Community Supported Agriculture (or CSA) is basically a subscription to a farm. The idea behind it is that the you (the eater) purchases a share of a farmer’s crop. Then during the growing season, periodically (usually weekly) you receive a box full of whatever was recently harvested.
CSAs are the best way to eat the most fresh seasonal produce (the sort of veggies that Chefs dream of). In addition to being a culinary treat, CSAs also are great for supporting local farms. By assuring the farmer you will buy what they plant, farmers are better able to plan out their season and reduce the risk of seasonal ups-and-downs (think bad weather on a market day).
CSAs are amazing. But they can also be a lot of work. Cleaning, and prepping raw veggies can take hours before they are even ready for the fridge, let alone cooking with. And sometimes it’s hard to know what to do with so many veggies, especially when its a lot of one in particular or something you’ve never cooked with.
The CSA Club makes it easy.
As part of the CSA Club, we will wash, prep, and pack all veggies for you. You’ll have fresh seasonal produce to cook with, minus the extra work. Spend more time enjoying cooking with delicious produce, and less time cleaning and prepping it.
Just 1.5 hours northwest of Chicago, Nichols Farm & Orchard is one of the most ubiquitous market farms in the area. This season’s CSA Club will follow their Standard CSA share. Boasting more than 1,000 cultivars of produce across the 250 acres they farm, each CSA Club share will contain over 75 different varieties of produce throughout the season.
As a club, we’re able to take advantage of (still small) scaling of the scraps and abundances experienced throughout the season. You can expect things like pickled abundance items, or stock, sauces and seasonings made from what might have otherwise been compost.
Ideally, your share is all of the veggies you need for the season and trips to the grocery store are only for non-produce items, or to bridge the gap between pick-ups. Shares are best utilized when supplemented with your preferred veggie vehicle (think bread, rice, or tortillas), and protein source.
Shares are biweekly with the intentional goal of minimizing waste. All items should last ~ 2 weeks refrigerated, but hopefully you will use up everything perishable prior to picking up your next ‘box’.
Each share included about 10 seasonal items harvested that week, typically mostly veggies with some fruit and herbs. You can expect things like:
