Clay's CSA Farm Share Experience with Clagett Farms

The CSA Group at flickr is a wealth of beautiful photos of produce. Ive rounded up a few of the wonderful people there to let me feature their photos and they have answered my questions about their experience. Yoko's landed us on the TIG page of vox!!! [photo] I hope the people who have enjoyed this blog will enjoy seeing other people's experiences... Im thankful to have Clay as my next guest. His experience seems pretty wonderfully typical from what I have heard about other people's experiences. His photos are dazzling...



Q: How did you hear about CSAs/when did you become familiar with the idea?

Clay:  I was familiar with the concept of CSAs through reading food magazines, but I did not know much about local CSAs here in Washington, DC. We first heard about the CSA to which we belong through our neighbors, who had members of another CSA last year but who were looking to sign up for our CSA for this season. Membership is limited due to the high number of subscribers who return year after year, and therefore competitive. On the day membership applications opened, our neighbors emailed and we faxed in the form that day. We had always been big supporters of the local farmer's market, and also cook at home quite a bit, so it seemed to make perfect sense for us to join a CSA.

Q: What motivated you to sign up for one? Would you like to share anything about the thought process you went thru?

Clay:  We loved the idea of not only receiving local ingredients each week, but also of receiving produce that we normally wouldn't purchase. I thought it would be an excellent way to learn to cook with new ingredients while also supporting a great cause.

Q: What have been some of your favorite new food experiences since you started receiving your shares? (Feelings about food, ways of shopping/preparation, etc)

Clay:  We were blown away by the lettuces at the very beginning of our share in May. They were wonderful and so fresh and you could tell such a big difference from the greens we had been buying at the store. Also - it's just been really fun to use items like garlic scapes, that I had never heard of before joining the CSA.

Q: What has been the biggest surprise of the experience?

Clay: The diversity of the offerings each week has been surprising. I knew that we would be getting a variety of produce, but each week we're getting 7-12 different items in good quantities. I am also surprised by how flavorful a radish can be! How have I missed this until now?

Q: Have you ever been to the farm? How far is it from your house, how far do you go to pick it up, how long is the growing season?

Clay:  We've only been to the farm once, for the kick-off event before our first share. It was fun to see the farm before the shares began, and to meet some other CSA members. The farm is a 40 minute drive from our house, but we don't have a car, so we haven't been back, but I'd love to go and take advantage of u-pick sometime soon, and to also see the farm again when everything is in full swing. Our pick-up location is nine blocks from our house and our CSA's growing season is from May to November.

Q: Any other thoughts...

Clay:  I would highly recommend joining a CSA for anyone who is an avid home cook. We paid $450 for our share that runs from May to November. Here's some information about our CSA and here is their excellent blog that tracks the growing season.

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Thank you to Clay, for letting me use his wonderful photos and for answering my questions. Visit localharvest.org to do a simple search by zip code to find a CSA in your area.

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Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is a ... model of food production, sales and distribution aimed at both increasing the quality of food and the quality of care given the land, plants and animals – while substantially reducing potential food losses and financial risks for the producers. It is also a method for small-scale commercial farmers and gardeners to have a successful, small-scale closed market. CSA’s focus is usually on a system of weekly delivery or pick-up of vegetables, sometimes also flowers, fruits, herbs and even milk or meat products in some cases. (source: wikipedia)