Pop quiz: what do stinging nettles, horseradish whips and burdock clubs all have in common? They may all sound like instruments of torture but actually they are foods my CSA (community supported agriculture) farm considers edible. I, on the other hand, consider them… instruments of torture.
Did you even know that you can eat stinging nettles? Indeed, the noxious weed that you spent most of girl scout camp trying to avoid, is considered a delicacy by some people. The only problem is, well, the stinging part. According to the directions that came in the handy-dandy CSA member newsletter, if you rinse the greens three times, then boil them, and then saute them, you are good to go. That seemed like a lot of work to get my green quotient in but, hey, I’m an adventurous eater so why not? Oh, and by the way, you are supposed to wear gloves while handling the vicious little suckers.
Apparently three times was not enough rinsing. The greens bit back. Hard. Evolutionary advantage: plants, 1; me, 0.
Act Global, Eat Local
At first blush, CSAs seem like a great opportunity. You pay a certain amount of money – often called a membership fee – to a local farmer at the beginning of the season and in return you get weekly baskets of local, organic, picked-that-day produce awesomeness. If you are lucky, it will even wind up being cheaper that buying your produce at your nearby Demon Superstore that imports all your produce and then wraps them un-environmentally friendly plastic bags (obnoxious teenage bag boys come free of charge). For many people, it works out exactly as advertised. In fact, CSAs have become a popular cost-cutting measure advocated by every magazine from Money to Baby Talk.
My first clue that I wasn’t going to get my happily ever after should have been that I live in Minnesota. CSA farms are local and therefore provide only what grows locally. Do you know what grows in Minnesota? Six months out of the year when temps are below zero – so cold in fact that I entertain my children by showing them how when we spit, it freezes before it hits the ground (mother of the year, that’s me!) – the answer is a big fat nothing. Snow cones, anyone?The other six months of the year are divided between blistering heat, wicked humidity and thunderstorms the like of which I have never before seen. (Side note: one thunderstorm we had a year ago actually caused my friend who moved here from Texas to hide behind her couch. You know it’s a heck of a thunderstorm when a Texan thinks a dumpster just got dropped on her house.) So basically we get some good apples (if the hail doesn’t get them first), corn (that they sell for everything but eating), and the rest is only stuff that grows under the ground and therefore is safe from the ravages of nature that we live in.
Every month we live here, my husband and I gain respect for Ma, Pa and besmocked Laura and Mary in their drafty, tiny, Little House on the Prairie.
Learning the Hard Way
But the one thing that CSAs don’t often advertise is that they’re like the mafia. Once you’re in, you’re in for life. Or until you sell your share to someone else. And so my husband and I decided to stick it out for the year. This is what we learned:
1. There are 27 different varieties of turnips: black, gold, pea-sized, big-as-your-head and even candy cane striped. We also learned that we don’t like turnips. Turnips bought in the store are crunchy and mildly sweet. Turnips grown in Minnesota have serious heat. They’re like a very spicy radish except you have to chew it longer thereby prolonging the pain. If I was any less of a mother, I’d post video of my two-year-old trying to amputate his tongue with his fingers after accidentally eating one. Poor baby made his father feed him for the next 3 weeks, refusing to take anything from my hand.
2. Root vegetables will rule the earth. People talk about cockroaches being the only living thing to survive a nuclear holocaust but my money is on celeriac, burdock, parsnips, rutabagas, beets and of course turnips. I tried putting them in soups and stews, hotdishes (that’s Minnesotan for casserole) and salads. I tried roasting, stir frying, pickling and blanching. No matter what I did they all tasted vaguely like crunchy dirt. Although I did discover the one week we had beets with every meal that even though it looks like you have just pooped out a mass of bloody red entrails, it is actually just beetjuice-tinted excrement. Phew! My favorite of these roots though were the horseradish whips. You know what horseradish tastes like right? Well that sinus-cleanser comes from a root. Don’t let them fool you – there is no method of cooking on the planet that makes raw horseradish tolerable in anything more than minuscule amounts.
