A Fond Farewell to a Fabulous CSA Season

This week marks an important milestone for Confreda Farms and Gardens. It is the final Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) pickup *sniff* sniff *  I have gotten really spoiled by farm fresh, unique, flavorful produce. I've photographed it, played with it, stored it, frozen it, donated it, used it for pot lucks, and found ways to cook things I've never seen before.

Mostly,  I was successful.  And other times, I bombed and wasn't brave enough to blog about it. Like the time I made kale chips and added too much salt. My kids were so excited about them (I know, very strange), but then ... it was just a big mess of salty crunchy kale. Inedible. I was so sad. My friend tried to salvage it by transforming it into a kale pesto/salt. We thought of many ways to use it but it wasn't meant to be.

I'll miss the kids playing with their food : )

I learned so much from this experience. I challenged myself to blog about it each week, sometimes more. It was sort of my own personal Julie and Julia project, without the weight gain and marital discord.  Here is a snapshot of what I learned from receiving a family CSA share.

1. A family share is a LOT of vegetables. If you are considering doing this next year and have a small family of 4 like me, then you may want to consider getting a single share.  OR, get the family share and split the cost with another family and divvy it up. It's really fun and creates a great sense of community.

2. The veggies lasted longer in the fridge than I thought they would.  Some items carried over into the next week and were still very fresh.

3. There are no limits to what a zucchini can do. 

4. Jarring food is easier than I thought and proved to be a great alternative to "eating it all" in one week.

5.  Never underestimate the power of a trip to the farm and a box filled with mystery. It will make your kids so excited about trying something new, even a whole jalapeno pepper which will make one of them dance around the house like a Mexican jumping bean. (He should have Stopped Dropped and Rolled.)

6. The following had never crossed my palate until the CSA: Wax beans, kohlrabi, baby Thai eggplant, white eggplant, purslane. Loved 'em all and will now be on the lookout in the grocery stores.

7. It is possible to manage your family sized share with only one refrigerator. Challenging? Yes. But completely possible.

8. I no longer like veggies. I LOVE THEM. 

Thank you Confreda's for a great experience and for broadening the horizons of the big and little people in my house.  We are all much better off than we were 4 months ago, thanks to you!