CSAs: What a healthy, fun way to ‘shop’

<p>From the moment I first heard of community supported agriculture, or CSA, I have loved the idea: Sign up for a regular delivery of whatever the farm produces that week and get a box of fresh produce.</p><p>There’s something festive about receiving a bag or box filled with surprises each week. When my subscription was delivered, the knock at the door always caught me off guard.</p><p>“Who can that be?” I’d think as I went to the door. I work at home and am often lost in my writing; out here in the country, there are few unexpected visitors.</p><p>“Ahh, look!,” I’d say when I saw who was there. </p><p>“Strawberries! Fresh peas! Lettuce!” Every week, it felt like my birthday.</p><p>If you pick up your subscription at the farm, you start to recognize other members and soon they become friends. Many farms with CSA programs host seasonal or annual parties for members.</p><p>One of the newest programs, the Secret Eating Society Green Party Salad CSA, takes the fun even further, with a backyard party on every pickup day.</p><p>This social element echoes the community atmosphere of farmers markets, where seeing friends and hanging out has become nearly as important as the opportunity to buy directly from local farmers.</p><p>It’s a great thing, don’t you think? Anything that gets us out of supermarkets and big box stores, where shoppers are so often rushed and grumpy, is a great thing. These days, it is possible to get almost everything you need to stock your refrigerator, freezer and pantry with good, wholesome delicious local foods without ever going to a supermarket. If you join the Sonoma County Meat Buying Club and a CSA that offers fruit, flowers, eggs and cheese you can fill in what you need by shopping at the farmers markets and local specialty stores like Traverso’s, Anstead’s and such.</p><p>In 1997, when Seasonal Pantry first explored local CSAs, there were 10 farms that offered subscription programs. By 2002, that number had dwindled to three. Of those three, only two — Laguna Farms and Tierra Vegetables — continue today.</p><p>Yet new CSAs have emerged in the past several years and the count is back up to 11 local CSAs. Some operate year round; others are gearing up for a season that begins in early June and continues through late fall.</p><p>CSA generally stands for community supported agriculture, though it may be referred to as community shared agriculture or community subscription agriculture. In its purest form, a farmer determines costs for the upcoming year, divides that amount by the number of people the farm can sustain and sells subscriptions at that price.</p><p>The weekly harvest is then divided among subscribers. If it’s a bountiful year, members get more for their money than if there are unexpected conditions that damage or destroy crops. In lean years, everyone shares the loss and the farmer survives.</p><p>No local CSA operates in exactly this way. Most base their subscription prices on the approximate retail value of the weekly bag or box of produce members receive, with additional charges for home delivery and the options known as add-ons. The most common add-ons are fruit, flowers and eggs, though some also offer bread, cheese, yogurt and farm products such as jams and jellies.</p><p>Some CSAs operate as a shopping service, either augmenting their own harvest with purchased produce from the wholesale market in San Francisco or by purchasing organic produce from a wholesale vendor and repackaging it, as a program in Petaluma is doing for low-income families.</p><p>Many farms with CSA programs also attend farmers markets and sell their harvest to local restaurants. A few thrive solely on their CSA programs.</p><p>Some CSA farms welcome volunteers; a few will offer a discount on the subscription price if you volunteer regularly.</p><p>CSAs offer a way to stay a few steps ahead of the forces that try to repackage grassroots ideas and sell them back to us in a form that compromises the original intention. We have seen it happen with “organic” and it is happening again with “sustainable.” As always, the way to beat the game is to actually know your source, and there are few better ways to do this than with a local CSA.</p><p>Although the concept of selling subscriptions to farms began to emerge in Japan and western Europe in the 1970s, by the mid-90s it seemed as if it would be the next wave of the food movement. It didn’t quite work out that way but, finally, it seems as if this is a good idea whose time has come.