by Vicki Tardif

Last year, I did a lot of reading about CSAs. Much of the literature pointed to the benefits of joining: supporting local agriculture, reducing your carbon footprint, and understanding the chemicals (if any) that are used to grow your vegetables. But, one of the nagging questions I had was cost. If getting my produce from a CSA costs significantly more than what I pay at my local grocery store, then CSAs will never be more than a fad for the affluent. Any viable solution must be affordable to lower- and middle-class Americans.

When we joined the CSA last spring, I hoped that we would break even, but to be honest, I was not sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised when we did the analysis and found that we actually saved money by joining the CSA. Granted, this was data from one CSA over one growing season, but it showed that it is not outside the realm of possibility to get organic, locally-grown vegetables for less than it costs to buy similar items at the grocery store.

With that said, I appreciate that we are in a position that many Americans are not: we were able to pay for our groceries up front. Most CSAs require that members pay at the beginning of the season, so that they can purchase seeds and other supplies to plant their crops. It took some shuffling, but we were able to come up with the membership fee without too large a hardship. For many Americans, particularly the working poor, this is impossible. For this reason, I still struggle with the idea of CSAs being the be-all and end-all of answers to the question of how we feed a nation.

Uprising Farm in Bellingham, Washington is working on a solution to this problem that works for both the farm and local people on federal food stamps. The farm applied to the USDA to qualify to accept Electronic Benefit Transfers (EBT). Federal food stamps are issued on electronic cards that resemble a credit card. As part of the program, Uprising Farm received a card reader. Every week, members swipe their EBT cards, and the food stamp funds are automatically transferred to the farm.

Unfortunately, the program does not completely fit the CSA model. The USDA does not allow contracts for food purchases; instead, the food stamps must be used week-to-week. Uprising Farm had to apply to the USDA as a “farm stand”. The farm still considers all of these people to be “members”, but it is unclear to me if Uprising Farm still functions as a CSA. One of the chief benefits to CSA farmers is that they are guaranteed an income at the beginning of the season. Under this model, that guarantee no longer holds. For this reason, I do not expect most CSAs to following Uprising Farm’s lead, but this sort of creative thinking is what will lead to better answers to the question of how we feed a nation while still protecting our environment.

by Eric Richard

Well, the CSA season is behind us, so now it is time to look back and see how the season went. I’ll be posting a few summaries here to recap my wife and my thoughts on the season.

The first review will be a financial analysis.

Going into the CSA season, one of the things we promised to do was keep track of the actual value of the food that we got from the CSA and compare it to the amount we paid.

I detailed the approach we’d take in a previous post titled “Computing the Real Value of a CSA“.

In that post I said I’d take two different approaches to answering the question. And, now that the season is over, I can reveal the results of each methodology.

So, here are the results from methodology #1.

Method #1: Computing “Real Value” of the Food

When we joined the CSA, we paid $675 for the entire season. $50 of this was a fee for new members — if we had participated before, the cost would have only been $625.

According to our analysis, the food we got over the season was worth $731.53.

There are several nuances to be aware of in terms of how we computed this value.

• When we computed the value of the distribution, we used the prices for non-organic products. We did this for two reasons:
  1. It is very unlikely that we would have been able to find a single, consistent source of prices for organic equivalents of every distribution — we had a hard enough time finding prices for regular equivalents each week.
  2. When we went into the season, we were not looking for an organic CSA — that was just a bonus for us. Therefore, if we were purchasing the same foods in a grocery story, we wouldn’t have bought organic versions.

  I am sure that if we had compared to organic prices, the actual value of the CSA would have significantly more. For example, a non-organic pint of cherry tomatoes runs for about $3.00 while the organic equivalent is $5.00. A lb. of non-organic tomatoes is $2.00 whereas the organic equivalent is $5.00.

  The real point here is that if “organic” is important to you and you would have been buying this same organic produce in the store, then you can make a very strong argument that the CSA would be a fiscally smart way to buy this produce.

