[sts9fan]

My CSA rocked this week.  In the vein of the "waste" thread here is a nice thing to do.  Plus you can get some amazing foods!  I like that I do not know what I am getting week to week.
http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/pubs/csa/csa.shtml
Part of last Saturdays haul

[Bob in St. Louis]

It took me awhile to Google what "CSA" meant. 
"Community Support Agriculture"
Oh, ok....
If that's what you mean, we have a place down the street that carries only locally grown veggies, but the food isn't very attractive. The taste is fairly good but nothing to brag about. Certainly nothing as good looking as what you've got there!     

Bob

[sts9fan]

Yeah we pay up front for a "share" of the farm.  So then all summer and fall we pick up a box on Saturdays.  It makes you use things you will not pick up at the store.  Like LOTS of kale. 

[Andrikos]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrikos/275528757/

This picture was from two years ago.
This year we've had over 1,000 lbs of grapes...

[sts9fan]

I thought I would revive this short thread because last month we joined a meat CSA.  Let me tell you this has been the most eye opening fantastic culinary thing to happen to me in a LONG while.  Once a month we pick up 10lbs of meat (mostly flash frozen).  Evey month is different depending on what had been sent to the slaughterhouse.  They also will sell you extras like hot lamb sausage...mmmmmmm.

Anyway all this stuff is pasture/grass fed beef and real pasture chickens etc.  The quality of this meat is just superlative.  As you may or may not know that the reason everyone touts the health benefits of bison meat is because it is only grass fed.  It is not fattened in feed lots on corn which requires the cows to be given drugs so they can digest.  So BASIC this beef is similar to bison in its omega3s and general less unhealthily(all in moderation)
Finally THE EGGS!!!!!!  They may be green shelled, smaller and $7.00/doz but i would pay $20/doz no problem.  If you have never had a properly fed egg you are missing out big time.  The eggs are smaller but the yolk is larger and bright almost florescent orange and the shell is much thicker.  The taste and texture is to die for. 
Anyone in MA check these people out for sure.  They are generally great people with a product that is second to none.  I am looking forward to the lamb leg for Easter dinner.  Fresh killed baby!
http://www.stillmansfarm.com/theturkeyfarm.html

[Brown]

Great info thanks a bunch man.

[galyons]

CSA's are great. You get top quality produce and a variety that you will not see in a supermarket.  Keeps your culinary creativity at peak levels! 

Rant alert!
The factory food and factory farming camps are trying to put certified organics out of business!  Time and again unbiased studies, (read "not paid for by Monsanto"!), show that sustainable farming produces superior products while being soil friendly.  The chemical farming depletes the soil and kills the soil building microorganisms!

Sorry for the rant!
Cheers,
Geary

[macrojack]

Life in the country. We have our own CSA. My wife is a Master Gardener, has the summers off and keeps a large garden on our friend's 15 acres of bottom land. I have access to beef, elk, venison and eggs locally and buy Maverick free range chicken and Beeler's pork products at Vitamin Cottage. Been involved with natural foods and organic gardening since the 70s and studied Macrobiotics in 1984 near srts9fan in Brookline, Mass. I will attest to the obvious superiority of organic, fresh and free range food products.
Geary is right about Monsanto. It is the most evil corporation on earth and should be eliminated.

You've seen what kind of diluted and compromised audio products come from enormous multinational corporations. Just imagine how much they care about your food. If they can add to the bottom line by selling you diseased, poisonous, rat piss food, they will. Doing otherwise would not be good business.

[sts9fan]

Some of us just don't have the land for that stuff so we adapt.  The funny thing is we spend less, shop less and eat healthier.  Seems like a no brainer to me.  Ok so maybe the meat is more money but $17 a week get us tons of veggies.

I am ditching work today to dig a garden in my back yard (mostly for hops though  ).  Its going to be mostly nitrogen fixing plants and the hops. 

Has anyone read "The Omnivore's Dilema"?  Pretty good book. 
   

[ratso]

i've now spent all day researching this and am super excited. thanx a lot for this!

[sts9fan]

it only gets better and obnoxiously satisfying

[pardales]

We have been part of a CSA for several years now. It is a good thing.

[BradJudy]

This will be our first week with a CSA-style service.  It isn't a true CSA since it's not a direct, single-farm thing, but a company that pulls from multiple area farms for a similar weekly veggie pick-up box.  Our first pick-up is on Thursday and we're looking forward to it.