Community Supported Agriculture

The universe - or someone in it - answered my prayers late this summer.  For years, friends and trusted publications had been extolling the virtues of Community Supported Agriculture - aka CSAs - and every now and again, I’d check out the Local Harvest website to see if any had come to the LA market. It was one of those occasional exercises in frustration as the farms that served my area were most often “booked,” and had no more shares to sell. So I took to asking the sellers at my local farmers markets if they provided that service.  For years, the answer was “Nope,” “Not at this time,” or “A what?”

So it was to my great delight that I saw this at my neighborhood Farmers’ Market: “Sign Up for Our CSA Today!”  CSAs work by forming relationships between local farmers and community members - essentially, the creators and the consumers of farm produce.  As a consumer, I pay my CSA for a share of their harvest on a quarterly basis.  In return, they supply me with a variety of organic, seasonal and sometimes exotic bounty from their land.  It is one of those arrangements that feels really good in my urban life - by connecting with an organic farmer, I am feeding my family healthier food, exposing them to new taste experiences and supporting one of the most valuable treasures we have - the local family farm, one of which is JR Organics.

My experience with JR Organics has been very positive: in late September, I signed on for a four-week trial and in late October, I renewed for the following quarter.  Some CSA deliver to a pick up location at a set time every week, but I have really enjoyed being able to pick up at the Mar Vista Farmers’ Market, where I’m likely to be doing some shopping anyway.  They will also deliver to my door for a small extra charge.  But picking up at the market allows me to make a swap on one item for a portion of whatever else they have that day.  And now that I’m eating dark leafy greens every day (yes, that’s right, every day), I almost always find a way to get another bunch.  Rapini, Tatsoi, a variety of Kales from Dinosaur to Red Russian, my culinary repertoire was expanding to places I’d rarely go left to my own devices in the grocery store.  For a few weeks, I brought home the most delicious avacados I have ever tasted - large, thin-skinned, with buttery nutty flavor, we devoured those Reed avacados in record time.  Every week, JoanE sends me a link with the week’s box content, often recipes, which is great for a bit of inspiration.  They have also told me that we are welcome to come visit anytime, which we plan to do with the kids in the New Year.

More good news:  my boys, ages five and nine, are going for it.  Even Alexander, who was once such a picky eater that we called him “the Bride” for his white-food-only tendencies, will now polish off a serving of wilted greens, especially if they are dressed with “the magic sauce,” a yummy peanutty goo adapted from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone - see the end of this post for the recipe.  They really like sautéed baby carrots, made with carrots that look like the real thing, not the shaved stubbies that come in plastic bags.

As the sustainable food movement grows, there are more and more ways to get farm fresh produce delivered, too.  Locally, Los Angeles Organic Vegetable Express - LOVEdelivery.com brings it you your door.  In northern California, Farm Fresh To You provides seasonal boxes of produce grown on their Capay Valley farm.  They had a beautiful display of their produce at the San Francisco Green Festival this past weekend.

Really Delicious Peanut Sauce - makes ½ cup

2-3 generous spoonfuls of peanut butter - get the good kind
2 TBS of vinegar - I’ve been using Sushi vinegar
1-2 cloves of garlic, pressed
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
a few drops of chili oil for a touch of fire

Combine ingredients in a small bowl, adding warm water at the end to achieve desired consistency.  We love this on sautéed collards or kale.

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