Well I have been inspired by friends (Kerry at Taste A Little of the Summer) and family to get more into gardening, outdoors, good food, vegetables. I have been playing around with the idea of joining a CSA (community supported agriculture) basically you buy into a 'share' or a local farmers produce and each week we would receive a box of fresh, local, in season produce from the farmer. Being a lover of outdoors, farming and growing up from a family of farmers and gardeners but not having the space (until recently) for a garden or the time I figured a CSA is the best option. (I hope to start a square foot garden next year, when we are more settled)
We found a local CSA here in Sioux City, which is The Cornucopia out of Sioux Center, they have a stand at the Farmers Market and we went down on Wednesday morning to talk with the farmer, get a little more information and an idea about what to expect. We had a great talk and sense we are in the middle of the season we decided it wouldn't be worth the money to join now (we were okay with that, we will join next season) BUT the farmer has what they call a Carrot Card basically we paid and have a line of credit with them and she also told us about the livestock that they raise (poultry and pork) and they have a butcher date coming up for their Berkshire Pork....are are going to buy half a hog worth of meat!
I am excited about supporting local farmers, getting fresh, local produce and meat and the challenge of (because it will be) eating more with the season that veggies are at their prime. If anyone has some great recipes please share and any that I come up with I will share on my Sweet Elder blog and check out Taste a Little of the Summer .
5 comments:
SOUNDS FUN! I never got into gardening, but I LOVE fresh food!! good luck!
Carrot card... I love that idea! It is probably wise to wait until next year for the CSA. That means this summer you can try out a few new-to-you veggies and practice so you won't feel so overwhelmed when you get lots next year. I love that you guys are getting meat too. We have absolutely loved the pork we got from our local farmer. It is worlds better than any we have bought at the store!
Thanks again for the fun email conversation this week Rebekah. We're headed out of town and I am crazy busy but I will be sure to share a bit when we get back! Have a wonderful 4th!
I'm looking into doing something similar. We don't have a yard right now, so a garden is not an option, but I'd love to support local farmers and eat better quality food. I'd particularly love to find a farmer that raises free range chickens for eggs and meat and organic beef if possible. It's a lot harder and takes a lot more forethought than I would have guessed. Good for you guys!! FYI: Jillian Michaels has a great book called "Master Your Metabolism" and a spin off cookbook ("Master Your Metabolism Cookbook") with some really healthy and tastey recipes.
Definitely a good idea! I'm not sure if they have that exact thing in Indy; we had been buying produce from Whole Foods, which is a natural grocery store. However, I've been looking inot Farm Fresh Market, where you can order bins of organic produce online from local farmers, and they deliver it on specific days of the week! We are thinking about doing it - it would be kind of interesting, because what you get always changes, so it would be a fun cooking challenge also! Besides the fact that I am a huge supporter of organic foods!
My mom has done square-foot gardening for a few years now in our old sandbox. She loves it!
Post a Comment