I Love My CSA Farm

As I have written before, I have a share in a local CSA farm (Bell Organic for you that are local).  This year they added an early spring share, and for the past 4 weeks I have thoroughly enjoyed my vegetables.  Now, for those of you that don't know what a CSA farm is, I recommend you spend a few minutes online reading up on what they are about.  CSA is Community Supported Agriculture, and in the case of the farm I patronize, a certified organic farm.

I chose a 2-person share which I paid for in full before the beginning of the growing season; the farmer then invests that money back into their program.  In turn, I receive "a share" of their production.  Think stock market, except with vegetables!  They grow only that which can be grown in the area and during the appropriate season, therefore we always have produce that is seasonal and sustainable as well as organic; produce that has not been shipped from somewhere else or sprayed with something else to make it ship-able.  There are other programs out there that might cost less, but to me this is about quality, sustainability, environmental responsibility, and supporting those who agree with me.  I won't ever see a pineapple in my share and I'm ok with that.

Last week, what I did see was tarragon.  I was so very excited about having a huge bunch of this lovely herb  that I fussed and fussed over what to cook with it to the point where I almost waited too long!  The picture shows what I whipped up for dinner that evening.  I made a salad with the spinach from my share, to which I added apple, blue cheese and toasted walnuts.  I also roasted the carrots I received along with some potatoes I already had, we topped those with some sour cream and some chives from the backyard.  The tarragon was chopped and added to a pan with some olive oil and shallot, then I decided I needed butter, too.  I tossed in some pieces of tofu and cooked until golden.  When all piled onto a dinner plate, my daughter took one look at it and commented how pretty she thought it was.  I agree!