The CSA panic strikes -- again!

From Susmita Sharma — Blog by Susmita Sharma

March 10, 2009

You all might have heard about a CSA by now. You haven’t? CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. In a nutshell, you commit to buying your ‘share’ of produce from a local farm or group of farms, and each week you are blessed with a bag/box of farm fresh produce. Not just any farm fresh produce, but usually it is Organic, Sustainable, Local -- all those buzz words that even the Safeway shopper likes to utter (as they have a list of 100 reasons why they cannot join a CSA). This truly is a blessing - my 5 year-old has eaten more varieties of fruits and vegetables than sadly, most adults have in the United States. The mere words “honey, this is x (insert vegetable name) from the farm” is magic! He will try it. Not always like it, but hey, if you know 5 year-olds trying it is more than half the battle.

So, here is the bad news in all of this. Sometimes (ok many times) I feel hugely burdened with all this vegetal matter. Yes, I’ve read and reread Michael Pollan - Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. I get it! I love it! Plants are great! I am an omnivore, but I’d say 80% herbivore, 20% carnivore. So, what is exactly the problem here? Simply put - pressure! To finish up all of nature’s bounty before the next CSA share pick-up day.

Either my CSA is way too generous on portions, or I need to get the kids to eat more vegetables. Each week, we work our way through the salads, greens, vegetables, fruit. But then Wednesday arrives, I look at the refrigerator and panic sets in! We need to eat up these veggies! Tomorrow (Thursday) is my CSA pick-up day! More vegetables. More fruit! So, here’s the bad. I feel like a slave to my produce habit now. I guess I could give some away to my friends, but then I feel like I am cheating. Wasn’t I supposed to make sure our family consumed these plant offerings? What would Michael Pollan say?

I hope I am not the only one out there struggling to eat up my weekly produce blessings. If not, maybe we all need to write to the farms and ask for a bit less. Maybe it is a sign that even the few meals I eat out are a few too many. Eat Food. Not much. Mostly Plants......