The bonus is that these starchy veggies last forever. I finally gave up trying to use them all (seriously, in one week we got three celeriacs the size of footballs!) and just kept adding them to a box in my basement. I now have 50 pounds of roots that show no signs of decomposition despite some of them being several months old. Will we ever eat them? Only if there is a nuclear holocaust.
3. CSAs operate on weird schedules. I had to drive 20 minutes to my pick-up site which was only open between 1 and 5 in the afternoon on Thursdays. For anyone who holds down a normal job, this obviously falls during working hours (and doesn’t even include lunch time!). For moms like me this interferes with the one absolutely sacred time in my schedule: nap time. The only people that might have found this convenient would be retired folk or frat boys with no afternoon classes.
4. The weather is king. Part of the risk you assume when you sign up for a CSA is that not only do you share the bounty of the farmer, you also share their loss when weather destroys crops. We found this out the hard way only a month into our season when severe thunderstorms damaged half of their crops beyond repair.
Conclusions
While we got to try a whole lot of things I’ve never eaten before – and seriously I thought I’d tried everything – not much of it was worth eating. The produce that my family really enjoys eating like peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, salad, melons and fruit just don’t grow here. There were a few things I really enjoyed. The spinach was divine. The apples were perfect. The carrots were heavenly. But I ended up spending just as much money at the store buying “normal” things like lettuce. Even the things we thought we would love, like watermelon, ended up being a disappointment. (Our one and only watermelon we got last summer was the size of a softball and was white through and through. Not a single edible bite! Ditto for the muskmelon.) It ended up being a colossal waste of money and a such a source of frustration that it has ended up being a punchline in our house. If you can’t cry, then you might as well laugh!
My advice to anyone considering a
CSA is to check out where you live first. Californians and Hawaiians are A-OK, lucky stiffs. My sister in Colorado and brother in Utah have had good experiences with their
CSAs. And I’ve heard the south is so fertile that vegetables do everything but jump in your kitchen window. But if your state borders Canada or ends in “Dakota” you might want to think that there is a reason 90% of your food is imported. Second, look at what you really like to eat. If those things aren’t included on your
CSA list then you probably will end up buying them at the store anyhow thereby negating your monetary savings. Third, get recommendations from other locals regarding which farms are the best.
Local Harvest is a great website to start from as it lists all the farms in your vicinity with their contact and
CSA information but nothing beats the opinion of your neighbors. (Sadly our neighbors apparently don’t eat produce.)
Some people love their CSA like family. Me? I didn’t.
Any of you use a CSA? What has your experience been? What is the weirdest fruit or vegetable you’ve ever eaten?
PS> While I like to knock Minnesota’s weather, I do love living here! There are many many great things about this place (like being named #3 healthiest city in the US! woot, woot!!) but nothing I love more than the people. They are kind and helpful and generous and make wonderful friends and I don’t hold them responsible at all for the weather;)
My husbands parents are part of a CSA on Vashon Island, WA that they adore. I’ve eaten my fair share of the produce and it is delicious! They also get local/raw goat milk and yogurt.
Unfortunately, my husband and I live in LA, which even though is in Southern California, is not near farmlands. Only suburbs for as far as the eye can see! We haven’t been able to find a CSA that delivers or has a pick-up location close to use. We’re still looking though!
I signed up for a CSA for the first time last spring. I live in Virginia where we get a pretty decent variety of crops. The cost of my CSA was over $30/week. In the end, I think I could have spent much less by going to the farmers market for local foods. I live alone, and while I eat a lot of veggies, I didn’t necessarily want 8 ears of corn and a bag of tomatoes. I guess I was just hoping for a little more variety, but I guess if something is in season, you get A LOT of it.
The strangest vegetable I tried was kohlrabi. I had never heard of it until this odd purple thing showed up in my bag one day.
