It is a little bit ironic that I am posting this now, since my household has had a significant setback in this arena this year. For over a year now we’ve been raving about the moral and physical benefits of our CSA, or Community Sponsored Agriculture, which I found via JustFood.org, queen-pin of all urban-agriculture hippie-sites. If you’ve been in earshot of any of the enthusiasts, you have probably experienced our lengthy sermons about what a mind-expanding experience it is to have amazing, fresh, local produce delivered to you every week, and the constant adventure of finding ways to cook the novel grub.
Things I’d never known existed before — garlic scapes, pea shoots, purslane — and those I did but never considered purchasing — beets, winter squash, sweet potatoes — are suddenly my favorite foods. Since signing on for the fruit share, I’ve discovered the breathtaking complexity of flavor in a New York State apple (NOT to be confused with those bland supermarket Red- and Golden Deliciouses! But that’s a whooole other post, my friends).
The fact that you pre-pay for the food and get whatever happens to be harvested that week makes you work a little harder planning your meals, maybe, but I can’t think of anything more worth the effort than the feeling (and flavor) of having prepped a totally local, totally delicious meal for yourself. Worried about not knowing how to cook all these exotic plants? Generally the CSA newsletter will give you a couple of handy tips for prep and storage, and frankly you’d be surprised how many things you can just throw in a frying pan with some oil & garlic.
Nobody really taught me how to cook, specifically, I’ve always just had to figure it out as I went along. And having the CSA has done more for this process than my 6 months as a student in London when the daily cooking lesson was “101 ways to prepare white rice, the only food you can afford.”
So yes, we’ve become veg-evangelical about the farmshare. Which brings me to the irony: we kind of dropped the ball on it this year and didn’t sign up in time. By the time we got our forms in order, all the shares were taken. Truth is I’m reading people’s Tweets about what they received in their shares this week and drooling with envy. Sigh. So until next year, it’ll be the Greenmarket for me, and the solace of becoming Captain Vegetable to those around me.
The General Enthusiast 