Break Out the Overalls!

I’m a farmer.  Ok, not really.  But I AM supporting a farm.  This year my husband and I purchased a “share” in a farm through a program called Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).   This means we paid a chunk of money to a farm during the planting season and in return we get a chunk of the harvest throughout the summer.  A more formal definition…

"Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is a socioeconomic model of agriculture and food distribution. A CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation where the growers and consumers share the risks and benefits of food production. CSAs can often consist of a system of weekly/monthly delivery or pick-up of vegetables and fruit in a vegetable box or basket, sometimes including dairy products and meat. The term CSA is mostly used in the USA, but a variety of similar production and economic sub-systems are in use worldwide.”

Each farm runs their CSA a bit different---I researched about 15 CSA’s in our area prior to choosing ours, Big Head Farm.

Big Head Farm, located in South Haven Michigan, is owned by a young, fun couple.  Ok, so I don’t know them personally, but they are world savers so they must be fun.  Anyway, their farm is relatively new (2009, I believe)—they used to live in Chicago but uncovered a knack for farming on a small plot of land and then ran with it.   For our share, my husband and I will get a ½ bushel of vegetables and herbs delivered to our home once a week for 22 weeks.   Seriously  cool, right?  We’ll get naturally grown, freshly picked, in season veggies delivered to our door.  Karen (head farmer!) even sends a newsletter with tips on how to store the veggies and recipes to try.  We also purchased a ½ share of eggs and will get a dozen fresh eggs every other week. 

This week was our FIRST delivery.  I was so excited, I could hardly sleep.  We got a ton of lettuce (perfect, because we literally make salads 6 days a week), a pile of radishes (most of which Mile has already eaten), and lemon balm. 

The CSA is definitely a step towards saving the world and helps my husband and I maintain a healthy diet.  We are purchasing locally grown food (our veggies don’t travel halfway around the world using loads of energy to get to us) and food that is grown in an environmentally conscious manner (au natural).  Also, it’s helping my husband and I dig out of a vegetables rut—we buy a ton of vegetables, but mostly the same vegetables so this will help us try new veggies and new recipes (hello, lemon balm?!?! radish soup?!?!).   

If you are interested in joining a CSA, start your search early.  I do believe there are some large farms that allow you to join at any time, but most that I found in Chicago, have a limited number of shares and fill up in early Spring (we purchase our share in late February—I think they were sold out by the end of March).  Fellow Chicagoans, Karen Warner at Big Head has been awesome, very responsive and friendly, so definitely put Big Head on your list of places to check out. 

I’ll be sharing more pictures over the coming weeks of our bounty and details on how the CSA impacts our lunches and dinner.  Until then, farm on, friends, farm on!