I actually live in California and I quit my CSA. We got good stuff… it was just… the same exact stuff week after week. And there were unending greens. Who could possibly eat that many greens?!? As for the nettle (which I never got from mine), you should try making tea. It’s amazingly good for you. My mom used to go out in the woods and harvest nettle to make tea – I think it’s especially good for women or something. My mom was a bit of a crazy hippie but some of the things she did were pretty cool. Anyway, I’m getting off topic – CSA’s are overrated in my opinion.
I live IN Canada, so CSA’s are out for me, I suppose. It’s a good idea though. Getting fresh vegetables grown locally sounds like a great idea. It only makes sense though if you live in an area where you actually like the food that is being grown.
– Dave
very interesting and something I know I should explore more.
I best effort is my farmers market weekly grocery shopping.
and strangest veggie? nothing too strange up in herre I dont think…jicama (sp)?
sad, I know 🙂
I enjoyed my CSA in summer but come winter I kept getting potatoes, and we don’t eat a lot of those in our house, so I stopped it. I enjoyed eating those ‘exotic’ vegetable though. Every week there was a sense of “okay, what is this, and how do i eat it?”
My parents were in a CSA for about a year until they realised that while they eat a lot of veggies, that weren’t eating nearly enough to warrant a huge box of them every week. And they got some strange, strange things that even my mother, chef extraordinaire, was stumped about.
Me, I’m now living in Canada so no CSA for me but either way, I definitely don’t go through enough veggies to warrant a box a week.
I don’t think it’d do a CSA, mainly because the ones here are pretty far away, and I’m not sure how much produce we actually eat (we do more frozen vegetables here).
I’m not nearly as brave as you are!
I did go to a huge Vietnamese New Year’s party last night with many fabulous dishes to sample. There’s no knowing what I ate 🙂
I saw on tv “On the Road with Jason Davis” a small piece about MN CSA and thought it was a great idea. I didn’t sign up as I am not an avid cook or really have any idea of what I’m doing in the kitchen!!
See ya at the gym tonite.
I remember when I lived in New Mexico one of the weekly magazines did a story on trying to eat locally for an entire month in February. The author lived on peanuts and milk until she gave up. Eating locally is great… if you live in Virginia. That said- now that we live in WI are going to try to start our own garden so we can grow (hopefully) exactly the kinds of things we enjoy eating.
I live in the mountains of Western NC and have thought about joining one, but the farm I want to use is either not selling anymore shares or I’m too late. Instead I go to the farmer’s market from April to October and just buy local stuff – and it is MUCH cheaper than the stuff at the grocery store, and much of it is organic.
Also, I wish you were less of a mother so we could see the video of your two year old and the turnip 🙂
Your experience sounded like it was run by the lilligitiment children of Euell Gibbons.
I did the CSA for 2 years, but stopped because I could never eat all the greens by myself. I should sign up again as now there are 2 in my household. I loved it, but honestly, my favorite part was the fresh flowers I got every week. They were beautiful and lasted forever. It was always nice to come home to a big vase full of something different every week.
Through my CSA, I discovered my love of golden beets. I had never prepared beets myself, and these tasted like big balls of butter. Amazing!
I live in Canada, and had a mixed experience with my CSA.
They delivered, which was great in some ways, but when I lived in an apartment complex with a security door, some veggies would inevitably get stolen before I’d get home, and the delivery guy would not accommodate meeting me at a set time.
Summer and fall were wonderful, but the winter and springtime months were similar to what you experienced, Charlotte.
The other big issue I had was that I couldn’t put a “stop” on delivery when I would be out of town (which I am several times a year for up to 3 or 4 weeks at a time), which inconvenienced my friends who had to make time to deal with the box of food sitting outside my door.
I ended my subscription (which could just be canceled at the end of the season) because I moved outside of the area that is covered with the delivery service, but I don’t think I would have continued for much longer. I now go to the Farmers’ Market (which is awesome) and then supplement the local produce during the winter (because man cannot live on brussel sprouts alone…)
I love that you were so honest about your experience! (And so hilarious).
