Our Vegetable CSA Experience

This spring we took the plunge and signed ourselves up with a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). For an upfront fee we got a box of fruits and vegetables, as they became available, from June to October.

As those of you who read this post know, I am not exactly a vegetable lover. I did a lot of research into the CSA's in my area and ended up picking the Stillman's CSA because it seemed to offer mostly the vegetables I will grudgingly consume. Plus it's right near my sister-in-law's house, and I could beg her to pick it up when she got her own, thus saving me a "boring" trip out with the kids.

Now, I'm fairly certain that I cannot blame Stillman's for the 60+ days of rain that we experienced in June, July, and August. I also can't blame them for the subsequent crops that flourished in said 60+ days of rain. Regardless of who is to blame, what I seem to have received this summer went a little like this:

June: Beets, kale, beets, kale, zucchini, beets, kale, zucchini, small container of strawberries.
July: Oh look, more beets. A container of blueberries.
August: Zucchini, lettuce, some corn, and kale. 3 golden plums.
September: Eggplant, cucumber, weird lettuce, eggplant, cucumber, corn, weird lettuce, eggplant, weird lettuce, some apples, a melon.

Now, I'll admit that I'm paraphrasing. There were a few tomatoes, string beans, potatoes and other things thrown in, and I know that the Stillman's folks weren't intentionally loading me with ultra-healthy but ultimately, in this family anyway, inedible greenery. But honestly, I gave half of everything we got to my in-laws. By the 4th week, my sister-in-law refused to take any more beets or kale, and they may possibly have ended up in my garbage. I have guilt about this.

I'm starting to realize that if I had been born pre-supermarket I would have been naturally selected out of existence. You can call me childish or fussy or absurd (I do), but foods that don't please my palate generally make me gag. It's not that I don't want to eat kale, it's just that once you wilt the lettuce the texture is so revolting. I can appreciate the beauty of a freshly picked tomato, it's just that when you take a bite the guts squish out in your mouth.

Anyway, I will delve no further into this particular neurosis. Suffice it to say, while I thank Stillman's for their hard work and effort in providing fresh local produce to me and mine, and while I encourage you to seek out and connect with a CSA program local to you and your family, I will limit myself next year to supporting my local farmers market.