Ariel
Picking up my CSA is always a highlight of my week, not just because I love to see what beautiful, colorful produce I will get that week, but also because it is a tangible, sustainable action I can take in my life.
In my professional world, I work on environmental issues, particularly focused on wetland restoration along the Anacostia River. Earlier on in my career, I spent many years running environmental education programs for kids and adults in the area and working to empower people to take action in their own lives that can have a positive impact on the environment. At the end of every program, we would ask people what is something they could do in their daily life that would have a positive impact on our planet. Participating in a CSA is a step I can take in my personal life, that ensures that I am getting fresh, local, sustainably grown food.
Being part of the Owl’s Nest CSA also means that I know I will have a consistent source of vegetables to provide inspiration and a starting point for cooking. I love getting the emails outlining what will be in that week’s share and brainstorming what meals I will make, and then picking up the share and laying out all the vegetables to further meal prep, and just to admire all the beautiful colors!
Sometimes I will get to work right away chopping up carrots to eat throughout the week, or washing the greens to make a salad, and other times I will think about long term storage. When there are more tomatoes than I know what to do with in the summer, I like to make a big batch of sauce and freeze it for the winter months. I like to do the same thing when there is an abundance of greens- I just throw them in the food processor and puree them and then store them in Ziploc bags, flattened out so that I can easily store a little library of veggies and sauces in my freezer. By freezing some of the bounty from the summer months, it means I can make a delicious lasagna in January using Chard from my winter CSA share and a delicious eggplant and tomato sauce from last summer’s CSA.
Over the years in the CSA, my cooking has evolved to the point where I no longer think- what will I do with all these veggies?! But rather the CSA has flipped the script and the veggies are the starting point- what creative meals can I make with this week- like these fun radish, chard, black bean burgers below?!
