Community Supported Agriculture

Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA's, are local farms that produce food for members that pay for a share of the farm products. The farms can offer anything from just straight vegetables to fruit, cheese, meat, soaps, or anything in between. Shares are picked up at set locations, or at the farms themselves, on a weekly, semi-weekly or monthly basis.

I've talked of my CSA so much I often get questions about what it is and how to find one. I'll provide a couple of great links below to resources or farms themselves, but first I'd like to address the most common questions.

How much food do you get? It depends. I choose an every other week share and I get 2 pretty hefty boxfulls a month. You can pick every week, or you can also share a weekly with another person or family. I have a family of 5 and find that we can either eat or freeze what we get with no problem and usually don't have to stop at the store in between.

What kinds of food do you get? The food is seasonal based upon what is growing or being harvested at that time. If you are not familiar with what is in season, the Minnesota Grown website has a produce availability calendar that can tell you. If you like many types of food, or you are open and willing to try different things, you will probably enjoy the variety in the CSA. I know mine also offers many recipes to coincide with the food so I know how to cook it. I've been pleasantly surprised to try new things (I still rave about the baby white turnips with greens, bacon and balsamic viniagrette!)

What is the biggest difference between a CSA and what you get at the grocery store?
Namely, variety. The grocery store will ship in food from around the world to provide things that the majority of people want - your basic foods like iceberg lettuce, cucumbers and apples - year round. The CSA will give you what is available in your climate at the specific time of year it is available. The upside is there is way more variety. Things you probably never knew existed. Hong Tsai Tai, Rainbow Chard, sweet baby Peppers, Fennel, Beauty Heart Radishes. We even got baby dwarf cantaloupes that tasted somewhat like oranges.

I have to say that last year I ate way more vegetables - both in volume and in variety - than I ever had before. My kids tried new things and learned they liked them (spinach!). I didn't analyze it but I believe my grocery bill stayed the same. I just stopped buying vegetables (and fruits and cheese) from the grocery store and got them from the CSA instead. The other upside is that I knew I had fresh, organic, quality food with flavor that we've all been missing.

So, what are you waiting for? Here are some great links to get you started.

Minnesota Grown Website (in addition to the seasonal calendar has links to CSA's)
Local Harvest (nationwide directory of CSA's)
Harmony Valley Farms (the CSA I use)

Tips for buying local

While searching the blog world I found a great little blog called Married to the Farm. The author, Jena is from Michigan but I loved her Tips for Buying Local. Thanks Jena!
I also read some disturbing news about McDonalds that will ensure that I won't be going there again, not that I went there much in the first place.

On another more local note, it was deer hunting opener in Minnesota this past weekend. While never a big fan of hunting, I have gained a new appreciation in recent years. My understanding is that there are only so many days to hunt and they are pretty limited. There are only so many tags that can be had (limits, so to speak) and that there are, in essence, more humane ways of hunting.
Last year my husband went hunting for the first time. Not really being a fan himself, he wants to ensure that the deer doesn't suffer and is not hunted needlessly. Frankly, I'm guessing that the whole process that most sincere hunters practice is a lot more humane than what happens to most cattle at many of the large scale corporate farms that exist.
To top it off, I try to adhere to what the Native Americans did for so long when they were the only ones on this land. I give thanks and gratitude for the deer that sacrificed it's life for my family to have food.

This pumpkin could make some serious pie

This past weekend I made a most fabulous Maple Glazed Pumpkin Cake. It was quite impressive partly because it was a gluten free/wheat free/dairy free cake (I made it for friends that follow that type of diet) and also impressive because it was the moistest cake I think I've ever had.
I casually mentioned that I made it with pumpkin I had left in the freezer from last season. They joked, "you mean not pumpkin from a can?" and "you mean pumpkin comes some other way than in a can?". Seriously, you are missing out if you've never actually had fresh pumpkin. It is a variety of squash and can be cooked like most other winter squash. The only problem is it's size. You will see, however, that there are generally separate types of pumpkin sold - for carving/decorating and for cooking (the cooking ones are much smaller). I usually cut it down in to small parts, cut the seeds and the rind off and then steam in batches in my steamer over a pot of boiling water. I then puree it in the food processor and freeze for pie, cake, bread, muffins and more.
Which brings me to the local part. It is pumpkin season and at least in our part of the world you can even drive by patches in random spots (across the street from an airport??). Very near us in Shakopee is Peter's Pumpkins, Seever's (they have a great corn maze and I believe the patch by the aforementioned airport. The only other one I've been to is in Bemidji at the Lazy Acres Farm, which also has a corn maze. This time of year many of the apple orchards sell pumpkins, and the pumpkin patches have corn mazes so you can get apples, pumpkins and some entertainment too. If you have a great pumpkin patch or maze I'd love to hear about it!

Minnesota Homegrown

Recently while at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, my aunt Caroline was gracious enough to buy me the Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook. Part of my inspiration for writing this blog came from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and part came from this cookbook. The cookbook features restaurants and they farmers they partner with to bring fabulous local food to the table in communities throughout the state.
I love it because it's recipes feature foods unique or popular in our region, such as wild rice, bison and walleye. I also enjoy trying new recipes for foods that we get in abundance during certain seasons - rhubarb and zucchini specifically. There are also heritage or nostalgic recipes, those celebrating the various nationalities that populated our state. Linzer Tart, Norwegian Rommegrot Cream Pudding, and Corn Posole Bison Stew.
So far I've made Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins - they were light and moist, and a Beet Salad that was delicious. Tomorrow I plan to make the Wild Rice Zucchini Pancakes.
Additionally, there is a resources section at the back of the book to find some of the products available making it easy to find local products. I'll be featuring some of those resources in the coming weeks.
Bon Appetit!