I’ve never read anything but raving praise for these things, most of which was probably written by reporters who never had to do it themselves.
While I still think it’s an awesome idea, it’s interesting to read that at least sometimes the experience doesn’t quite live up to the hype.
Wow. Very interesting. Feeling bad for you and your lack of choice veggies. We are in an organic food co-op which is not a CSA and we do really well with that- but it isn’t supporting the local farmer. Just finished reading Animal, Vegetable Miracle and it had lots of info on local farming in the south- not Minnesota. Good luck finding tasty veggies.
How did I not know you lived in Minnesota?! No wonder our weather and the plants growing are just about exactly the same for us in Manitoba…
Lovelovelove apples. But also lots of other things. I’m thinking next year when the cold weather hits I’ll just hitchhike somewhere warm (might be a little difficult to hitchhike my way to Spain though. Damn oceans) so I can have access to “local” yummy fruits and veggies.
I’m thinking about getting a farm share this year. There’s no way I could eat all of it on my own, even given how much I cook and freeze. I’m hoping I can split a share with someone, and just try it out for a little while. It won’t be as good in MA as in VA or FL or CA, but we do have a lot of good local food here that I want to get in on (and not at farmer’s market prices). I usually end up spending anywhere from $20-$50/week at my local farmer’s market (in the summer), in addition to going to the regular store.
If I try it out, I’ll put a post on my blog about it!
We don’t have CSA schemes, but I did once take part in an organic veg box delivery scheme. Terribly middle class pretentious thing to do, and I was never very inventive with my recipes (as well as it being a costly thing to do!) It’s no wonder I stopped doing it! Your scheme sounds fun though :0)
TA x
Here we have “Good Food Baskets” which are similar. Because its Canada things are grown primarily in “Hot Houses” anyhow and therefore mine tends to have fabulous things like peppers and lettuce.
I live in the agricultural cornucopia of Sonoma County, California. So, you would think that my CSA experience would be more positive. I discussed this on the TNP forum last summer, and here’s what I wrote:
Yesterday I spent half the day taking care of other people’s yards, two friends gone on vacation. One of them is signed up for a community support agriculture program; in other words, you pay 20 bucks a week and get local organic produce. So, I got her weekly box of produce as a reward.
I was not impressed. Here’s what came in her $20 box of veggies:
2 shiitake mushrooms
1 head of cabbage
1 bunch of green onions
1 small bunch of broccoli
3 teensy-weensy summer squash
2 nopales cactus leaves
3 of the limpest, sorriest looking beets you ever saw
So, not only is it exorbitantly priced, but it needs to be picked up on a certain day at a place way the hell north of town about 5 miles, and you don’t get to choose what you want.
She just recently signed up for this. last week was her first box, and I got the second–when she comes back from vacation, she’ll be asking for my opinion.
I realize that organic produce is expensive, but I think she could do better going to the farmer’s market which is really close at the fair grounds twice a week, plus we have the Wednesday Night Market right here in downtown. Hell, for her $20, she could take a nice walk over to the Wed. Night Market, have a turkey leg and a drink, and then buy exactly the produce she wants.
I’ve never joined a CSA, I grow my own produce (in the summer), and in the winter we either eat what has been canned, or we buy from the grocery store.
My sister loved her CSA (in Utah).
I really enjoyed everyone’s comments on this. I suppose CSAs vary a lot, in the quality, convenience, and price. One reason I’m interested is for variety; our local supermarkets don’t carry different varieties of anything, it’s pretty much the standard types of lettuce, bell peppers, broccoli, etc. At least since I’m in the south(ish) I can get collards and turnip greens in any supermarket.
I’ve never been part of a CSA, but we did get an organic delivery bin weekly for about a year. While there was much better variety as they did import things when there just wasn’t enough local produce, I also ended up with some strange things. The weirdest was the Japanese Green Radish. It was awful. And of course it came the first week we got the bins when I was trying to convince my DH that this was such a great idea. We ended up not eating a lot of the food and even with foodsaver tupperware, it only lasts so long.
