Down On The Farm

This morning, the MOMS Club went over to the local women's college, which is just a few minutes from our house, and toured their "Center for Sustainable Living" which includes a Community Supported Agriculture farm. Their booth is where we always start when we go to the farmer's market, so when we met a couple of the actual farmers (a student and an intern, I believe) at the end of the tour, they were like "Oh hey! We know you!"

It was really interesting, and I think the kids enjoyed seeing the veggies growing and the handful of animals, and I think I'm leaning toward buying a share or maybe a half-share in the CSA next year.

I've looked into it before, and always decided that it just wasn't worth it because we would eat so few of the things that they would give us, but when I looked the big chalkboard in the barn today, and saw the list of foods provided in this week's box (damn, I should've gotten a photo of it!), I don't think I saw a single thing on the list that we don't like (now)!

When I read about it on their website, the only things I saw that I really don't think any of us would eat were cabbage and cauliflower, and now that I think about it, I could put cauliflower in a "sneaky chef" puree, so now we're down to cabbage, and I'm sure we could give that away to someone.

If you get the full share for the whole season (May - November, every week) it's in the neighborhood of $500, which sounds like a lot, but it comes down to about $20 / week, and I'm spending close to that at the farmer's market as it is.

You can do a half-share (same days, every other week) for considerably less, and if you put in volunteer time on the farm, that brings your cost down even more, but I'm a little hesitant to commit to that.

Anyway, here's our tour: