For a little while now, I've been trying to up my game when it comes…
The Teeniest Hints of Spring
We’re starting to see the teeniest hints of spring here in our nation’s capital (though I say that and they’re also saying it may snow again at the end of the week. The weather here can get a little schizophrenic when a season is changing.) Regardless, the onset of spring gets me thinking about vegetables.
I know it’s weird.
In a perfect world, I would have a garden. In that garden, I’d grow tomatoes and sweet bell peppers and banana peppers and zucchini and cucumbers and lettuce. Probably not peas or carrots because…yuk. But I might even try those. Maybe. In the real world, though, we have to deal with the fact that I have a black thumb.
Before you start with things like “Oh, I’m sure it’s not that bad…” please know I’ve killed mint and a jade plant, both of which I have been assured from multiple sources are virtually unkillable. Unless, of course, you’re me.
I suspect my son and I will still plant a few doomed seeds and give it the old college try again this year as we did last. But I don’t have any hope that we’ll end up with something edible. Which has me, yet again, considering a CSA.
I love the idea of the CSA (that’s Community Supported Agriculture for the uninitiated and it’s basically a way for local(ish) farmers to sell their produce direct to the consumer. The farmer benefits because they actually sell the produce and the consumer has the benefit of knowing how their veggies were raised and what they’re eating. And, as a bonus, you’re supporting a local business.) Generally the CSAs that I’ve found nearby have pickup points that are a good 45 minute drive from me, which starts to make them less appealing. (Then when I find myself staring at Peruvian tomatoes in the store and deciding not to buy any because I just have an issue with my vegetables having come from somewhere I’ve never visited and would need a passport to get to, 45 minutes doesn’t seem quite so bad.)
So I am, yet again, waffling on the CSA front. A friend recommended one I hadn’t heard of before and looking at them, there’s a pickup point that’s not actually horribly far away and their list of what typical baskets contain is actually food we eat (sometimes they’re like KALE, Get your kale! Eat Kale every day! and yeah, I don’t mind a little kale, but I don’t need a lifetime supply in every week’s basket.) So we may give it a go.
Do you participate in a CSA?
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Here we call them Farmers markets, and yes occasionally, if I feel like driving to it on Saturdays. I also buy some of my produce at a Mexican market that has good produce. The bananas don’t turn brown in two days like they do from the regular market.
We have Farmer’s Markets, too. Though the one near me is actually on Sunday morning so it’s usually over by the time I’m out of church. Thus thinking through the CSA. (Plus, our Farmer’s Markets tend to feel more like a flea market than an actual place to purchase food. There’s baked goods and crafts and maybe one vegetable stand. It’s a little sad.)
I love our CSA! The farmers are blessed people, and it’s only about fifteen minutes away. We get things we’re used to eating and things we’ve never tried before. I like opening the box and trying to figure out how to use everything before the next one comes; it’s like a laid-back version of Top Chef.
Oh yay – I love hearing that. (I have this fear that we’re not going to use it. I think I need to bite the bullet and try it for a year and just go with it.) I LOVE the Top Chef (or maybe more like Chopped?) analogy – I’m totally going to be playing that in my head now when the baskets start up!