Why join a CSA?

I LOVE summertime! All winter long I look forward to the warm weather, the extra daylight and the FRESH produce!!! As a chef there is nothing better than getting ingredients at their peak of flavor and preparing them in new and delicious ways!

When I first transitioned from working in restaurants to working as a private chef six years ago, the most challenging part was learning how to enjoy the bounty of summer harvest from what was available in the supermarket. In the past I had always been able to work with local produce vendors who did the sourcing from the local farms for me and then delivered them to the backdoor of the restaurant I was running. This was a convenient system I took for granted and one that I recognize was pretty disconnected from the farmland and the farmers themselves. Lucky for me my lack of options at the grocery store pushed me further to explore the local CSAs in my area. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and it works like this. Local farms sell "shares" of the farms produce each year, allowing people to access organic veggies at a fraction of the price. These farm shares on average range anywhere from $400-$800 per season beginning in May and ending sometime in November. Each week or every other week depending on what you choose, you stop at the farm and pickup your produce, which changes throughout the growing season. My shares in May for example included a variety of lettuces, some carrots and peas while the most current share this last week of July included peppers, squashes and cucumbers. I personally am looking most forward to tomatoes which should be coming into season in about a week or so, fingers crossed! In my personal opinion tomatoes and cucumbers are only really worth eating raw during the summer months, a fact my husband can attest to. To me, the ones I purchase in the store throughout the year just don't taste the same, so I celebrate these veggies in season by making a variety of cold cucumber and sliced tomato salads with garden grown basil, fresh mozzarella, and local balsamic vinegar. It just doesn't get any better than that!

Cooking from the farm directly to the dinner table has become a way of life for me now.  It excites my creativity and has the added benefit of supporting the local farmers and my community at the same time.

Here are some of the reasons I personally would recommend participating in a CSA: 

1) Supporting these farms financially allows them to continue growing local food.

2) The veggies are higher in nutrients, since they are being picked oftentimes that day before or even the day you get them.

3) It deepens your connection between the earth and the bounty that comes from it.

4) It forces you out of your comfort zone by getting a "mystery box" of ingredients to work with each week.

5) It allows you to eat food fresh from the farm without the added work of having your own garden!

6) It's better for the environment since the vegetables are not traveling long distances to get to your table. 

7) It connects you directly to the farm and farmer in a community minded and practical way.  

This year late in the spring, one of my good friends Natalie, asked me about my experience with CSAs and I told her simply, "DO IT!" She'd recently had her first child and was looking for an easy way to access fresh organic veggies and be involved with a local farm each week. She decided to join The Poughkeepsie Farm Project, which operates out of the Vassar College Farm. She says "It's a fun weekly family outing to pick out, pick up and in some cases actually harvest our produce. While we're there I feel particularly connected to the earth and its ability to sustain us." She also mentioned how she has been shocked at how delicious carrots can be when harvested and eaten so shortly after! 

So if you have never joined a CSA before where do you look? A great place to start is localharvest.org. There, you can type in your zip code and a local list of CSA farms and their websites will be listed. If you happen to be in the Hudson Valley area check out hudsonvalleycsa.org. Some of the farms I recommend and have worked with in the past include Glynwood Farm in Cold Spring, NY as well as Hemlock Hill Farm, located in Cortlandt Manor, NY. Both of these farms are committed to growing organic produce and have wonderful farm shares available.

I feel so fortunate to live in a place that is as beautiful and bountiful as the Hudson Valley. There is no greater joy for me than to take some fresh carrots, beets or a bunch of lettuce, add my own creative flair to a dish and serve it to others. I'm proud to support these farms so that they in turn can continue to support us for years to come!