Green Dilly Beans: Farm to Table

This week marks the first week of my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) membership, a Christmas present from my mom and dad. CSA’s hook up local farmers with hungry people who want fresh local produce, providing farmers with a steady source of income and consumers with farm fresh goods that support local growers, a win-win deal if ever there was one. A CSA membership gets you weekly deliveries of whatever is ripe for picking that week. Mine is run through the 6th Street Community Center at Avenue B, and delivers food through November. Deliveries for 2 people average about 5 lbs of food per week. Produce is picked on the farm in the AM and delivered to city sites the same day for evening pick up. The only downside seems to be the potential for getting a lot of the same thing as it comes into season – hence all my plans for copious canning and pickling. Yesterday I picked up an allotment of 4 different kinds of lettuce, radishes, arugula, joi choi (kin to bok choy), lambs quarters (similar to spinach in taste, but not looks), yukina savoy (Chinese cabbage), mizuna (Japanese mustard greens used in mesclun salad mix), and apples. Whew. I hadn't even heard of some of these greens, so I'll provide links for background info on those that required Googling on my part. A salad spinner / lettuce washer has been purchased just to accommodate the invasion of greenery. For more info on CSAs, check out Just Food or Farm to Table