First CSA Pickup of the Season
We just got our first CSA pickup from Potomac Vegetable Farms (PVF) yesterday. This is the second year we've signed up for a CSA with PVF, and we just love it. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and is a great way to create a relationship with a local farmer. You pay in advance for a produce subscription, and the farmer plans their growing season based on the number of subscriptions. You receive a share of freshly picked, in season produce weekly for anywhere from 8 to over 20 weeks during the summer and/or fall season. Some farms also offer shares of other products such as flowers, fruits, eggs, milk, and meats. It is a great way to eat local and in season. Also, supporting your local farmer ensures biodiversity, which is so lacking in the mega farms growing masses of corn and other monocrops which require extensive spraying of chemicals and fertilizer to generate a moderate yield.
We signed up for both a summer and a fall share, so our CSA will extend for 24 weeks (16 weeks of summer and 8 weeks of fall produce), from the beginning of June through early November. We live only ten minutes from PVF East so we pick up our share straight from the vienna farm location. Many farms will deliver to various drop sites in addition to pickup at their farm. If you live anywhere in the DC Metro or NoVA area, chances are good that there is a CSA farm or CSA drop site near you. I have compiled a list of local CSAs, listed by location and it can be viewed in the group pages of the Meetup Group that I co-organize.
As CSAs are becoming more and more popular, the shares are filling up very quickly as soon as reservations are open. PVF East usually fills up in a matter of days once registration opens up in February. And no wonder. You can't get any better quality than a CSA. The quality and freshness is akin to growing your own produce. Many CSA farmers use sustainable farming methods, enriching the land through natural means and will harvest the produce shares the day before, sometimes hours before the shares are distributed.
Our first CSA pickup of the season included: garlic scapes, sweet onion, Mei Qing Choy, kale, baby salad greens, oregano, basil, escarole, curly endive, lettuce, a wee cabbage, and a pint of strawberries.
For dinner last night, we had Polyface pork chops, sauteed Mei Qing Choy with garlic scapes and a large salad of fresh baby greens. Life has never been so good. :-)
We signed up for both a summer and a fall share, so our CSA will extend for 24 weeks (16 weeks of summer and 8 weeks of fall produce), from the beginning of June through early November. We live only ten minutes from PVF East so we pick up our share straight from the vienna farm location. Many farms will deliver to various drop sites in addition to pickup at their farm. If you live anywhere in the DC Metro or NoVA area, chances are good that there is a CSA farm or CSA drop site near you. I have compiled a list of local CSAs, listed by location and it can be viewed in the group pages of the Meetup Group that I co-organize.
As CSAs are becoming more and more popular, the shares are filling up very quickly as soon as reservations are open. PVF East usually fills up in a matter of days once registration opens up in February. And no wonder. You can't get any better quality than a CSA. The quality and freshness is akin to growing your own produce. Many CSA farmers use sustainable farming methods, enriching the land through natural means and will harvest the produce shares the day before, sometimes hours before the shares are distributed.
Our first CSA pickup of the season included: garlic scapes, sweet onion, Mei Qing Choy, kale, baby salad greens, oregano, basil, escarole, curly endive, lettuce, a wee cabbage, and a pint of strawberries.
For dinner last night, we had Polyface pork chops, sauteed Mei Qing Choy with garlic scapes and a large salad of fresh baby greens. Life has never been so good. :-)
Labels: community supported agriculture, CSA, farmer, farms, local, locavore, produce, sustainable, vegetables
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posted by Sara Tung at
11:52 AM
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