Earlier this year, I decided to join a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program. A CSA is a way for farmers and a community of individuals to join together in a mutual partnership. There are many different CSA models out there, but the most common scenario is where individuals make a financial commitment to a farm, thereby becoming members or shareholders of that farm. In return, members are given a share of the farm’s bounty during the growing season, usually in the form of weekly deliveries of fresh produce. The benefits for the farmers are a guaranteed, steady source of income and the opportunity to talk directly with their consumers. Also, since most CSAs require advance payment, the farmers receive the money at the beginning of the season when it is needed most. Although there are risks involved with joining a CSA (poor harvests mean less produce for everyone), the benefits for the members are numerous: delicious, healthy produce throughout the season, knowledge of exactly where that produce comes from and sense of community and connection with a local farm.

After a little bit of research, I finally decided to join the CSA program at Boistfort Valley Farm. I was tempted at first to go with one of the biggies. Pioneer Organics and Full Circle Farm both offer CSA-like programs in which you get a weekly box of organic produce delivered. They offer a lot of conveniences including year-round delivery and picking & choosing your produce online. But, they also supplement their deliveries with produce from California and Mexico, especially in the winter. I decided that wanted to go with a more traditional CSA where everything comes from a single local farm and whatever those farmers feel like growing that year is what you get. Once I figured that part out, it was really just a matter of finding a farm that delivered to Capitol Hill and had a delivery day that worked well with my cooking schedule. Boistfort Valley Farm fit the bill perfectly. Plus, I liked their website and they were really sweet when I e-mailed them with my questions.

Today, my first box of Boistfort Valley Farm produce arrived! I headed over to the Capitol Hill drop site after work, lugged the box home and excitedly opened it up as soon as I walked in the door. Inside was an amazing array of vegetables, more than Robert and I will probably be able to consume in a week unless I start cooking on the weekends. There were two huge heads of lettuce (romaine and red oak leaf), a bunch of red chard, beets with greens, baby carrots, baby bok choy, easter egg radishes, cilantro, mint, 2 pints of strawberries and a bouquet of fresh flowers. There was also a friendly newsletter explaining what was what and offering some recipes. Figuring out creative ways to use all of this produce will be a fun challenge. For dinner tonight, I made pasta with cilantro-mint pesto, roasted beets and carrots, and a huge salad of mixed greens and radishes with an ume vinaigrette. The strawberries will be for dessert. Everything was so fresh and delicious. I can’t wait to see what the next 19 weeks of boxes will bring!