Community Supported Agriculture and the Magic that is the Veggie Santa Claus

Did you know that most small farms have a program in which you pay them weekly and they deliver, to your door, a surprise compilation of veggies/herbs and sometimes fruits? 

They are called Community Supported Agriculture programs and you can find them almost anywhere. 

and

there just so happened to be one that delivered to our area. 

So of course we signed up for it! 

Here is what our first Veggie Santa delivery looked like:

We pay $26 weekly, delivery included for a 'small' box of produce. 

This is what we got on our 1st box:

6 tomatoes

1 bunch arugula

1 bunch cilantro

6 ears of corn

1 green bell pepper

5 radishes

2 zucchini

1 bunch bok choy

It. Was. Awesome. 

So, after 3 weeks of getting fresh produce delivered to us here are the benefits I have seen: 

• The produce itself is some of the most flavorful I have ever had
• Because I plan meals around what is delivered we have actually started saving money on grocery bills
• The produce is picked the day before it is delivered right to me. So it is the freshest produce I have ever had. Which means it lasts significantly longer than store bought produce that takes time to get to the store before it gets to you. Im talking after 2.5 weeks my cilantro is still fresh. Crazy. 
• I get to try new foods! Most of these things arn't things I would pick up on my own and I have to create meals based on new recipes I find or create using the produce in my delivery. (turns out I LOVE radishes)
• You can specify what you DO NOT want them to deliver so that you arn't getting a ton of foods you don't like. I left mine pretty open because I love trying new things

The only disadvantage is that what you get depends on what is growing well. So, we've been getting a lot of corn and zucchini. I think more variety would be more fun. But, I also don't know that it is fair to call corn and zucchini a disadvantage.... in the past 3 weeks Ive made zuchinni cilantro hummas, ginger zucchini bread that was fantastic, herb brushed corn and some gold old pain baked corn. So... maybe disadvantage is not the right word.

If you are in the Boynton Area and want to sign up here is the site for the local farm here:
www.veggies4u.com

If you are in another area, you can go here to find a CSA near you:
http://www.localharvest.org/csa/