  But, since that isn’t what we were looking for, we didn’t take it into consideration.

• There were several weeks where we did not take the entire distribution.In general, we tried to keep track of what we could have taken, but I am sure there are weeks that we missed things.Therefore, the value we computed is probably 5-10% lower than it actually should have been.
• There were a few cases where we could not find prices for the exact products we got and, instead, chose more common equivalents.For example, one week we got “tongue of fire beans”. I know this might surprise you, but you just can’t find those in the local grocery store. So, we priced them as edamame.I am guessing that, in general, this lead to a slightly lower computed value as compared to the actual value since I am guessing that because these items were “exotic” they would be slightly more expensive.

Putting all of this together, I think we can make a good argument that we got more than our money’s worth out of the season.

by Eric Richard

Note: This was the last distribution.  As part of this distribution, we also got one “make up” distribution since we missed week 9.  So, this list contains the normal week 20 distribution plus the make up distribution.

• 2 bunches bok choi
• 2 heads cabbage
• 1 lb. parsnips
• 2 lb. carrots
• 3 butternut squash
• 1 lb. turnip
• 2 celery roots (celeriac)
• 1/2 lb. tomatillos
• 3 leeks
• 1/4 lb. brussel sprouts
• 1 1/2 lb. potatoes
• 3 heads garlic
• 1 pie pumpkin

That’s all folks!  That’s the end of the CSA season.  We’ll be posting some “wrap up” posts on the season next.

by Eric Richard

• 1 qt. cherry tomatoes
• 2 qt. tongue of fire beans
• 3 leeks
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 3 chili peppers
• 1 lb. beets
• 1 celery root (celeriac)
• 1 lb. tomatoes
• 3 lb. potatoes
• 1 cabbage
• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 1/2 lb. arugula
• 1 bunch bok choi
• 1 acorn squash
• 1 lb. carrots
• 1/2 lb. tomatillos
• 1/2 lb. green peppers

by Eric Richard

• 1 pt. cherry tomatoes
• 1 pt. raspberries
• 1 qt. green beans
• 1 lb. green peppers
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 3 chili peppers
• 4 1/2 lbs. tomatoes
• 1/2 lb. arugula
• 1 dumpling squash
• 2 leeks
• 2 heads garlic
• 1 lb. carrots
• 1 lb. spinach
• 1 head green leaf lettuce
• 1 lb. tomatillos
• 10 pods okra

by Eric Richard

• 1 (10 lb.) pumkin
• 1  qt. green beans
• 1 pt. raspberries
• 1 lb. spinach
• 1 qt. cherry tomatoes
• 1 lb. tomatillos
• 1 lb. green peppers
• 1 onion
• 1 dumpling squash
• 5 lb. tomatoes
• 1 cabbage
• 1/2 lb. Russian kale
• 1 lb bok choi
• 1/2 lb. arugula
• 1/2 lb. mixed greens
• 1 lb. carrots
• 1 celery root (celeriac)

by Eric Richard

• 1 qt. green beans
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1 1/2 lb. mixed greens
• 1 lb. broccoli
• 20 pods okra
• 1 lb. carrots
• 2 daikon radishes
• 1 onion
• 6 lb. tomatoes
• 1/2 lb. turnip greens
• 2 lb. spinach

by Eric Richard

• 1 lb. green peppers
• 1 cup raspberries
• 1 bunch edamame
• 2 qts. yellow beans
• 1 squash
• 1 head Boston lettuce
• 1 bunch (1/2 lb.) chard (choice of broccoli, chard, cabbage, kale and okra)
• 1 bunch (1/4 lb.) broccoli (choice of broccoli, chard, cabbage, kale and okra)
• 1 1/4 lb. spinach
• 1/2 lb beets
• 1 onion
• 1 bunch (3 oz.) basil
• 1 lb. carrots
• 6 lb. tomatoes

by Eric Richard

• 1 onion
• 1 bunch (6 oz.) basil
• 1 bunch (3 oz.) cilantro
• 1 1/2 lb. carrots
• 1 head broccoli
• 4 green peppers
• 1 bunch (1/2 lb.) bok choi (choice of bok choi, kale, okra, and beets)
• 1 bunch (3/4 lb.) kale (choice of bok choi, kale, okra, and beets)
• 1 head lettuce
• 1 bunch edamame
• 1 melon
• 4 lb. tomatoes
• 1 pt. cherry tomatoes
• 1 pt. green beans
• 1 pt. raspberries

by Eric Richard

The CSA season is over, so finally posting all of the remaining distributions.

• 6 lb tomatoes
• 1 bunch (3/4 lb.) kales
• 1 bunch (1/4 lb.) basil
• 4 leeks
• 1/2 cup raspberries
• 1 bunch edamame
• 1 quart yellow beans (choice of yellow or green beans)
• 2 quarts cherry tomatoes
• 2 lbs. carrots
• 1 squash
• 3/4 lb beets
• 1 head Boston lettuce
• 1  onion
• 1 head garlic
• 3 oz. parsley (take as much as you want)
• 3 oz. cilantro (take as much as you want)
• 3 chili peppers (take as much as you want)
• 6 ears corn
• 1 1/4 lb. green peppers
• 1 cantaloupe (choice of cantaloupe or watermelon)

by Eric Richard

Slowly catching up  on the distributions.  Here is the week 12 distribution (from 2 weeks ago):

•  1 zucchini
• 1 sweet onion
•  1 head garlic
• 4 (3/4 lb) leeks
• 5 lbs. tomatoes
• 3 halia peppers (3/4 lb)
• 1 bunch basil (1/4 lb)
• 1 bunch kale (3/4 lb)
• 1 bunch arugula (1/2 lb) (Choice of okra, carrots, broccoli, chard, arugula, beets, eggplant, or celery)
• 1 bunch chard (1/2 lb) (Choice of okra, carrots, broccoli, chard, arugula, beets, eggplant, or celery)
• 1 lettuce (1/2 lb)
• 6 ears corn
• 1 bunch edamame
• 1 muskmelons
• 1 watermelon

by Eric Richard

Here’s the week 11 distribution:

• 1 qt. cherry tomatoes
• 12 lb. tomatoes
• 1 cantaloupe
• 7 ears corn
• 1 bunch (1/2 lb.) kale
• 1 bunch (1/2 lb.) arugula (choice of arugula, beets, carrots, and celery)
• 2 heads lettuce (choice of romaine, red leaf, and Boston)
• 1 lb. flat beans
• 1 bunch (1/8 lb) basil
• 1 watermelon
• 1 sweet onion
• 1 head garlic
• 4 leeks
• 7 green peppers
• 1 zucchini

by Eric Richard

We came back from vacation to find out that we were in the middle of tomato season.  As you will see over the next couple of weeks, we are up to our necks (don’t worry readers, we are safe!) in tomatoes.   The good news is that we have become masters at making bruschetta (with the fresh tomatoes, basil, and garlic from the farm) and that is a pretty darn fine way to get rid of tomatoes.

• 2 (1/2 lb.) summer squash
• 1 lb. carrots
• 1 lb. potatoes
• 1 head garlic
•  2 onions
• 1/4 lb. basil
• 1 bunch (1/2 lb.) kale (choice of green kale, beets, okra, and scallions)
• 1 bunch (1/2 lb) arugula
• 1 head green leaf lettuce (choice of green leaf, Boston, or red leaf)
• 1 head Boston lettuce (choice of green leaf, Boston, or red leaf)
• 1 oz. oregano (take as much as you want)
• 1 oz. chive (take as much as you want)
• 3 jalapeño peppers (take as much as you want)
• 1 (5 lb.) watermelon
• 10 lbs. tomatoes (no, that is not a typo)
• 1 qt. cherry tomatoes
• 1 quart flat beans

As a humerous aside, when Vicki went to pick up the distribution and was writing down the list, she got to the 10 lb. of tomatoes and went and asked one of the workers there, “That isn’t a typo is it?” and the person said, “Nope.  Last week it was 15 lb.”

by Eric Richard  

We wound up taking Week 9 off.  We took a vacation this weekend and figured we had enough food to last us for a while (despite the concerns of my readers).

So, we passed on this week.

by Eric Richard

Some of my readers are growing increasingly concerned that I have withered away like an old head of lettuce or suffered an untimely death of food poisoning. You can stop your fretting and rest assured that I am alive and well. I just changed jobs and that has kept me busy.  Now, I did consume something pretty rotten on Sunday that did make me feel a little sick, but this isn’t a sports blog, so we’ll leave that for another location.

However, you will hopefully also be happy to know that I have been busy writing some articles in the background and have a nice backlog that I can start posting soon. Hopefully the blog will re-emerge soon.

Anyway, to assure you that I am not starving to death, here is an update on the recent distributions.

• 3 (1 lb.) zucchini
• 5 cucumbers
• 1 oz. sage (take as much as you want)
• 1 oz. thyme (take as much as you want)
• 1 oz. parsley (take as much as you want)
• 1 lb. carrots
• 4 heads garlic
• 1 head (1 lb.) cabbage
• 1/2 lb. basil
• 2 lb heirloom tomators
• 1 head lettuce
• 1 bunch (1/2 lb.) chard (choice of chard, pickling cucumbers, scallions, or beets)
• 10 pickling cucumbers (choice of chard, pickling cucumbers, scallions, or beets)
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 3 quarts green beans

by Eric Richard

• 4 (3 lbs.) zucchini (Choice of zucchini, crooked neck squash, or yellow squash)
• 1 lb. of carrots
• 1 oz. (take what you want) of thyme
• 1 oz. (take what you want) of oregano)
• 1 head (.5 lb) of cabbage
• 2 (.5 lb) cucumbers
• 1 (.25 lb) fennel
• 1 bunch (3 oz.) of basil
• 1 lb. of broccoli (choose 2 of broccoli, chard, okra, pickling cucumbers, beets, or scallions)
• 1 bunch (.5 lb) of chard (choose 2 of broccoli, chard, okra, pickling cucumbers, beets, or scallions)
• 3 qt. (2 lbs) of green beans
• 1 (1/8 lbs) tomato
• 1/2 pt. (.5 lb) of cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup (20) blueberries
• 1 head (.5 lbs) of romaine lettuce (Choice of romaine, red leaf, and green leaf)

by Eric Richard

• 3 (2 lb.) of zucchini (choice of any combination of 5 zucchini, yellow squash, and crooked neck squash)
• 2 (1 lb.) of crooked neck squash (choice of any combination of 5 zucchini, yellow squash, and crooked neck squash)
• 1 bunch (1 lb.) of beets
• 2 oz. (take what you want) of cilantro
• 1 oz. (take what you want) of thyme
• 1 oz. (take what you want) of oregano
• 5 (1 lb.) cucumbers
• 2 (.5 lb) pickling cucumbers
• 1 bunch (6 oz.) of basil
• 1 bunch (1 lb.) of carrots
• 1 bunch (.5 lb) of green kale (Choose 2 of kale, chinese cabbage, cabbage, scallions or beets)
• 1 head (1 lb) of cabbage (Choose 2 of kale, chinese cabbage, cabbage, scallions or beets. We chose kale and cabbage)
• 1 head (.5 lb) of boston lettuce
• 1/2 cup (25) blueberries
• 1.5 qt. (1 lb) of green beans

by Eric Richard

Catching up again.

