“A successful local food economy implies not only a new kind of food producer, but a new kind of eater as well, one who regards finding, preparing, and preserving food as one of the pleasures of life rather than a chore.” Wendell Berry
Your decision to be part of a CSA, individually motivated by a variety of factors, is a big step in supporting your local food system. As you may already know, by joining the a CSA you are entering into a partnership with a farmer. Our focus is to support farmers, thus encouraging local food production. This partnership involves shared risk and rewards that often requires members to shift their personal approach to food. While the CSA is always excited to have new members, the most successful relationship is a long-term commitment. We recognize that many factors contribute to member turnover; our goal is to work with you to have a positive experience. In order to achieve this goal we would like to address some challenges members may face.
1. “I’m getting too much/not enough produce!”
The number of people that an average share will feed will depend on whether vegetables are the star of your meals or merely a side dish, on how often you eat at home or eat meals out and whether you use CSA produce as your main food source or as a supplement.
The CSA Benefit:
CSA membership means engaging in some new food practices and offers an opportunity to re-learn the pleasures of cooking.
Tips for Success:
- Consider reducing supplemental produce from the grocery store to insure that you are using your CSA produce in full.
- Prioritize your CSA vegetables before putting them away. This will ensure that the most perishable produce gets used first.
- The CSA website offers great tips for storage and preparation.
- If it is not enough produce, you can supplement with produce from farmer’s markets or buy a second share.
- If it is too much produce, consider splitting a share.
2. “I’m concerned with the cost.”
The CSA is unusual in the sense that it requires you to pay for your produce in advance. This, of course, is how we support the farmer; by providing operating capital upfront and a guaranteed market at harvest time. Commitment to the CSA idea requires this shift in food-buying habits. After the initial payment is made, you can pick up your share for 13 weeks with no further payment.
CSA Benefit:
Regular price checks at local organic grocery stores confirm that CSA prices are lower. In addition, we believe that CSA produce is often better — produce that is harvested only when ripe and delivered immediately to you generally tastes better and is more nutritious.
Tips for Success:
- Members who rely primarily on the food from their CSA share(s) find that their grocery bills decrease.
- Start a CSA savings account by putting aside $19 a week. By the next session, you will be ready with your payment.
- Remember that your investment helps a local farmer who is committed to environmental and social justice issues.
3. “Produce looks different than in the grocery store.”
Much like an assembly line, conventional grocery stores demand that produce be uniform in size, shape, and color, skewing our expectations for how produce should look. Disadvantages of this conventional system include excessive waste and unnatural farm practices focused on appearance, not flavor.
The CSA Benefit:
You are getting a true, organic experience, in the sense that it is simple, local, healthful and close to nature.
Tips for Success:
- Enjoy the opportunity to see produce the way it really is.
- Congratulate yourself for participating in a food system that honors taste over appearance.
- Food is fun! Take a photo of your funniest vegetable. We could have a contest.
4. “I missed my pick-up, can I pick it up some other time?”
You must pick up your share during your designated pick-up time. We do not have the resources or capacity to set your share aside for a later pick-up.
The CSA Benefit:
If you are unable to have someone pick up your share, it will not be wasted. Unclaimed produce is donated to local charities or to the CSA’s surplus basket.
Tips for Success:
- Ask a friend or neighbor to pick up for you.
- Schedule your pickup day to coordinate with other food routines (try to do your grocery shopping after you see what your share contains).
- Work with another CSA member and trade off pick-up duties.
5. “I’m bored with (Fill in vegetable name here).”
The very idea that vegetables are only available during a particular season makes them all the more special. Once you have eaten produce at the height of its season, you will have a hard time eating out of season again. Because we share the risks as well as the rewards with the farmer, we may sometimes experience many weeks of a flourishing crop while missing something that was not as successful.
CSA Benefit:
Farmer Frank grows over 200 different crops in four different locations. The location of these fields in different elevations and climate zones allows for year-round farming and great produce diversity, and it reduces the impact of crop failures. Understanding the subtle shifts as we move between seasons helps us develop intuition about, and connection with, our food. We have the opportunity to be creative in our use of these vegetables.
Tips for Success:
- The CSA website, cookbooks, the internet and other members can all help with fresh ideas for produce.
- Pickup days are a great time to network about preparation ideas. Occasionally we will have recipe tasting and demonstrations.
- The CSA offers a quarterly cooking class with fresh ideas about the upcoming vegetables.
- Preserving (freezing, etc.) vegetables for a future time helps prevent boredom and offers the convenience of homemade frozen food.
6. “I miss having choice in my vegetables”
The choice that exists in the produce aisles of conventional grocery stores is the product of a centralized, global food system. As a CSA member, you participate in a local food system. This focus requires us to shift from a recipe-based cooking style to one based on available ingredients. We re-learn what it means to eat according to the seasons. We also learn what can be grown in our desert environment.
The CSA Benefit:
The choice offered in the produce aisles of grocery stores can be daunting. There is simplicity in eating seasonally. You are getting vegetables at their peak of ripeness and flavor.
Tips for Success:
- Continue to cook your favorite dishes by just changing the vegetables according to the season. Your favorite pasta dish may highlight tomatoes, winter squash, leafy greens or broccoli, depending on the time of the year.
- Make a list of what you really miss and can’t live without. You can always supplement your share with these store-bought favorites.
- Use the CSA website, internet recipe sites or favorite cookbooks to learn new ways to use unfamiliar produce.
WE ALL LEARN AS WE GO. YOUR FEEDBACK AND TESTIMONY ARE WELCOME. WE WILL INCLUDE THEM ON THIS PAGE TO HELP MORE MEMBERS MAKE THE MOST OF THE CSA.
