On singles and CSAs

On singles and CSAs

29 Aug 2007

Got questions about the environment? Ask Umbra.

Hi Umbra!

I've held back from joining a CSA because 1) I live alone and am worried about wasting food, and 2) I'm worried I'll get so much oddball stuff, especially in the winter, that I won't know what to do with it. I figure I can overcome No. 1 by seeking out some sufficiently hip neighbors and seeing if they want to share (although someone cautioned me that it gets hard to split the choice stuff -- she mentioned an incident with six strawberries). But I'm more concerned about the second. I work a lot, and don't have a ton of time to research recipes or do lengthy food preparation. It seems so much easier to buy what I need at the farmers' market. But I'd like to support local farms more directly, and ideologically, I like the idea of CSA -- do you have any advice?

Tara
Sacramento, Calif.

Dearest Tara,

Let veggies into your life.

Photo: iStockphoto

Hmm. The farmers' market might be the better choice for you. No harm in that, either. CSA advice first, and then soothing remarks about farmers' markets.

Recently, we discovered that community-supported agriculture means joining one's eating fate to a particular farm by paying at the beginning of the season for weekly boxes of produce (the nuance-free description). Fighting over strawberries does sound tearful. One thing you could do is find a CSA that offers half-shares. They will divide the strawberries ahead of time, and you will still get to meet your sufficiently hip neighbors as you each pick up your box without rancor.

Farmers have to plan the harvest months in advance. Duh, right? This is to your advantage should you choose to join a CSA: you can ask what will be in your upcoming boxes. The farmer knows whether kohlrabi and rutabaga are en route. In fact, any experienced CSA farmer has seen enough confused members to have thought around the kohlrabi surprise. So as you look around for a CSA to join, you'll usually see a list of expected upcoming foods, and later, recipes for unfamiliar foods.

I've seen CSAs get around the I-don't-like-that issue by having members pick up their produce on the farm and pack their own boxes, directed by signs saying "take one broccoli or one rapini." You don't want rapini, you don't have to have it. An adventurous person accustomed to eating seasonally and excited about leaving broccoli behind them, by the way, would be a great candidate for supporting a beginning farmer. Remember, it's not just a financial transaction, it's community-supported agriculture.

Ask Umbra continues below

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A good cookbook might be another way to get around fear of the unusual. There are cookbooks out there for every specialty, and you need one on simple cooking with vegetables. I, of course, have advice on this point: Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone has a section organized by vegetable. Under "carrots" will be a list of simple suggestions for stuff that goes well with carrots (e.g., dill), and three to seven recipes ranging from glorified steamed carrots to something kind of special. Also, I'll give you a hot tip: almost everything is tasty steamed and served with butter, salt, and pepper. Join a CSA, get the box, find a simple recipe, gain confidence, look forward to new odd foods. It could happen to you.

That said, community-supported agriculture and farmers' markets are not necessarily systems in conflict. Farmers' market stands are either run by middlepeople, selling stuff other people grew, or run directly by the farmers themselves. (To find out which is which, inquire at the market organizer's tent, or at the booths if you are comfortable.) In the latter case, you are supporting a farm just as directly as with a CSA. The money goes right to the farmer. It's just a different model. If you shop often and faithfully, the farm will begin to feel assured of a certain amount of income each week at the market stand, and you could get a little closer to the CSA ideal while still controlling your produce choice.

Oh, here's my last CSA idea: just go for it, get a whole share, don't worry about the unfamiliar food. Find or make a cooking, adventurous friend. Give them the produce you can't or don't wish to cook. I bet they'll sometimes invite you over to eat it. Everyone wins.

Turniply,
Umbra

Yours is to wonder why, hers is to answer (or try). Please send Umbra any nagging question pertaining to the environment -- but first check out her FAQs!

The claims made in this column may not reflect the views of this magazine. Neither the magazine nor the author guarantees that any advice contained in this column is wise or safe. Please use this column at your own risk.

