Getting Started

The 2009 CSA season is about to start and our household are tenting our fingers with glee at the prospect of our first share. This is our third year with Lancaster farm fresh and our second year hosting. I joined my first CSA when I was in college. My roommate and I, two twenty-somethings in our first apartment on Fairmount Avenue, were completely clueless. We laid waste to the cherry tomatoes and other delectables and left more complicated items like Kale and Swiss chard to wilt and decompose in the crisper.

Many years later, my wife and I do a pretty good job of using what is on hand each week. It takes some planning and research, especially when new and interesting items come down the line. It has been a great opportunity to expand out repertoire in the kitchen.

Last year, I thought about blogging our CSA for the first time. Would it be an interesting exercise to write about what we did with our share each week? Well, in the end I could not get excited about the idea. It seemed a bit self-centered and bland.

This year, the host sites were invited to an orientation at the co-op. We toured the packing facility and a couple of the farms. It was amazing to see where everything came from and to meet some of the farmers who grow our food. We toured plastic-sheeted greenhouses that were warm and humid inside despite the raw windy day outside and saw the seedlings that would become our heirloom tomatoes, onions, and watermelons. The farmers told us about what it took to be certified organic and answered our questions.

It was also just as exciting to talk to the other hosts. They all had great ideas about how to best use our CSA shares.

Sometime during the day I decided that I wanted to start a recipe share blog, where CSA members could share ideas about how to cook, or, if needed, preserve and store all of the tasty items that we will be seeing in a few short days.

So here we are. Got a hot tip on what to do with radishes? Want to share your family rhubarb cobbler recipe? Willing to drop a few gems from your secret cook book stash? Drop us an email.

Thanks for sharing,

Todd & Nora
Mt. Airy Philadelphia Site Hosts