As most of you already know, my sweet Monk has food allergies to several foods. The good thing about his allergies is that many fruits and veggies are NOT on the list. I am hoping that changes in our family menu to accommodate for his allergies will result in an all around healthier diet for all.
With this in mind, I decided that it was time to investigate and test out a growing trend in the food market, the CSA.
What Is a CSA?
CSA stands for Community Supported (or shared) Agriculture. It is a group of people that have opted to purchase fresh produce from a network of local farmers and food producers. It can include fruits, veggies, meats, eggs, etc. Food is collected by the CSA organization, divided into bushels and then delivered to either pick up sites or to your front doorstep. Think of it as someone else shopping for a wide variety of fresh produce for you at the local farmers market.
Why CSA?
Everyone has a different reason for joining a CSA, whether that they want to supporter local growers or that they want to ensure that they get the freshest seasonal food available. Of course both of those reasons are great side benefits for our family, but one of the real reasons is that during the last year of food allergy discoveries, the times when I was least stressed about feeding Monk something was when I knew what was in the food, where it came from, and that all preparation was done by me. Joining a CSA takes that comfort one step further in knowing that the produce was farmed locally, removing one more step in the process of getting from the ground and into his mouth. It might seem silly, and might not make a big difference allergy-wise in reality, but in my head at least, I am doing one more thing for the health of my family.
The best part of all with our CSA? They deliver to my doorstep! Yep, no pick-up. Can you say easy and fabulous and I want to kiss the delivery person when he/she comes!
Farmhouse Delivery
The CSA that I chose to order from is Farmhouse Delivery. After getting two different recommendations for them, I looked into it myself and liked their options, flexibility, price, and pretty much everything. After you register on their site, you will be able to receive orders either weekly or every other week. Here are your choices:
Choice 1: Medium or Full bushel
The medium bushel will feed 1-2 people for a week and the full, 3-4 people. My first delivery was a medium bushel and contained 1 lb of strawberries (fresh from Poteet and eaten in 1 day by my children), a head of green leaf lettuce, 4 beets (watch for my recipe for Oven Baked Beet Chips later this week), Asparagus, Sugar Snap Peas, and a bunch of rainbow carrots (purple, orange and white).
Choice 2: Substitutions
The online registration form allows you the option to select up to three dislikes. On my last delivery I had selected braising greens as a dislike and thus had asparagus put into our bushel as a substitution. I did email the operations manager before joining to ask about the ability to substitute for allergens and was told that it would be no problem as long as I alerted them to any changes I needed before the weekly deadline (for me our deadline is Tuesdays for Saturday delivery).
Choice 3: Add-ons
Farmhouse Delivery offers add-ons to your regular bushel such as additional fruits and veggies, dairy, eggs, meat, breads and sweets, prepared foods, and pantry staples. You can chose to have these items delivered weekly, every other week, or as a one-time add-on.
Additional Allergy-Friendly Notes
I also asked them about cross contamination issues as I was worried that if I ordered dairy or bread goods that they could contaminate the produce. They assured that these items were packaged separately, and they were. We ordered bread and goat cheese during this last delivery and both were individually packaged and the cheese was in its own cooler. They do sell nut butters as well, so I would make sure to alert them to your allergy needs if you plan on purchasing these items.
Although I haven't tried any of them yet, they also offer Gluten-Free and Vegan options in their Bakery and Sweets shop.
Drop Off
We came home on Saturday from a morning outing to find a plastic bin on our front porch. It was filled with our order and a few frozen bottles to keep it all cool. When it is time for our next order, I simply put the old bin on the porch and they will replace it with a new, full bin!
I am hoping that this new venture will serve to broaden our palate and offer some new options to our Monk. Case in point, next week's bushel contains a bunch of Kohlrabi. What?!?
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