Local, organice produce--mine at last!

A few weeks ago I got a very exciting email at work. It announced the beginning of a partnership between our office and Blooming Hill Farm, an organic farm about an hour north of Manhattan. The partnership is basically a company sponsored CSA program. Every week you can opt in to buy a share of produce for $40. The produce is pre-selected and represents whatever the farm is growing at the time. Eggs and cheese can be purchased for an additional price. Blooming Hill Farm also works with other local farms to provide produce they don't grow themselves (citrus fruit, for example).

Today was the first week of the program. I opted in for a bag of my own. Splitting a share is an option, but I wanted to see what the quantity was like before I went for splitting. One share represents a generous amount of produce and my challenge now is to put it to good use! My feeling at this point is that I'll be opting in every other week at the most. It will be exciting to see what new things crop up as the summer wears on.

Last year I put my name on a waiting list for a CSA run by a community garden in Red Hook. I haven't heard a word from them. Researching other CSA's in my area has been sitting on my internal to-do list for quite some time. We've never lived conveniently close to a good farmer's market, so that is also something I've thought a lot about doing, but haven't taken actual steps toward making it happen. Sadly, the realities of our day-to-day schedule have led me to choose the convenience of buying produce at the regular supermarket over seeking out the local, organic market.

It was fortuitous then that my awesome employer has a Green Team that set up this great program. Our New Jersey location has been participating for some time and I'm pleased the New York office gets to benefit as well. The produce is delivered to one of our loading docks; pick up entails going downstairs and around the block. Getting my share home was quite easy. I'm already trying to devise ways to keep participating while I'm on maternity leave. Driving in on a Thursday wouldn't be that difficult . . .

Yukon Gold potatoes, carrots, Fuji
apples, garlic, broccoli, beets, mixed
salad greens, kale, spring onions, chard

The first thing I used from my share was the head of broccoli. I was already planning to make Broccoli, Cheese, and Rice casserole and salmon for dinner, so that fit in nicely. The share came with a pleasant letter from Cindy, the farmer, and two recipes featuring produce included in the share. The first, Spring Onion soup looks simple and delicious; I'll be trying this tomorrow.

I'm pumped about having an easy way to get food that is good for my family and easy on the Earth. Getting the food on a Thursday will set me up for meal planning and weekend cooking. I've got a good feeling about the direction we're headed.
 

Irie was curious.

He has a strict policy on inspecting all edibles
that come into the apartment. 

"What, no meat? Duck soup next time, please."