Here’s the week 5 distribution:

• 8 lbs of zucchini
• 1 (1/4 lb) of cucumber
• 3 (1/2 lb) of pickling cucumbers
• 1 bunch (6 oz) of basil
• 1 head (1 lb) of escarole
• 1 head (2 lbs) of chinese cabbage (Choice of chinese cabbage, green kale, broccoli, or mustard greens)
• 1 bunch (.5 lbs) of green kale (Choice of chinese cabbage, green kale, broccoli, or mustard greens)
• 2 heads (1 lb) of green leaf lettuce (Choice of green leaf, boston, or red leaf)
• 1 pint (.5 lbs) of sugar snap peas
• 3 oz. (take what you want) of cilantro
• 1 oz. (take what you want) of sage
• 1 oz. (take what you want) of oregano

by Eric Richard

So, we are now into our fourth week of the distributions and wanted to take a step back and try to summarize some of the thoughts to date.

At a very high level, I think this has been a very interesting experience. We went into this not really knowing what to expect so, it has been a bit of a ride the entire way along.

Here are some of my observations about the experiences so far:

There is absolutely no question that we are eating better than we did before.

There has been a big shift from eating in restaurants to eating home cooked food. In fact, I think both my wife and I have found ourselves having restaurant cravings because we were so used to going out every night.

So far, we have been able to keep up with the food distributions without too much of a stretch. We are trying to cook dinner about 3-4 times a week and maybe have 1-2 lunches from this food. However, it looks like Week 4 is going to be our first failure; we will have to freeze some food in order to get rid of everything before Week 5’s distribution.

We are currently on track to pretty much break even in terms of the the cost of joining the CSA. We’re about 20% of the way through the season and so far we have received about $125 in food. If we project forward, that will mean we’ll get about $600 over the season which was almost exactly what we paid. It will be interesting to see if the value stays steady or if the value shoots up as we get to larger distributions and more berries.

I have not yet done an formal analysis of whether we are saving money compared to what we would have otherwise spent, but my suspicion is that we definitely are. As mentioned above, we are definitely displacing many restaurant meals. We are doing a lot more grocery shopping, but my feel is that we are definitely saving money.

There is an odd discipline that this puts on you that can really help drive forward food-related decisions. It used to be that our nightly conversation would go something like this, “What do you want to have for dinner?” “I don’t know. What do you want?” “I don’t know.” And then we would stumble into something which probably involved a restaurant. However, now there is a very real constraint — we have a whole bunch of very specific food sitting in our refrigerator. This changes the entire discussion since now we know exactly what the starting point is. Now the conversation is more like, “Do you want the lettuce, the cabbage, or the peas?”

In a very similar way, this has really helped us expand our cooking skills, but in a constrained and focused manner. In some sense the freedom of being able to cook anything is a bit daunting. Whereas, this has lead us to cook all sorts of new recipes that we probably never would have tried before because we had a type of food in front of us and we had to find something to do with it.

There is some downside to these constraints. I am definitely getting a little bit overwhelmed by the amount of lettuce and lettuce related products we are getting and I am definitely looking forward to moving into more fruits, tomatoes, potatoes, etc.

On the whole, I am definitely happy with the experience to date. We’ll see how it continues!

by Eric Richard

Here was the distribution for the week:

• 2 (2 lb) summer squash
• 2 (2.5 lb) zucchini
• 1 bunch (1 lb) radish
• 1 head (1/4 lb) raddichio
• 1 bunch (3 oz.) of basil
• 1/4 lb. of garlic scape
• 1/4 lb. of lettuce mix (a mix of different lettuce leaves like you get in the pre-mixed salad bags)
• 1 head (1 lb.) of escarole
• 1 head (2.5 lbs) of chinese cabbage (choice of chinese cabbage, kale, cabbage, chard)
• 1 head (1.5 lbs.) of green cabbage (choice of chinese cabbage, kale, cabbage, chard)
• 2 heads (2 lbs.) of green leaf lettuce
• 1 qt. (1 lb.) of sugar snap peas (choice of sugar snap or shell peas)
• 1/2 cup of blueberries