetheless I WILL be visiting the farmer’s market every week and our local pick your own farm. My son (who’s 3) loved going to the farmer;s market last summer. And when we walk downtown past the place that they set up he asks when we get to start going again! Its so nice to meet the local farmers and have them start looking forward to you coming every week.
Yes, yes and yes! We are starting our third CSA season in about a month. I think I reacted to fennel about how you did, Angela! Ha ha! Some weird stuff sometimes. :)
We occasionally pick things up at the local farmers’ market. As you can imagine, we don’t need to get a whole lot since we already have the CSA share. I like to get things that we don’t get in our share, like extra tomatoes or cucumbers. I never get enough cucumbers for my liking.
We had a small herb garden the last two summers, and we are considering planting more things this year. If we are successful, I think we will be sharing a lot of veggies! And perhaps doing more preserving. I am a total novice when it comes to canning, but I have done just a little bit and would be willing to try to do more. I’m sure these things will come up on my blog too as the summer starts and progresses.
Canning is so much fun! There are so many different ways to preserve, it’s always an adventure!
We’re on year 3 of gardening and it has progressively grown bigger every year. We rent a house in town that has a large lot size. We built 5 raised beds that are 12 inches tall by 2 ft wide by 12 ft long and three 4ftX4ft boxes. Growing your own produce is amazing and fun. Also the farmers’ market is not even a half mile from our house just in case we need something that we’re not growing.
This post was so helpful! I’ve been thinking of doing a CSA for awhile, but after reading your cons, I think I’ll stick with the farmer’s market. I love going there anyway. I am also planting an herb garden and some tomatoes. With any luck, I can pick from my own backyard. :)
I’m totally lucky to have a mother with an amazing garden (and gardening know-how!). She keeps us stocked in produce year round (she freezes some things and others, like potatoes, onions, and squash, last a while). I keep telling her that she needs to start a blog about all of her gardening experience!
I’ve been thinking about a vegetable garden… maybe I’ll take the leap with you! A friend of mine bought a CSA share and I paid for a few weeks when she wasn’t going to be around – I really really enjoyed it. That being said, the amount of produce I got was soooo much and I was really overwhelmed. I don’t know if I could handle that for a large part of the year. Someday when I have a big family I will definitely buy my own share :)
I’m moving in June to a bigger city and one of the things that I’m most excited about (not counting my new rooftop pool) is the farmers market only three blocks away from my apartment!!I see so many fresh fruit and tomatoes in my near future this summer :) and can’t wait for squash this fall!!
it’s a grand task yet pretty exciting thinking about building your own garden! I hope someday I can do that too. :) I usually go to regular grocery stores or farmer’s markets once in a while. I’ve been hearing about CSA more and more lately though. Thank you for the pros and cons! that helps to know.
I have planted and grown a little veggie and herb garden for about 3 years. Last year was my first in Ottawa, and it always takes a bit to sort out what grows best in your location (geographically), and also where you plant in your yard (ie with amounts of sunlight etc). My most successful has always been tomatoes, and in Waterloo lettuce grew really well. Beans and spinach are easy to grow too. I would say for your first year try a bunch of things, and see what happens! It’s really fun to watch it grow. Oh, and watch out for bunnies too – if you live near woods, you might have to put up a little fence or something to make sure they don’t eat all your greens!
I supplement my garden with stuff from farmers markets – but would love to be part of a food box type program for other stuff that I can’t grow, and that would let me get good quality stuff throughout the year.
All the best with your garden, if you get around to it! It’s really satisfying!
We just moved into a new house so we have a dirt pit for a backyard. I’ve been begging my boyfriend to agree to build me a garden, but he’s reluctant because he doesn’t think I’ll use it and/or my veggies will all die. He’s probably right. I suck at taking care of things + I’m soo busy! Thankfully we have a farmers market every Wednesday evening during the summer, so I plan to do that. Plus our local grocery store stocks a lot of organic + local produce, so I think it’ll all work out!
I’m planning to join a local Co-op in Peterborough, www.bythebushel.ca to try it out. A friend of mine is one of the producers in the co=op. I’m luck to have access to organic beef from my parent’s hobby farm plus all the venison and waterfowl hubby brings home. I would be really interested in finding a source of organic poultry though!
Re: repetition – I’m planning to chop and freeze whatever extras I have if possible. We end up throwing away a lot of produce I purchase at the grocery store. It’s super frustrating to pay such high prices for conventionally grown produce with no taste that has been shipped from who-knows-where and been on a truck for a significant period of time. I like to know where my food comes from! Support Canadian Farmers :)
I buy our vegetables at the grocery store. However, being that there are many farms where we live, I would like to support local farmers and buy produce from them.
Since our daughter is almost 3 years-old, I would like to plant a garden with her. It is something fun, and she can see the fruits of her labor.
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I keep adding to my garden every year, its wonderful to have fresh veggies. As others have said, raised beds are the way to go. I put down rock all along the outside of the boxes and paths to keep the weeds away. It really helps. We also have a lot of deer, so a 6 foot fence was a must. I get the plants when they are about 4 inches and plant after May 15th (except for cucumber and squash, you just need to toss some seed down and they grow). I am looking forward to seeing your pics of the process. Good luck!
I’ve been using a CSA since August 2010 and I love it for the most part. I will definitely agree that certain items get old when you receive them in your box week after week. Luckily for us there is a pickup location less than a mile from my work, which makes it very convenient. My favorite part is not having to shop for as much produce but still getting so many healthy vegetables in my diet.
I have never joined a CSA, although I am somewhat interested to. But I have the same concerns that you had about repetition and actually getting things I like to eat. I don’t want to spend the money for a CSA and then go to the store to buy tomatoes or something I am not getting.
I just started a garden this spring. It is really awesome and I highly recommend it. It is so rewarding to actually GROW your own produce. I bought seeds online from Seeds of Change and they are doing really well. I advise you to stray away from buying plants from big home improvement stores because they often sell diseased plants. Also, there are a lot of seed companies out there who source their seeds from Monsanto (even organic). I don’t know if that is an issue for you or not, but I recommend doing research online about it.
And just start small. I fenced in a bit of space in my backyard and tilled the whole thing. Pulling out weeds and tilling will probably take you the longest, then I put some newspaper down (organic & biodegradable), peat moss, cedar mulch, manure, and planting soil. My plants are growing in their own containers and soon I will plant them in a few weeks when they grow a bit more.
I love Farmer’s Markets because I can actually talk to the farmers and get fresh products. Going to farms is great too, but they are too far for me to travel to all the time. I feel incredibly lucky to live in a state (Texas) that has a lot of farmers though!
Wow! I never would have thought to check out the source of the seeds…that is a bit scary! Thanks for the advice :)
Living in NYC I’m lucky to have amazing Green Markets all the time in the summer!!! I get excited going to them : )