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?
Omg comment mania on this post!!
I agree with you on all pros..value for the dollar, trying things you would never be exposed to or try on your own, including scary things. lol And supporting local famers.
Cons…yes, pickup locations are huge. One of our CSAs had a Fri night pickup and altho it was only 2 miles from our house, it was in the heart of an urban area on Fri nite and traffic was 45 mins there and 45 mins back to go about 2 miles!
Also the repetition and lack of choice does get old.
And the feeling that omg I now have 4 huge bags of greens to use…NOW….or they will go bad on me. I don’t like that kind of ‘pressure’ with the onslaught of produce that comes ALL at once. I would rather shop twice a week or in smaller quantity b/c if a big quantity is cheap but I waste it, it’s really not “cheap” or a value anymore.
I do love CSAs but there are caveats, as you mentioned. Farmers markets here are beyond glorious but NOT cheap/cheaper than reg groc store. Beautiful food, support local farmers, but apples are cheaper at the reg groc store type thing. You have to know going in what is a better value at each location.
I could go on and on. Everyone else has too apparently with all these comments :)
This post makes me so excited for the upcoming season. We use a combination of gardening (mainly for tomatoes and zucchini), farmer’s markets, and farm stands to get our fruit and veggie fix each summer! :)
I am lucky lucky lucky. I live in Southern California.
We are CSA members, and have been since 2001. Our CSA runs January to November. I love it. But it did take some getting used to, mostly because of the repetitiveness and the need to figure out what to do with certain items.
We supplement though, since $20/week doesn’t quite get enough for the 3 of us.
In addition, we have farmer’s markets here 6 days a week, including one on Weds at my son’s school. And we have farmers galore, plus a couple of produce stores that sell local produce.
My neighbor gets delivery – so the company goes to the farmer’s market, or works directly with farmers. It’s an additional $5-10/week for the delivery charge, compared to our CSA cost (our CSA is on the way home from work). The advantage is that it’s delivered, you can choose to skip weeks, and you get more variety since you are getting from several farmers. Our farm also will occasionally provide produce from nearby farms. But there are some things that they just don’t grow, so you aren’t ever going to get them.
I’ve gotten quite used to the spring greens, and have no problem getting through them. This year was very light in squash, I was sad. But when we have gotten way too many squash, I will roast and freeze in baggies, then have months of butternut squash soup at my disposal. Or risotto.
I’m joining a CSA and just planted a garden, both for the first time ever. The CSA is my back up plan in case some things in my garden don’t make it. Clearly I have a lot of faith in my gardening skills.
I’m doing a CSA for the first time this year–we’ll see how it goes! Someday I’ll do my own garden.
This post made me so excited for spring and summer veggies!
I am a die-hard Farmer’s Market girl and have always wanted to try the CSA option but it’s not too friendly on my budget currently. A couple months from now I will have the space and time to start my own garden, so I am definitely going to try that out. Please do plenty of posts on your garden building, I can’t wait to see your progress!
I SOOOOOoooo Miss our All Local Farmer’s Market!!! We moved about an hour and a half away from it and I still get a little sad every Saturday morning :( There are some farmer’s Markets about 20-25 minutes away from where we live now… Hoping to give them a try this season!
I agree with you about the pros and cons of doing a CSA. We did it once and ended up getting a lot of veggies that we dont’t eat (hot peppers!!) and it was about a 20 minutes drive to pick it up for us too! But it was nice to have fresh food right from the fram! Pros and cons to everythig I guess :)
I’ve been doing some research to get signed up this year as well. We just purchased our first home in January so I’m planning a vegatable garden right now. I feel like I don’t know enough to really get it going… but, we shall see!
I’ve shopped at farmers’ markets for several years and love it. This year we are splitting a CSA share with another couple, and I will supplement with the farmers’ markets and supermarket. We are also considering a raised bed for herbs, tomatoes, peppers and maybe garlic.
I REALLY want to find a CSA share for one, since my family wouldn’t ever eat all the veggies with me. It would open me up to so many different veggies! But in the mean time I plan on hitting the farmers market more often and making friends with my local farmers.
I Planted a garden and it was so easy. I thought it was such a miracle tha the veggies actually grew! I plant green beans, squash, and tomatoes. This year I am going to also do bell peppers and some herbs.
I love CSAs! I don’t think it’s fair that they wouldn’t disclose the pick-up location before you paid. It might have made you change your mind about opting out of delivery. I’m a failed gardener. I plan on trying again this summer. I’d like to try square foot gardening.
I try and buy organic from the supermarket but every week i am more and more dissapointed in the quality and that its not all local- why do they have to put wax on apples etc, it doesnt feel like real food when you can just about see your reflection in it. This year i am planning to buy produce from a local fruit and vegetable market and start a herb garden.
I’m a BIG Farmer’s market fan, and can’t wait until the local produce is available.
I am getting a CSA this summer, and I am pretty excited about it! I can’t wait to discover all the goodies!
I would love to have a garden but am pretty clueless, too. I’ll look forward to learning about it!
P.S. What’s an RMT?
Yayyyy gardening! I started our garden this weekend– started the seedlings for our peppers, tomatoes and basil, planted herbs in pots and and planted lettuce, arugula and peas in the window boxes on our deck. I’m documenting the process as I go, too, like how to start seedlings yourself, etc. Excited to see your potential garden!
When I saw Milton I thought it was just a coincidence, but then I saw Oakville. I can’t believe how close we live. I find it so cool lol :)
I often go my local farmer’s markets for produce but more often just go to the fruit shop up the road because I tend to get lazy early on Sunday Mornings :)
But gardening is one of my hobbies, and this summer I had a truck load of beans growing (really easy to grow!) and if you don’t have time for a full on garden like I don’t, pots of herbs and quick growing things such as radishes and salad stuff are very handy. I only have a 1x2m square area to plant in too, so I am limited in what I can plant.
Good luck :)
God, I hope your garden goes better than mine did last year! My cucumbers overtook the my yard, my tomatoes never ripened, and animals ate my squash and strawberries. I’m giving it a try again this year! Just picked up my seeds….