Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Wise words: Joining a CSA

When Aunt Elizabeth was here in Mexico a couple weeks ago, we spent a lot of time talking about how life here is different from the U.S. One thing that we both could not shut up about was the local food markets. They are fabulous. My market is so local, in fact, that I only have to walk two blocks to get my hands on fresh tomatoes, onions, almonds, strawberries, bananas, bushels of cilantro, and homemade cheese. It's very affordable—I usually spend about $18 for a week's worth of the above.


One of the snazzier market stalls in Mercado Hidalgo, Guanajuato

People don't tend to think of Mexico as a pioneer in green living, but food markets are one of two huge areas (bus travel is the other) where this country totally trumps the U.S. Fortunately, Elizabeth let me know about a way around the lack of affordable food markets in the States: buying shares in CSAs.



Elizabeth in my living room in Mexico. The fact that her outfit totally matched the decor was a complete and awesome accident!

And now that spring is here, talk of CSA's (Community Supported Agriculture) seems to be everywhere on the internet. My favorite food blogger, Nick at Macheesmo, just posted an informative post about CSAs with lots of good comments from his readers. Since overabundance can be a problem with CSAs (one reader cites an over-active zucchini patch), the way to get the most out of your CSA is to learn how to preserve, preserve, preserve!
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousApril 27, 2009 at 8:08 PM

    Hello, it's Mamma Canner here. This weekend, we had the perfect combination of warm weather and rain. I hired a guy to rototill our front yard so I could prepare it for big time vege planting. After he was done, our little city lot looked like a giant field. I was so excited by the expansive flat black dirt that I spent the next several hours staring at it from various angles to figure out a plan. After much soul searching, I decided to not let history repeat itself... and I planted grass. I always have grand ideas in the spring and they come to a bad end by the time weeds and hot weather take over in July. So, my plan is to not plant an extensive flower and vege garden but to limit my patch to the containers on our deck - tomatoes, beans, lettuce and basil. The rest I'll buy at the farmer's market. I did keep up with tradition and left a large space to continue our Big Max Pumpkin Patch out front so we can keep the neighborhood kids supplied with giant jacks in October. I also will plant some raspberry bushes out back. This feels manageable (for now). I'll let the farmers duke it out with the rabbits and groundhogs and potato caterpillers, and I'll put out the cash, then add the sweat and elbow grease by canning what I buy.
    Marcia

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