A while ago I heard a piece on NPR about community supported agriculture. The idea is that consumers pay a fee up front to the farm and then over the course of the growing season they get a share of the harvest. Perhaps one week strawberries are being picked, the next week it is corn and the week after that eggplants. Each week you get a box full of fresh, family grown produce. This sounded great. My wife and love to cook at home but as you know the produce you get at Giant Eagle can only take you so far. During the summer we will occasionally go down to the Strip District to buy our fruits and veggies but not nearly as much as we should. Then last week I got a brochure in the mail from the Dillner Family Farm in Gibsonia, PA, just north of Pittsburgh. For $300 you can get a box of fresh farm products for 22 weeks from June through October. That price is for the small share that feeds 2-3 people. They have larger shares for larger families. The best part is they have drop areas throughout the city and even one in the Squirrel Hill / Regent Square area. Once a week you can go to the drop area near you and get your fruits and vegetables. Like I said, you get what ever they happen to harvest that week so each week is a surprise. It's like 22 weeks of fruit and vegetable Christmas. Our pick up date will be Thursdays so we can then plan our meals for the weekend and the following week around what ever we get and then fill in with meats from the grocery store or the Strip. If this goes as well as I hope maybe next year I'll look to find a farm that sells meats. In the day and age of huge grocery stores that push out the local mom and pop places it just feels good to support a local farm. And, on top of that you are getting a superior product! I'll write more about it later this summer. I think our first share comes at the beginning of June. Also, if any of you out there have experience with CSA's add a comment and let me know what you think.
|
|||
Bob, At my work, a company
Bob,
At my work, a company called Good Apples (www.goodapples.org) will do all your strip shopping for you. They currently only work for corporate clients, so you'd have to talk to your employer about bringing them out to your workplace.
I don't participate and I haven't really asked anyone at work how they like it, but it is an option for getting your meats, cheeses and specialty items from the strip without actually heading down there, although that's probably part of the fun.
Bob, A friend of mine likes
Bob,
A friend of mine likes this place a lot: http://www.kretschmannfarm.com/.
Kretschmann Farm
Thanks.
I looked into Kretschmann. The nice thing is that they are all organic. The downside in my opinion is that they are more expensive, however their "season" is about a month longer. Works out to about $20 per week for a small family where as Dillner is about $15 per week.
You Inspired Me
Bob,
Your blog on this topic has inspired me to write my own. You can go read about it here: http://www.pittsblogh.com/blog/matt/the-csa-experiment
I took look at the link for the Dillner Family Farm website and like that they have different size plans so you are not getting a ton of food for two people. Also I don't think that the CSA that I chose has the amount to fruits and berries that Dillner Family Farm has. Maybe you will have to share....especially if you get some strawberries.