I am fortunate enough to live mere blocks from a local CSA farm (they hung on to a few acres of farmland when their family sold most of the area for a housing development) and we’re getting into good harvest season. Today’s haul: radishes, carrots, turnips, basil, cherry tomatoes, kale, edible flowers, onions, lettuce, oyster & lion’s mane mushrooms. Veggies for dinner tonight! (and yes, if you can find me, you’re invited).

If you have a CSA in your area, I urge you to check out the cost of membership. If you can afford it, it’s usually a win both for small farmers and for the quality of your diet.

[Image description: plastic bags full of vegetables on a kitchen counter]

  • LallyLuckFarm@beehaw.orgM
    1·
    2 years ago

    I’m so jealous! We’re just getting into nights above 50f (10C) but a number of growers have already dropped out of our local market and have had a hard time fulfilling their CSA members due to the weather weirdness.

    • ffmike@beehaw.orgOP
      1·
      2 years ago

      Our farmer is having the opposite problem - we’ve had unseasonably warm weather here, so lettuce & basil are already bolting. Of course this means I scored a whole pile of extra basil last week, so I can’t complain too much.

  • StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website
    1·
    2 years ago

    Great that you were able to find a CSA that is a fit for your family.

    We really wanted to do this several years ago, but found that most of the local ones balanced out their production with either canning or smoking themselves or dry goods. Unfortunately we have some food intolerances in our family and none of the CSAs could accommodate.

    Instead we found a local delivery service with a focus on getting food from local and regional small farmers and producers as much as possible. They do their best to provide a clean label products and it’s been working for us since before the pandemic.

    • ffmike@beehaw.orgOP
      2·
      2 years ago

      Good to hear you were able to find a way to get good local produce! Using a CSA isn’t quite as nice as growing my own, but I no longer have half an acre to devote to home gardening (or, probably, the back muscle strength to manage it myself). It really does seem like small scale production and actual freshness does make everything taste better. I pity people who have only had supermarket carrots.