Loving a Good CSA!

What do you do when your friend lets you know that she is on vacation and she wants you to take advantage of her CSA share while she is gone (after you pat yourself on the back for having great taste in friends)? Rejoice and be grateful for your luck that your friend is on vacation- she is out having fun anyway. 

The garden is growing well, but you can only grow so much variety in a relatively small space, so I was very excited to go to the local farm yesterday with my daughter to pick up our loot.  CSAs (short for Community Supported Agriculture) are a great way to get access to the best and freshest seasonal produce grown locally- and many of them are organic.  They have become very popular and are accessible in most regions, you just have to do a bit of digging (not literally in this case) to find one that works best for you.  Basically, what you do is buy a share or half share of the farm crop.  You usually buy in pretty far in advance, some are all-year long, some seasonal.  Some CSAs provide eggs and meat, while others stick to farm fresh produce and herbs.  Whatever the type you find, they are awesome.  Weekly or bi-weekly you will either go to the farm to pick up your share or it will be delivered to your doorstep and your "box" will contain a surprise mix of whatever is freshest- although you can usually guess based on the time of year.  

The box inspires you to have fun, be creative in menu planning, and sometimes even try something new.  And for those of you who haven't experience produce directly out of your garden or from the farm, it tastes completely differently.  Your tastebuds will become alive!

So, when Anna and I got home and started to pull all of our spoils out of our box we started to brainstorm dinner plans, I couldn't help but laugh.  Our beautiful bunch of carrots didn't even make it into the menu, we just snacked and munched until they were all gone!  

So now we were left with beautiful potatoes, squash, cucumbers, onions, and basil.  Well a warm potato salad seemed natural- recipe to follow.  Not only did we eat well, but we had leftovers for a great lunch the next day!

Do yourself a favor, search out a CSA in your area.  If you live in southern Massachusetts, Langwater Farm of Eason are the place to go.  In addition to the CSA, they have an amazing farm stand, where they sell organic plant starters in the early spring and organic produce through summer and fall.  Check out the website Langwaterfarm.com