The ABCs of CSAs

Our family is toying with joining a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) co-op. The New Century CSA is a local farm near Columbus that will deliver fresh produce each week of the growing season to our home. Haven’t heard of a CSA? Here's how it works: A local farm will sell you "shares" of its weekly produce for a flat rate. For this flat rate, you get a basket of whatever is freshest from the farm that week, delivered to your home or a farmer’s market, where you can pick it up. Each week the produce varies, according to what is being harvested, so you cannot request certain items; you simple receive a share of that week’s harvest. You may be asking yourself, why bother? A reasonable question, no doubt. Here's why: First, the altruistic part of me loves that we would be supporting a small local family farm. Second, the CSA we are considering is a chemical-free farming facility. An added bonus, to be sure. Third, I love the idea of receiving food at its absolute freshest and the fact that my creativity might be spurred by new foods I'm given--foods that I might not buy at the grocery. The downside: I will be given foods that I might not buy at the grocery store. I heard from two people, completely independent of one another, that when they participated in different CSAs, "it was hard to know what to do with some of the food, especially the kohlrabi." I have never tasted kohlrabi, but I guess if I am going to join this CSA, I better start boning up on how to cook it! Kohlrabi apparently is a root vegetable that can be used raw in slaws and salads, or roasted. I checked out Epicurious.com and found some decent recipes there. So it comes down to kohlrabi. Shall I dive in and try this new CSA adventure, kohlrabi and all? I’ll let you know what we decide… SPC