Oh, for your numerous beets, the best recipe I found was beet salad. Boil the beets, let them cool down and then marinate them in a cider vinegrette. Fantastic. (but you still have red poop!)
I don’t think it’s available around here, but I’m so picky I’d rather just buy what I like to eat. We do go to the local Farmer’s Market during the summer/fall to take advantage of local produce. It’s still cheaper than the SuperStore and we can choose what we buy.
I was considering it, but I’m not sure how great it would be in Texas, and the fact that we really are pretty much picky eaters, I’m not sure it would be worth the money or effort. I’d rather go out and buy ONE of something new and exciting to try instead of getting 20 of them that will go bad. We’re also horrible about making use of what we have – if we don’t feel like eating it that week, we won’t.
One thing I keep meaning to do is start shopping at the super awesome organic, crunchy grocery store up the street, and somehow I keep ending up at our chain stores. Hmmm…
Have you seen this Blog?
http://fatboydiet.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/official-press-release/
It’s Fad Diet Experiments for 16 weeks…
I live in New Zealand, and we have one of the best farmer’s market anywhere here. But in the winter, it’s pumpkin, silverbeet (like chard), plus the weird lumpy vegetables you described. Last winter I tried a new vegetable every week — celeriac was my favourite. Still, there’s nothing better than seeing the first asparagus in the spring.
Sally, there’s a produce delivery service in SoCal called “Planet Organics.” They’ll deliver right to your home every week or two, and you can tell them what your likes/dislikes are. We used to use it when we lived in L.A. and it was very good!
Charlotte, sorry it didn’t work out for you. But it makes for a great read!
Bless you! I felt so guilty for not signing up for a CSA this year, but after 6 weeks of cucumbers (and I don’t like cucumbers) I just couldn’t bring myself to do it this year. Thank you for making me feel less guilty!
stinging nettles? LOL, don’t know i would’ve been quite so adventurous… i wish i lived in ca for sure, it would be alot easier then! I’m all for trying new things, but cooking for one it’s just too much food.
OK, once again laughing uncontrollably, but that’s mainly because I eat a lot of beets:-) I think you got suckered into a sham CSA–stinging nettles? Are you kidding me? OK, since we’re practically neighbors you need to try MY CSA. We had a very different experience from yours (but we only get produce from June-Oct–perhaps out of stinging nettle season?) Anyway, email me if you want to try again with something different. We visited the farm a few times to pick up there and my girls were like little migrant workers picking their own green beans, wax beans and tomatillos (and stuffing their faces, which they wouldn’t do if I prepared it for them in the kitchen). They also liked cutting their own flowers (free!) and playing with the chickens. For me, part of the price includes showing your children that food doesn’t come from Super Target:-)
Funny story, unfortunately true for the most part, and I’m still bummed about the watermelon.
This has got me more enthusiastic about planting a garden
Charlotte, your CSA sounds much different than mine! We split a share with our neighbors, because we knew there was no way we’d be able to eat all the veggies in one week. (and we like our veggies!) We got a decent variety, although VERY heavy on the greens early in the season. We also got tons of tomatos (some of which I chopped and froze and now use in soups/stews for winter), broccoli, squash, carrots, green beans, corn, and of course apples. We did get a couple of watermelon that were actually pretty good! The strangest thing in our basket was kohlrabi, which was delicious.
And, we only paid for the 3-4 summer/fall months, not a whole year.
Anyway, if you can get out of yours and are interested in trying a different one next year, let me know! Our people also delivered ours to our house a couple of times when we weren’t able to pick up!
Wow – so timely. I was just researching joining a CSA. I have been reading Omnivore’s Dilemma and it got me thinking about it but maybe now I will just find some more local farmer’s markets instead.
