Community Supported Agriculture

Sometimes I’m a little slow to jump on ideas I think are fantastic.  I’m not exactly sure why that is…  I like to do my research, mull things over again and again, weigh my options, comparison shop…and then where does that leave me?  Months down the line without pulling the trigger.  Thus is the story of my idea to join a CSA Farm, Community Sponsored Agriculture.

I was first inspired by our friends, John & Liz who told us all about the amazing fruits and veggies they had delivered weekly from a local organic farm.  I had never heard of a CSA, but thought that getting organic  produce direct from the grower sounded great!  I’ve long been a fan of shopping at Farmers Markets to support local farmers and find flavorful, in season produce, and this way I go direct to the farm!  I did  research online at localharvest.org to find out if there were any CSA’s in Orange County, found a farm I was interested in and then… sat on my hands.

Then I read my friend Sarah’s blog OC2Seattle. ( If you haven’t read it – it’s a must she is very witty and loves food as much as I do.)  Sarah had all of these great things to say about how the produce was so much more flavorful than conventionally grown produce you find in supermarkets.  It is true… those tomatoes from Pavilions taste like paper compared to the succulent heirloom varieties you find at your farmers market…and still I waited.

I’m not sure what happened on Saturday, maybe it was the beautiful warm day, extra time on my hands, or the need to get out of my rut, but I decided I would take little A on a drive to San Juan Capistrano to visit South Coast Farms.  I wanted to check out the merchandise before I committed to the rest of the seasons bushels of produce.

Sometimes organic produce can look a little sad…but I was delighted to see vibrant red Chandler strawberries, lush green chard, a few varieties of apples and more.

Succulent Organic Strawberries

It was all so beautiful!  I was inspired – I had to join!  I purchased 3 pints of strawberries, 2 or 3 cucumbers, 3 stalks of rhubarb, and a huge bunch of red swiss chard.  The bill came out to about $20 which isn’t cheap…but the strawberries are some of the best I have ever tasted, they lack that mealy white core and are juicy all the way through.

I’ve chosen to pick up my bushel direct from the farm because it was so refreshing to get out of Newport Beach.  I’m slated to pick up my 1st allotment next week.  Maybe this experience will get me to waste less time before saying yes…