Umbra Fisk is Grist Research Associate II, Hardcover and Periodicals Unit, floors 2B-4B.

Comments: (13 comments)

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Another pro-CSA point for Tara

Just had to mention that my CSA pick-up spot is quite the, um, pick-up spot. Not that I have picked up anything other than my food, but from what I've seen, there is potential for a bountiful harvest of the male kind. From one single girl in Sac to another...I say,
JOIN UP, TARA!

by zibby at 12:43 PM on 29 Aug 2007

Eating for one

I live alone on a limited budget and try to get the best buys on fresh produce this time of year. Today I bought some fresh corn on the cob at a really good price. I'm going to cook up a bunch and freeze it in meal size portions. Last week I did that with some wonderful local peaches (they all get ripe at the same time - imagine that). Another way to make the most of seasonal abundance - for one - is to juice it. I have plenty of frozen carrot-apple-celery juice that I will really appreciate this winter when the local produce is down to rutabagas and greenhouse greens.

I've been writing about local farms, saving seeds and growing your own in my blog http://goodwordswan.wildflowerstew.com and I am so pleased to see more and more people finding their food closer to home.

http://goodwordswan.wildflowerstew.com

by swan at 1:02 PM on 29 Aug 2007

Time, money, quantity

Singles are in a bit of a tricky spot when it comes to these food schemes. Speaking for myself, I have limited amounts of time to spend cooking or food shopping. As such, delivery is a very appealing option.

At the same time, I am sure I could not eat as many vegetables as the local schemes seem to provide each week, nor easily stomach the cost.

A smaller delivery at a price of about $10 a week would be ideal.

a sibilant intake of breath

by sindark at 1:27 PM on 29 Aug 2007

csa and farmers markets

Hey folks- here's an idea we've been toying with-

What do you think of a hybrid model between CSA and farmers market?
It works like this- You the eater pay in advance for Farmers Market Bucks- say $250. But you get a 10%-15% discount for paying in advance. So you only pay $225 for the $250 worth of food. So each week you come to market you buy the amount you want. The farmer marks off what you spend and when you exhaust your card, you prepay for another if you like.

We're thinking of this as a possible option for our CSA for may reasons. The eater gets to choose. 85% of our members already pick up at market anyway. We're not packing boxes in advance. And we don't have to deal with logistics of drop sites. And we the farmers get the money in advance to help pay for costs.

Of course this is (again) a farm by farm scenario that wouldn't work for all farms or all people. By diversity in buying your food is just as important as diversity in choice of food.

Gathering Together Farm (in Portland Oregon) does something similar to this. Actually it's where I got the idea.

Love to hear what you think.

by bluefoxfarm at 7:34 PM on 29 Aug 2007

Hybrid

BlueFoxFarm, I love the hybrid idea. I also really like the idea of members packing their own boxes and having a choice between items. I love our CSA, but for two people, it's a lot of food. I've been making up meals with frozen veggies (stuffed squash, etc.) to save for winter, but it's a lot of work, and sometimes that huge bag of veggies can be a little overwhelming. However, could we pick what was in our bag a little more, I think we'd have an easier time of making it through the bag every week.

by AlliesAnswers at 6:17 AM on 30 Aug 2007

Another possible option

First of all, I think BlueFoxFarm has a great idea there.

The CSA my wife and I belong to allows you to select ten items per week on-line from a list of about 25 different things. The box we get is huge. It IS a lot of work to prepare and sometimes we end up eating the same thing ten days in a row (our freezer is not that big). I can safely say I would not be able to manage it if I were single. A half-share might work. Getting a half-share AND sharing that with a neighbor might work too.

As much as I support local food, I do not encourage people to try CSAs willy-nilly, as they can get easily overwhelmed and back away from it. It's good that Tara is considering carefully before signing up. There's no shame whatsoever in buying at at the farmers' market, and if it's a "producers' market," as I've heard them called around here, the money goes directly to the farmers.

