Charmed Life
Ever since I first learned about CSAs—Community Supported Agriculture memberships—I’ve felt guilty for never signing up for one. The idea seems like the perfect win/win: regular folks (i.e. non-farmers) buy a share in a farm and get fresh produce directly from the source. The farmer gets some cash and certainty up front, which helps with cash flow and sleepless nights. Good? Good.
And yet, and yet, there is a problem, and that problem is the monotony of eating only what’s in season in Maryland at any given time. For example, last week a friend who was going out of town kindly let us pick up his share from One Straw Farm at the Waverly Market. My husband was dispatched to retrieve the share and came home carrying what appeared to be a large shrub, but was actually 8 bunches of greens. That’s what was in season, so that’s what he got. Now, we did saute up the greens for side dishes a few nights and we did make a couple “egg messes” with them, too (basically you saute onions and throw in some eggs, greens and cream cheese for a hearty breakfast), so nothing went to waste. But it just wasn’t that exciting (with apologies to Michael Pollan). And I certainly wouldn’t want to get 8 more bunches of greens this week. I need variety!
That’s where Mill Valley General Store has come to my rescue. A friend tipped us off back in May and I hustled down to their center on 28th and Sisson Street and signed up on the last day for a share in their CSA, which offers items from a collective of regional grower/producers, rather than just one farm. (There’s nothing on their Web site, so I felt lucky to have heard about it.) There are three options: vegetarian, carnivore and omnivore. After looking over the pickings, I selected the “carnivore” option. I handed over my credit card and paid roughly $200 for the right to 4 items/week from mid-May through early August. Each week I get an email telling me what’s on offer. Here’s a recent one:
For the week of 6/24/10 - 6/27/10
Produce Items - Choose from
Black Raspberries * English Shell Peas * Crimini Mushrooms
Bulb Fennel * Zucchini * Walla Walla Onions
Dairy Items - Choose from
Vanilla Ice Cream * Dozen Eggs
Vanilla Yogurt Qt. * Plain Yogurt Quart
Meat Item
**Hen’s Nest Chicken Leg 1/4**
We are pleased to re-introduce chicken from The Hen’s Nest, located in Mt. Airy, Maryland. Bill & Theresa Hubert have raised these birds just for Mill Valley General Store customers. Raised in a humane fashion, supplemental feeding from crops raised on the adjoining farm, no growth hormone or anti-biotics used. These chickens, taste like chicken!
Each week, when I stop by the store with my little cloth bag and pick out my wares, it feels a little like Christmas. One week I got beautiful yogurt from a dairy farm in Pennsylvania. One week I got delicious strawberries from One Straw Farm. One week I got snap peas from Charm City Farms. One week it was bison burgers from Gunpowder Bison, and before that, beef sliders and rolls.
The collective CSA approach offers enough variety—veges, eggs, meat and dairy—to keep me praising the growing seasons rather than feeling imprisoned by them. So….let’s eat!
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 06/29/10 at 11:03 AM