</p><p>FRITTATA WITH PASTA, BACON AND CHEESE</p><p>When you have great eggs — and that’s one of the benefits of many CSA programs; you have the option of farm eggs — a frittata is absolutely delicious. This is one of my favorites and I love to serve it with whatever seasonal vegetables I happen to have, from roasted asparagus and grilled onions in the spring, roasted peppers or green beans in a vinaigrette in the summer and leeks almost any time.</p><p>Makes 6 servings</p><p>Kosher salt</p><p>8 ounces angel hair pasta</p><p>3 to 4 slices of bacon, diced</p><p>1 small onion, diced</p><p>3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced</p><p>8 eggs</p><p>Black pepper in a mill</p><p>6 ounces Vella Dry Jack cheese, grated</p><p>2 tablespoons minced Italian parsley</p><p>2 teaspoons butter, optional</p><p>Fill a large pot half-full with water, season generously with salt and bring to a boil over high heat. When the water reaches a rolling boil, add the pasta and stir until the water returns to a boil. Cook according to package directions, drain immediately, rinse in cool water and drain thoroughly. Transfer to a large bowl.</p><p>Meanwhile, fry the bacon in a medium cast-iron pan or other ovenproof frying pan until it is crisp. Transfer the bacon to absorbent paper to drain and pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat.</p><p>Return the pan to medium low heat, add the onions and saute until limp and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and saute 2 minutes more. Remove from the heat and set aside.</p><p>Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.</p><p>Break the eggs, one at a time, into a small dish and then transfer to a medium mixing bowl. When all of the eggs have been broken, beat with a whisk until smooth and creamy. Season with salt and pepper and fold in the cheese.</p><p>Add the mixture to the pasta, along with the onions, garlic, bacon and parsley and use two forks to mix thoroughly, lifting the pasta over and over again until the mixture is well combined.</p><p>Set the frying pan over medium heat. If the surface is not evenly coated with a thin layer of bacon fat, add the butter and swirl until it is melted so that the pan is thoroughly coated. Add the frittata mixture and cook for 5 to 7 minutes. While the frittata cooks, use a thin knife or a heat-tolerant spatula to loosen the eggs from the sides of the pan. After you do this a few times, a crust will begin to form and the eggs will no longer stick to the sides.</p><p>After this crust has formed, transfer the frittata to the oven and cook until the eggs are just set and the top is lightly browned, about 10 to 12 minutes.</p><p>Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes. To serve, set a flat serving plate on top, invert the plate and pan and jiggle the pan until the frittata drops onto the plate.</p><p>Cut in wedges and serve.</p><p>Michele Anna Jordan hosts “Mouthful” each Sunday at 7 p.m. on KRCB 91.1 FM. E-mail Jordan at michele@micheleannajordan.com.</p><p>LOCAL CSA PROGRAMS</p><p>Canvas Ranch: Nestled in the pretty hills of Two Rock, Canvas Ranch is a working labor of love operated by Deborah Walton.</p><p>Subscriptions are $28 a week, with a four-week minimum. There’s a 5 percent discount for a half season (12 weeks) and a 15 percent discount for a full season (24 weeks). Weekly add-ons include eggs ($4 a half dozen, $7 a full dozen), flowers ($6), seasonal fruit ($12) and bread ($6). There’s a monthly option of cheese for $28. Sign up online at canvasranch.com or call 766-7171.</p><p>Earth Worker Farm: George Macros farms in three locations near the town of Bodega to keep his 34 west county members supplied with organic produce. Cost of a basic subscription is $12 a week.</p><p>Options include Bodega Artisan Cheese for an additional $4.50 and a quart of St. Benoit Yogurt for $6.</p><p>Currently, membership is full. For information, send an e-mail to earthworkerfarm@gmail.com.</p><p>First Light Farm: Based in Sebastopol and operated by Nathan Boone, formerly of Oak Hill Farm in Glen Ellen, First Light Farm launches its first CSA season on June 3. It continues through Dec. 30. Weekly boxes are $20 but membership is by the 30-week season, for a total cost of $600, plus a one-time membership fee of $75 and a $60 delivery charge for the season. Add-ons include an additional half-pound of salad greens for $112.50 (that works out to $3.75 a week), a weekly bouquet for $210 ($7 a week) and monthly herbal tea tonics for $35 ($5 a month). For more information, send an e-mail inquiry to firstlightfarm@gmail.com or visit firstlightfarm.nexo.com/csa.