Saturday, November 17, 2012

CSA Reflection + Photos!

We've come to the end of our second CSA experience. I wrote a post earlier this year outlining some of the pros/cons of joining a CSA; this is a more personal reflection on our experience this year.

It's been a good year. Will we do it again? We don't know. We make that decision come spring--it depends on whether we want to seriously garden, what our finances are like, what our schedules will be like, and similar factors. This year they opened up a new pick-up day/location which was MUCH more convenient than our pick-up during 2011. That helped tip the scales.

Our favorites from this year:
  • cucumbers
  • getting to try so many different types of greens!
  • learning that there are ways we can enjoy turnips, eggplant, beets, and a host of similar vegetables
  • all the bell peppers--there were MANY this year
  • getting to know Caleb and the other Colvins (like Isaac) we came into contact with!
The hardest things:
  • September and October, no doubt about it. Fall is SUCH a busy time, and the vegetables that start to come in during late summer/early fall often demand more prep/cooking than their summer counterparts (eggplant, for instance, as opposed to cucumbers). 

Cookbooks used heavily:
  • Simply in Season--I cannot imagine a CSA experience without this invaluable resource. As I type, I have two recipes in the works for dinner tonight from this book!
  • Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone--I didn't use this as much, but it was a terrific resource and idea starter
  • How to Cook Everything, 10th ann edition and Joy of Cooking, 1997 edition--again, I didn't use these quite as much as Simply in Season, but they provided invaluable tips and tricks from some veggies
  • Cook's Illustrated Cookbook--the BEST for a HUGE variety of salads, some featuring lettuce as the base and some featuring primarily vegetables. This came in handy when we had an abundance of radishes, arugula, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. I also made their version of Gazpacho several times.
The Pictures of our 2012 Experience, in order--notice the change over time in colors and types of produce!





















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