Another option I have seen out here in the Philly area is a buying club. Most of them seem to work this way: you sign up and once every two weeks or a month you can choose what you want, paying for each item individually. These usually go year-round and include things like milk and cheese, meat, and honey at certain times, in addition to the veggies. Often they deliver to a central point not far away for pick-up. If you don't want to order because you haven't made it through the last order, you don't have to.

Another great cookbook with a big section organized by vegetable is "How to Cook Everything" by Mark Bittman, although it would NOT work for a vegan. Our copy is coming apart from so much use.

by msk at 6:43 AM on 30 Aug 2007

my CSA is at the Farmers Market too

The CSA that I am a part of also has their own booth at the Farmers Market. They get boxes to about 4 different distribution locations on wednesdays (and there are 3 of us splitting a small share!) and then on the weekends we can head to the Farmers Market to pick up anything we want more of, to pay for our CSA with food stamps if neccessary, or just to say hi to the farmers.
It's a great system, maybe you can find one like that?

Also, there are great CSA cookbooks out there, where they are arranged by season and vegetable. I have that AND the one we got from our farm.

by sernya at 11:49 AM on 30 Aug 2007

Syrupy

Action Item #1:

Get rid of corn syrup from American food.

Texeme.Construct(Participant)

by jabailo at 8:12 PM on 31 Aug 2007

Just go for it

What do you have to lose?

I joined a CSA this year, and sure I got a lot of food, but I would never say "I don't have enough time to prepare it." I think people need to stop whining and just learn to eat good food again. I can steam up a nice big pot of veggies in minutes, and maybe that's more prep than throwing a box of corn-syrup-invested-microwaved-boxed-waste-product in the microwave, but I can wait the extra 5-10 minutes. When I do feel like cooking something more glamourous, I will take the time, but just because I'm cooking from the CSA doesn't mean that is the activity for the day.

by geekguyandy at 5:16 AM on 04 Sep 2007

Don't forget us poor folks

I've looked into CSAs, and live in Corvallis, so I know all about the Farmer's Markets Bucks that the above place has. The problem is I eat entirely off of my food stamps, and I have yet to see them accepted at Farmer's Market.

I think you would do a lot better if you did the Market Bucks payable via food stamps. I understand if you can't have the machines at the Farmer's Markets, but you should be able to process it if it was purchased ahead of time. Then I could actually eat fresh things and support my local economy, instead of eating the crap in the super market or debating if I can take money from somewhere else to buy at the Farmer's Market instead.

(And for the inevitable person who will come and say that it's not that much more money and to stop whining, I live off $500 a month, and that includes everything. The extra $1 a pound for apples really does add up).

by MidknytOwl at 9:27 PM on 04 Sep 2007

Praise for Madison's Book

I love Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. It's organized in such a way that you can easily look up a fruit or vegetable, and learn five different ways of preparing it. Some are basic (roast beets) and some are more complex (beet green and ricotta gratin), but none are truly complicated. It's been a great resource for learning to handle obscure vegetables and taking advantage of the unique flavors and textures of heirloom varieties.

Also, many CSA's offer half-shares or biweekly pickups, designed for families of one or two. Ask around; if you have more than three CSA's in your area, you'll probably find something.

Taking accounting to the extreme since 2004.

by akbeancounter at 11:42 AM on 05 Sep 2007

CSA sharing

We are a household of two and have challenges getting through our 1/2 share of our CSA box. I would find another single household and share!
Our farmers' market is very seasonal so the CSA is the best option for local produce in the winter

by Monolake at 8:43 PM on 05 Sep 2007

Another cookbook rec.

The Silver Spoon- it is a gigantic tome of a cookbook, apparently a sort of 'bible' in most Italian kitchens. The vast majority of the recipes are very simple and very easy- many times leaving me wondering, "Thats all that goes into it? How can it be good?" But every recipe we've tried has been good.

by honeychrome at 2:13 PM on 10 Mar 2008

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