This is the diary of our CSA share this year. The cost of a full share is $545 for 22 weeks (this CSA offers a winter share) which will bring us to the last week in October, and works out to $24.75 per week. Western New York weather is such that June is lightest CSA month. September and October will be more than abundant! Usually I feel I don’t get my money’s worth the first few weeks (which will be predominantly lettuces), but the fall bags more than make up for that.
Our CSA Share
● Bok Choy
● Broccoli
● Broccoli Raab
● Head Lettuce (red this week, and so pretty!)
● Red Leaf Lettuce
● Salad Turnips
● Various Greens – including Tot Soi, Vitamin Greens, Han Sai Tai, Tokyo Bukama, Mizuna
We have had a lot of rain this past week. The CSA told us that the kale, arugula and radishes were washed away, but they hoped with some sun that they’d come back as the root system was still there for some of it.
This week was less green than I expected, the two red lettuce helped that a lot. I took the bib heads instead of the red leaf lettuce as they were very, very pretty! The salad turnips were white which also helped. We’ll be using the salad fixings on Sunday for a Father’s Day get together.
Hubby has plans for soup with all the broccoli pieces. I sense a recipe!
Do you belong to a CSA? If so, what type? How much? Do you find it as worthwhile as I do?
● Past CSA Shares
● Find a CSA NYS Fruit and Vegetable Harvest Calendar
● US Agricultural Data
Barbee says
Pic makes me hungry!
You folks who live up north get to eats yummy greens in the summer….and we get to eat it in the winter.
Thank God for the refrigerated truck!
Is it just the two of you (not counting Max) that eat $24/wk of produce? If you didn’t have the CSA would you spend that much @ the grocery?
I’m asking because we don’t spend that much @ the grocery but my situation is not a far comparison….
…and the crop losses-they seem to be mounting up. After that freaky cold winter/spring….
Everything in my garden bolted (went to flower/bloomed) out of season. The plants thought another year had passed. [Winter Spring and then winter …and then another spring.] Totally ruined my onions, broccoli, radishes and some carrots. The potatoes and garlic came in really small-but I’m not sure if the cold spring caused that. YUK.
Thanks for the post.
Ann says
Well, this week we went to the grocery store and spent an additional $30 on produce. Apparently we eat a lot of fruits and veges. Until you made me stop and think, I had no idea we did!
There is no denying that bag for bag, last year’s produce will be the better value. It was certified organic (this one is all natural using organic farming methods, but they did not get certified which, according to the people we buy our beef from, is quite the process) and $300 a year. It also lasts a few more weeks. However, with that bag, we’d give away a lot/waste it/freeze it. So far with this bag, we ate everything last week or shared it with my sister. This week the same, she will get half the greens and a lettuce. Since she has celiac disease, it helps her budget.
I think produce prices are going to rise considerably this year with the crazy weather! If things are washed out up here where we are only getting the tail end of storms, what is it like in the midwest and Atlantic regions? I hope you can replant, Barbee!
Ann
KimH says
I went to the grocery store a few weeks ago to buy some veggies to ferment (yum!) and I liked to have choked when I paid $7.50 for 3 kohlrabi… and then they tasted like dirt when I tried to eat one.. Into the trash it went. Talk about PO’d. I’d agree that the price of everything is going up..
I personally wouldnt be eating this many veggies if I didnt have a CSA, however, I do know that since I have had one, I dont cook a lot of crap, I tend to find new recipes to use up what I have and I like supporting fresh, local, & organic.
KimH says
btw.. I think thats broccolini (broccolette) you have there instead of rabe.. Or it looks that way from here!!
They’re different creatures.. similar, true.. but not the same
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapini This is Raab or Rabe..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broccolini
I love em both!! M’honey doesnt like either one.. 😛
Ann says
The ones with the flowers are sprout broccoli (broccolini) the stuff behind the bok choy is rabe. Thanks Kim!
Ann
Ann says
Kim I would LOVE the recipe (and pictures!) to share your fermented veggies recipe!
Ann
KimH says
I’ll have to take some pictures next time I start a batch… There is very little to it.. really..
My girlfriend & I ate most of my last bath today.. maybe I’ll make some more tomorrow.. after I see whats in my CSA share!!
Skirnir Hamilton says
What do you recommend doing with broccoli rabe? I still have some from our last CSA pickup and haven’t decided what to do with it. We don’t tend to like cooked greens.
Ann says
Hubby is going to use it in a soup, Skirnir. How are you feeling?
Ann
Skirnir Hamilton says
Maybe soup will work this weekend, I need to use that Broccoli rabe and know how to use it soon. Just haven’t researched it. Did enjoy our Swiss chard egg quiche the other night though. Have a bit of left and may do it again. Love breakfast for dinner.
I am feeling frustrated. The infection is basically gone, so it doesn’t hurt to eat anymore, but the doctor says it feels like I have a 1.5 centimeter stone in my salivary gland and wants to do a ct scan in 4 weeks. I commented that if he had said three weeks, I would have a problem because we are going on our first ever cruise. His response was that if the infection came back during the cruise at least there is a doctor on board. I so wanted to groan, cry, smack him, something. I know it was meant to be reassuring, and I know he had said the infection may come back, but I didn’t want the thought of it coming back during the cruise with my husband’s inlaws, his brother’s family and his other brother. I mean, it hurt so much to eat, I really didn’t feel comfortable eating anywhere but home for a little over a week. Can you imagine such discomfort on a cruise? (Yes, if I immediately got antibiotics when it started hurting, it would go away quicker, but then I would have to fight the effects of antibiotics on my IBS.) So long story short, I am feeling frustrated that it isn’t over yet. And frustrated that I am the only person who can have something that makes it hard to eat, and still not loose a pound. Gained about a pound a day or two after the pain went away, even with the antibiotics effects.
Ann says
Take antibiotics with you on the cruise. If you need them on the ship the may/may not have what you need. The facility is like an awesome private pay medical center, but they only have so many medications on board. Where are you cruising?
And you can believe that you are NOT the only person that doesn’t lose weight when you can’t eat. There is at least one other person I know of, and that would be me!
I hope you kick this soon, Skirnir. There is nothing worse than a lingering illness.
Ann
Stephanie K says
So sorry you’re having issues. My grandmother recently had surgery to remove a salivary gland since she had reoccurring stones. I had never even heard of such a thing. She is happy that she had the surgery, now there’s no more worrying about when the next stone/infection might happen.