The Great Utah CSA Experiment: Week 1!

I’ve been waiting for this week for months now, and I must say I am excited to report to you the first CSA share from East Farms has arrived: a happy and healthy looking group of salad greens! And no, the baby analogy isn’t a stretch: I’m talking 4 lbs 2 oz of salad greens. Also included in the share was an introductory newsletter going over administrative details, including contact information, a list of what was included in the share, and a tip on how to manage the greens if they become limp or wilted (soak in cold water and put in the fridge, apparently). Among the bunch I received salad lettuce, stir fry greens, bitter salad greens, and radishes.

The exact numbers follow, as well as a best estimate of the value from my closest local grocery store which carries a selection of regular and organic produce. Produce weight measures were taken on an American Family food scale.

CSA SHARE	Price(Organic)	Price ('Normal')	Value
0.75 lb Red and Green Lettuce	2.65/lb		$1.98
1.3 lb Tat Soy		($1.49/lb bok choy)	$1.94
0.88 lb Mizuna	12.75/lb (arugula)		$11.22
1.2 lb Arugula	12.75/lb		$15.30
0.75 lb Radishes		0.69/lb	$0.52

You can see the difficulty in pinning down actual numbers, as for instance, the store doesn’t offer organic radishes, and only one kind of arugula (which was only sold in exclusive prepackaged organic containers at $3.99/5 oz) is present. The tat soy (the stir fry green; pictured at left) could only be best approximated by bok choy and the mizuna (a jagged-edge bitter asian green) can only be approximated by the arugula. But even if you halved the value for mizuna and arugula I would still come out ahead in this game, and that doesn’t count real numbers for organic tat soy. Add to that the knowledge that this produce is all organic, and I’m contributing to the local economy to boot, I feel pretty good about the overall value of this. This: for two people. Which brings us to the next issue: What to do with it?

Well, I first started out by feeling really dumb for purchasing 2 lbs of spinach a few days previously, as well as stocking up on other fruits for our cooler for a long day at Lagoon – expecting to feed 6 people and in the end only serving 2. The spinach didn’t help my plight, but the fruit was useful as a salad tool.

So. We had salads with grapes, chopped apples, and shredded cheddar, and I chopped up a little arugula and mizuna to go with it (a little of these two greens goes a long way). I cooked up the spinach (the large plastic containers they came in have done nicely in storing the other greens received from the CSA – so they were a boon after all!) and ate that with a dinner as well. The radishes I split with my mother. The ones I kept I cleaned up and whittled down before storing them in a plastic Tupperware container in the fridge: here’s a fringe benefit of the CSA I hadn’t anticipated – Craig (my husband) hates radishes, so I never buy them, but I love them myself!

However, after a week of salads (and the spinach that didn’t come with the CSA share) I still have all the tat soy and most of the arugula and mizuna, as well as the radishes. Luckily, they are all still in great condition, even stuffed about in my fridge in the original plastic grocery sacks they came in – probably because they were picked fresh within 24 hours before delivery. With luck, I’ll be able to use them next week. Does anybody else have recipe ideas?

Recipe for Week 1:

----- Fruity Salad-----

3 c. salad greens (lettuce or spinach), torn
1 c. bitter Mediterranean greens, chopped
1 c. green grapes
1 apple, chopped
½ c. chopped ham (optional)
¼ c. shredded cheddar
Raspberry Vinaigrette

Divide the greens between two large dinner plates. Top with grapes, ham, and chopped apple pieces. Drizzle Raspberry Vinaigrette over the salads, and top with the shredded cheddar. Serve immediately. (Serves 2).

The Great Utah CSA Experiment!

In conjunction with my 2008 project to read a lot of books (more on that in another post), I was recommended a copy of Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by a close associate of mine. I happened upon it at my local library and took it with me on a trip to Indiana with my husband. He gave me funny looks as I read it on the plane: probably because I kept giggling as I read it. Ms. Kingsolver is a fantastic author, and her humor and wit are greatly appreciated in this nonfiction piece that could have been very dry when done by another author. (As an aside, I’ve decided from this year’s bookreading experiment that the best nonfiction books are written by authors who are good novelists and playwrights first, and nonfiction commentators second.)

The book itself is two things in one: first, a documentary of her family’s decision to eat only locally grown food for a whole year, and second, an interesting peek at the practices of ‘big agriculture’. Yes: there is a soapbox, but it does give some pause for thought, and the book is full of references as well. The most intriguing idea I pulled away from it was the idea to go out of my way to eat locally grown produce. Now, I’ve enjoyed parsing the farmer’s market while at grad school and a little beyond, so I’m no stranger to the ‘local food’ scene, but I’ve never taken to it before as a weekly obligation, a nontrivial pursuit, or a long term project.

There is good reason to go out of my way to eat locally grown food, including the fact that I can have confidence it wasn’t grown with a blanket of pesticides which contribute to toxic runoff. But there are other points too: farmers are farmers first, not marketers or salespeople. Additionally, depending on the weather, the produce, the holidays, and the alignment of the stars, relying on farmer’s markets isn’t exactly a guaranteed income for all farmers. The best solution for those interested in eating locally grown organically grown agriculture, in season, and who are also interested in supporting their local neighbor farmers, is to join a farmer’s Community Supported Agriculture group, or CSA.

This isn’t a community garden where each contributor gets a plot of land to work in a city. Rather, each contributor pays a lump sum at the beginning of the season for a ‘share’ in the farmer’s crop. Then, once a week for a growing period of 15-25 weeks (depending on where you live) the farmer will deliver shares to nearby drop-off locations. Generally, the produce is picked same day or night before for best quality. The ability to deliver it so quickly and without need for cross country travel means the farmer can also grow varieties based on taste instead of just ‘how well does this tomato transport across the country and can it survive for two weeks before spoiling’. More plant varieties known for taste (they’re called Heirloom varieties) can help keep our food sources biodiverse.

There is something very appealing to me about buying food in season, organically grown, locally grown, from a farmer who I know by name. In the process I’m supporting local business: and every dollar I spend locally (or on a local business) has 2-4 times more benefit than a dollar spent on a large chain store like Smith’s.

So. A very long preamble to the point, which is that I’ve researched locally available CSA options here in Utah and signed up for two! For the curious, you can find a list of CSAs available in Utah from Utah's own Slow Food site. There are more CSAs available in Utah than you might believe! (As an aside, doesn't the Slow Food USA flyer just make you feel patriotic about eating?)

Now, because I am a scientist at heart, and because I’ve never done this before, it is my goal to treat this endeavor as an experimental one. For this purpose, although I only needed one small share for my husband and I, I signed up for two separate small shares from two different CSA organizations, at an approximate cost of $13 per week for each. In addition, I will report faithfully on what I receive each week from both farms: as well as what I did with it! (Let’s face it: you’re all a little concerned - what WOULD you do with 3 lbs of summer squash?)

Just be aware that if I have contact with you in ‘real life’ I just might volunteer to give you some of that summer squash: I can already tell you with confidence that I will be getting twice as much produce as the farmers estimate I’ll need, and even that might be exaggerating. =)