Eating Local in November

This is our eat-local dinner from last night.

Butternut Squash (Eatwell Farm) roasted with salt, pepper, brown sugar and a dab of olive oil.

Scarlet Runner Beans (Rancho Gordo) sauteed with shallot, spinach, and tomato (Eatwell Farm)

Rosie chicken breast with black sesame seeds (Full Belly Farm) - marinated with soy sauce, ginger, and garlic.

Yes, you just read that right ... I had a local, organic, non hot-housed tomato in November.  Eatwell Farm is still providing a few in their CSA boxes.  The one I used last night in the spinach was delicious. 

I finally joined Eatwell Farms' CSA program.  For years, I had gone back and forth about a CSA, feeling as though I still wanted to be able to go to farmers' markets and choose my own produce.  The main reasons I decided to join are:

1) price.  I believe we are going to spend less money on the CSA box than we usually do for our produce.  We pre-purchased 13 weeks of the basket and are spending $19.50 a week.

2) convenience.  My real epiphany came about a month ago when I was struggling to carry home several bags of food from the farmers' market.  It is a lot to purchase all the produce for a high veggie-eating household at the farmers' market on any given weekend.  This way, I am hoping that I will still go to the market and be able to focus on purchasing specialty items instead of all the basics.

3) support of the farm and the CSA concept.  Of all the farms that are out there, I have the closest personal connection with Eatwell Farm, and I know that the CSA program is a great way to be a consistent supporter of any farm's work.  While farmers love and are thrilled with support at a farmers' market, dollars received as a part of a CSA subscription have additional value in that they are dollars that are pre-paid, consistent and can be counted on when the farm is making plans upgrades or large purchases.

I will keep you apprised of how I do on the CSA program, and let you know what I am receiving in my box.  If you would like to read more about local CSA programs, you can read my wrap-up which was written for Bay Area Bites.

My most recent post for Bay Area Bites was posted today entitled "Noshing through West Marin County".  You can always check the most recent posts I have done by checking column to the right of this post entitled "I write for KQED's Bay Area Bites".

Comments

[lisasd]

Thanks for reminding me...I really do need to join my local CSA. We have a wonderful farm here in northern San Diego county called Be Wise Ranch. The farmstand isn't too far from me, either.

[Jamie]

Congrats on joining the CSA. I belonged to one when I lived in Minnesota, and it was amazing. They provided recipes for all the produce in the boxes, and it really made me more adventurous!

Now just think what a real foodie like you can do with all that veg!! Mmmmmm.

[Kalyn]

It does sound like a wonderful dinner. I am nuts about butternut squash, but minue the brown sugar. I do like the idea of CSA, but I haven't really heard of anything like that around here.

[Kalyn]

Ok, that was supposed to say minus the brown sugar.

[cookiecrumb]

That's quite a commitment, Jen. Good job. I think I'd have to agree with you on the price, though that has always been one of my personal obstacles to joining a CSA. But when I add up what I spend at the market, it's easily $20 a week, or more. Just for the two of us.

[shuna]

I have sent the link for the CSA wrap-up at BAB to so many people, especially lately. I feel the same way, I like to have the connection at the market but somedays it feel too overwhelming to go and be among the thousands!

And I think the boxes help people to be more inventive through the season. The spring I spent in Ireland halped me to see the many many uses of leeks! Seasonal eating can sometimes be challenging in a repetitive sense.

[Barbara]

It is good to be challenged, though! Learning to eat more and different vegetables than usual is a wonderful thing. Our palates can continue to develop as we age--but a lot of people get into ruts and habits and by the time they are fifty, they will not try anything new.

I know that generally my father is that way, but ever since I have been to culinary school, I can put anything--anything--in front of him that I made and he will eat it, and generally like it.

I guess that because I was educated by real live chefs, that makes me good enough to give him "wierd" food.

So--what I am saying is--in order to avoid turning into my Dad, keep eating those new and different vegetables!

[cookiecrumb]

My dad's stubborn too, or so I thought. On a recent visit (he had just turned 80) I made him warm blueberry soup for a dinner first course, and he loved it.

[rache]

for how long and at what temp did you roast the squash? looks super good. those beans look yummy, too. you're such a great cook.

[Vanessa]

I joined an organic produce delivery in Toronto and I'm quite happy with it except that they don't source only from our province. I actually did a post about it because I'm doing it for multiple reasons, many very similar to yours.

The winter months made me a touch lazy to drag home all this food from the markets and I find that this way I am forced to cook foods I might not normally use and it's definitely found me making more interesting things or recipes I've never tried before.

Summer is around the corner so I'll be switching back to getting my own. But kudo's to you!

[CookingChat]

Nothing like eating local & in tune with the seasons! And butternut is great in fall, this sounds like a good meal. I used some similar ingredients in a butternut chicken risotto dish recently, recipe here:
http://cookingchat.blogspot.com/2006/11/butternut-chicken-risotto-with-fresh_15.html