Food. Portland, Oregon is a mecca for foodies who have a thing for sustainable, delicious, fresh food. We are lucky enough to have a mix of cheap food (often made locally at one of dozens of food carts around the city) as well as fancy high class delicious food prepared by world class chefs. We also have dozens of farmer's markets sprinkled throughout the city and suburbs offering an array of fresh fruits, veggies, cheese, meats, etc.
After living in Portland for almost four years and becoming regulars at our local farmer's markets my husband Jon and I finally decided to take the plunge and commit more completely to fresh, local foods. In other words, we've ordered a CSA!
What's a CSA? (We didn't know either...). It stands for Community Supported Agriculture and it's a way for anyone to support their local farmer. Local Harvest gives a great explanation of the basics of a CSA and a little of why it's nice for a consumer and for a farm. Essentially, you pay a set cost upfront, therefore investing in the season and the crops, and you receive produce chosen by the farm throughout a season.
Like I mentioned, Portland is a wonderful place to do this. We looked at over 50 possible CSAs that deliver in the Portland area. After hours of sorting through prices, (costs ranged from $200-$750 for 20-40 weeks of produce), pickup locations, farm principles, etc we finally chose a CSA and mailed in our registration and payment!
We went with Groundwork Organics Farm because of the length they had been running a CSA program, their price, their variety of last year's produce, their pick up location (so close to our house!), and their values listed on their website!
SO! Here we go! The following posts will show our progression of having our first CSA. Our goal is to document our basket each week (we get them every Wednesday), how we use the veggies, possibly some key recipes, and any awesome experiences or challenges.
It's our hope that it will give other folks considering a CSA a sense of what our experience was like and help them to decide if a CSA might be right for them. We're excited to try new food, incorporate more veggies in our diet, eat in-season, and enjoy really fresh food! We also hope this will serve as a fun reflection on our experience and help us decide whether a CSA next year will be right for us.
Somewhere in here (maybe August?) we are also planning to try a 100 mile food challenge.... but much more on that later! Questions? Comments? Let us know!
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