Hi guys! The last few posts of mine here have been really focused on the social side of my life. Events, brunches, meet-ups, travels… all that fun stuff. So today I wanted to share something really cool with you that has also been a big part of my live over the past several months. In November of last year right after James and I got back from New Orleans, we joined our first CSA.
What’s a CSA you might ask? Well, it stands for Community Shared Agriculture. Basically it’s a weekly share of fruits and veggies from a local farm, in our case the Little River Cooperative here in Miami. Every Saturday we head up to the Upper East Side Farmers Market and pickup our share. One of the best things is that the contents of the share each week are different. It’s usually a mix of greens, veggies, and sometimes fruit. The other cool part is that it comes from Little River, as well as a few other local farms. but yes, it’s 100% from South Florida.
I’ve enjoyed being part of this CSA for so many reasons. It’s been a great way to get more involved with our community, it gets us out of the house early every Saturday morning, and we have an incredibly selection of produce to choose from all week. So much of our box is stuff that I would probably not normally buy while making a routine trip through the grocery store, so I’ve actually learned a lot about new fruits and veggies in the process. Here’s a look at some of the things you could see in any given week:
Kale, purple and orange carrots, red and green mustard greens, arugula and mixed salad lettuce with edible flowers, fennel, kohlrabi, heirloom beefsteak, grape and cherry tomatoes, florida grown organic brown rice, dandelion greens, calabaza pumpkin wedges, savoy cabbage, traditional cabbage, baby spinach, rapini, french sorrel, brocolli, cilantro, parsley, dill, oregano, garlic chives, scallions, spring onions, lettuce heads, escarole, frisee, beets, collards, turnips, french breakfast, daikon, and watermelon radishes, tricolored french beans, eggplants, asian greens like tat soi, bok choi, hon tsai tai and pei tsai, cucumbers, jalapeno peppers, celery, summer squash, purslane, swiss chard, sweet corn, strawberries, bananas, papayas, roselle stalks, starfruit, fresh moringa leaves, lemongrass, loquats foraged from the neighborhood, grapefruit, sweet potatoes and more!
My favorite thing so far? The purple and orange carrots. If you have a chance to be part of a CSA in your community I would highly suggest it. Our membership, which lasts about 20 weeks was right around $500. It comes out to about $25 a week for a box of locally grown veggies and fruits. It might seem like a lot, but believe me when it comes to produce now a days I would always go for quality over quantity. James and I have had a really fun time using all the ingredients each week and you can check out some of our latest recipes on my Instagram!
xx