</p><p>Full Circle CSA: Side By Side Organics, located between Santa Rosa and Sebastopol, offers two CSA programs, a conventional produce program and a flower CSA. Membership is by the season, which runs for 22 weeks (20 weeks for flowers), beginning in late June. A small share is $550 for the season; a large share is $750. Add $150 for flowers. The cost of the flower CSA only is $200. Membership will be limited to about 20 people. The program is operated by Hannah Whyte and Riley Morrison, who relocated here after severe flooding at their farm in Washington state. To sign up, e-mail sidebysideog@hotmail.com.</p><p>Laguna Farm: One of the original CSA programs in Sonoma County, Laguna Farm in Sebastopol remains the largest. Cost is $17 a week and members must join for a minimum of three months. There is a one-time membership fee of $75. Add-ons include additional salad mix, $3.75 a week; seasonal fruit, $6 a week; and organic bread, $4 a week. Currently, there are no openings for home delivery; they are accepting members for pickup at the farm only. To sign up, visit lagunafarm.com.</p><p>Secret Eating Society Green Party Salad CSA: For $30 a month, members pick up a bag of salad greens, vegetables and flowers on the second and fourth Sundays of each month. As of press time, there were five slots available; they will maintain a waiting list when those slots are filled. To sign up, call Marissa Guggiana at 228-9800 or send an e-mail to twilight@secreteatingsociety.com</p><p>Sol Food Farm: Subscriptions are $750 for a 25-week season, with half paid when you join and half due on Aug. 21. The season begins June 3. Members pick up at the farm near Occidental on either Thursday or Friday evenings. A weekly newsletter, with recipes, is posted on the Web site, solfoodfarm.org. There is a sign-up form on the site, as well.</p><p>Sonoma County Meat Buying Club: This innovative CSA, currently in its inaugural year, offers subscriptions for monthly boxes of local beef, lamb, pork and, by request only, goat. Prices vary according to size; 7 pounds is $65 a month; $15 pounds is $115 a month; 25 pounds is $180 a month. You must join for a minimum of three months at a time. The meat comes frozen and can be picked up either in north Santa Rosa or Petaluma. Additional drop-off locations may be added. There are many add-on options, including duck, bacon, veal and several sauces. For more information, send an e-mail to slarson@ucdavis.edu or visit the club’s Web site at groups.ucanr.org/LocalMeatProd/.</p><p>Taylor Maid Farm Collective: This 22-week CSA launches June 1 and offers three pickup locations. It is a collaboration between Occidental’s Taylor Maid Farms, of coffee and tea fame, and Two Crows Farm. For the first month, this new program will provide vegetables to 35 members and plans to increase to 50 by July. Cost is $25 a week. As the season unfolds, there will be many add-on options, including pestos and chutneys, flowers, goat milk, goat cheese, tea blends and larger quantities of produce. For more information and to sign up, send an e-mail to suedavis306@hotmail.com, with “CSA” in the subject line. Inquiries can also be directed to 217-7065 and (415) 812-3924.</p><p>Tierra Vegetables: One of the longest-running CSA programs, Tierra Vegetables offers pickup options in Healdsburg, Santa Rosa and Windsor. Cost is $20 per week for pickup at the farm; there are additional charges for neighborhood drop-off locations and home delivery, both of which are available. There is a 5 percent discount when you join for the full season, which runs from June 3 to Dec. 23. To sign up, visit www.tierravegetables.com or call Evie Truxaw at 837-8366 for more information.</p><p>Valley End Farm: This organic farm, run by Sharon Grossi, is nestled against the western flank of Sonoma Mountain at 6300 Petaluma Hill Road, near Sonoma State University. Boxes are either $20 or $25 a week, depending on size, and membership is available quarterly or, for SSU students, by the semester. You can also sign up for a trial month. All members pick up their boxes at the farm. For more information and to sign up, visit valleyendfarm.com.</p><p>— Michele Anna Jordan</p>