Typical CSA/Farmshare Box Evening

For anyone who has asked me about it in the past or who is curious about the whole farmshare/CSA thing... This is our second year supporting Zephyr Organics and we've loved receiving wholesome, fresh produce straight from our local grower. Earlier this summer, we even managed to visit the farm before the season started and got a sneak peak at the farm's operations.

This year, we've opted to receive a larger order on a bi-weekly basis (versus last year's half-order that came every week). So far this has worked out great since "farmshare day" is a bit of a production around here and I find it easier to do twice the work at half the frequency.

So what happens on farmshare day/night? A lot of washing, sorting, prepping, cutting, shelling, blanching, freezing and meal planning. For instance, last night's duties included:

• Washing two heads of lettuce, a batch of bok choy, carrots, radishes and some asparagus
• Washing, prepping, blanching and freezing spinach, chard, snow peas and cauliflower
• Shelling some peas
• Making some pesto using the radish leaves
• And eating a few raspberries plus taking a few sips of beer here and there (just to keep up my energy, of course)

The only thing left to take care of is the beets... which I will post about shortly :)

A lot of work up-front to be sure, but the rest of the week is easy peasey, lemon squeezey since the vegetables are ready to be used and I've already planned out our meals based on what we received. The frozen veggies are like gifts from heaven in the winter months because they're pre-cut and only need a quick defrosting in a water bath before they can be added to any meal prep. Last year, our frozen bounty took us all the way through the winter!


If you're interested, here's more info:
http://csafarms.ca/
http://zephyrorganics.com
http://zephyrorganics.wordpress.com/ (has a rundown of the fruits and veggies sent out week to week)