Ummm, I lived in MN my whole life til recently and in my CSA last year, I got a bunch of those things you like–every CSA grows different things, jsut try one that grows what you want next year! And one that lets you pick-up at a convenient place, like a coop–let me think, offhand I remember Garden Farme, Rock Spring Farms, “Salad Days CSA”, and loads more. But they all have different things! MN can grow a lot more than we think, really!!!!!
Bummer about the weather. But it sucks more for the farmer, especially when they don’t have a CSA… they need our support, ideally through subsidies that support small farmers who need it. Little ol’ us can’t do it all!
–MNan
I’m sorry your CSA experience was bad, and from a former CSA farmer let me give you my thoughts:
I’d try another farm! That sounded like a pretty whacky produce mix.
Look for a farm that has been around for several years or has experienced management. It takes several years as a farmer to figure out what comes in when, how to keep the harvests going steadily, and how to manage risk. They should have some way of irrigating, storing some produce (be it cooler or fridges), and many crops and varieties to choose from. They should have a plan on how to supplement the harvest if a big failure happens, which may be why you got the nettles, burdock, and horseradish.(These are not normal veggies for a csa- maybe a once a year thing) Offering herbs, flowers, eggs, honey, other farms’ produce instead of their produce when things are really bad. (In a storm situation on my farm I would have had other crops start bearing in a week or two from a storm.
They should provide a newsletter at least monthly. Should be very clear about what possible crops you may get and how much. If they have any marketing savvy they should provide recipes for odd stuff. A winter share should be optional only. Unless you live in so. cal or florida winter shares get down right odd and monotonous. They should allow or encourage visiting the farm and have an event there for customers.
Some CSA’s are very true to the share the risk and the whacky veggies ideal and some are just seeking a new marketing outlet. You gotta figure out what is best for you. You MUST be a versatile cook. Most CSA’s plan based on a family of four.
Most CSA’s are pretty small. The smaller, the harder for them to provide easy delivery service. It is very expensive for a farmer to sit around for 4 hours for people to come get their box or for him/her to deliver. Most farms aren’t convenient to population centers to have on farm pick up.
For most people, the farmers’ market is challenging enough. You need to be passionate about environmentally responsible eating/farming to really see the good in CSA. It’s really more about wanting to help local farms stay in business. Those farms you like at a weekly farmers market may need another way to sell their produce on say, a Tuesday.
At my farm, I listed my common crops and allowed my customers to note 3 favorites and 3 hated veggies. I provided a weekly newsletter and a cookbook written specifically for CSA farms. I delivered to the customers’ house (usually in a city 40 miles away). In a bad time I bought other farmers’ produce or my own flowers/honey/eggs/etc to fill the box. When there was an abundance, I rotated families so that there was two weeks before they got more of whatever it was. I delivered from May to end of October (in VA), for about $17/week paid in advance. I had a waiting list a mile long and still get calls 2 years after we sold the farm.
I went broke. But it worked out for me–now I raise my 2 babies and a family sized garden. And I go to the Y for my exercise–much cleaner.
Sorry for the length
Don’t lose hope in MN!
From MN extension:
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG7619.html
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_plants_grow_in_Minnesota_and_when_do_you_plant_them
High tunnels to extend the season:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/06/26/tunnelveggies/
–MNan
Wow Amy!! Thank you so much for your comment. You are a wealth of information and I appreciate all the tips. It sounds like you have a wonderful life & I must say I'm jealous of your gardening abilities:) Thanks again for sharing your expertise with us!
I second gym buddy Megan and Anonymous who mentioned their success with MN CSAs. I live south of the Cities and have participated in a 4 month CSA. Lots of greens in June, yes, but the tomatoes are so good you could eat them completely unadulterated and the fall squash are knock-your-socks off good. Maybe check out a different farm, per Amy’s suggestion. Bummer about all the horseradish, not to mention the nettles…
New York City has a great program called Urban Organics (urbanorganics.com) that delivers some GREAT produce every Friday, and also has an excellent substitution program (they always nix the tomatoes and double the apples). Highly recommended and about $30 a week!