Being Part of Community Sustained Agriculture

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We have been a part of a CSA off and on over the past two decades.  We have been in our current CSA for two years, but we have had a relationship with the Jutz farm in Solon going back many years when we bought pigs from them.  Their kids raised them through 4H and our kids grew up eating their pork.  We still think those are the best brats, and I haven’t really eaten them since because those were the gold standard and not much has been commensurate.  The same is true for the breakfast sausage.  But their vegetable CSA has been a new and great experience.  It has spawned innovation in our kitchen.  We have expanded our repertoire for summer squash as never before.  Every New York Times recipe that highlighted squash was on our table within a week or two.  We have regularly had dinners with three to four side dishes made entirely with local produce.  Everybody wins with that.  Not only does it keep us knee deep in vegetable dishes all summer, we also got a homemade loaf of bread and a dozen eggs every week.  That can be a meal in itself.  The CSA partners with others to provide options that they cannot.  We get chickens and fruit that are fantastic too.  So we can round out our table with one stop shopping.  In the summer, the traditional market shopping lists are short and our visits are few and far between.  What is not to love?  We are tapering off to every other week for the fall, and all too soon it will come to an end until spring (I live in Iowa after all), but while it is something to miss, it is also something to look forward to as well.