CSA member feature: Jenna and Julia

Why join a CSA?

Supporting local agriculture is a part of creating an abundant community, one where we invest in existing, and build new, community assets. And what greater asset is there than the food we eat, the people who grow it, and the earth that supports it. There are a lot of choices when it comes to buying food, buying from a CSA has an exponential return on investment- better fresher more interesting food which leads to healthier more interesting people, less fossil fuels for transporting the food and often less pesticides which supports cleaner waterways and airways and future as a species, and free knowledge about farming which makes us smarter consumers and inspires us to do what we can with our own little plots of earth.

Do you have any tips for people who might be trying a CSA for the first time?

Have an open mind. Leave work earlier than you think you need to. Linger as much as possible at pickup time for a chance to get to know your farmer and the other CSA members in your community. If you stay long enough you can help clean up and then maybe Liz will invite you to the farm for homemade pizza and gallons of babaganoush.

Share your favorite recipe.

This is a classic breakfast for us, "tahini greens, eggs, and yams" (well, the greens in this one are actually purple cabbage). Jenna is a dietitian and we love local food so veggies have a central role in all of our meals, even breakfast! This meal is so easy and any green we get in the CSA could be used, part of the fun of the CSA is using what you get, nature and the farmers do the picking. The cabbage is braised in olive oil then a little soy sauce and water, the Japanese yams are steamed, and the eggs are scrambled with some fresh herbs from the garden. There's also a pillowy bed of quinoa in there and Tahini-siracha sauce on everything.

CSA member feature: Kelsey

Tell us about any new veggies you tried in 2016.

I had never seen a garlic scape before, so when I brought it home in my CSA I assumed it was a variety of scallion. I chopped it raw into my salad for lunch at work. Good thing I didn't have an important client meeting or I would have knocked them over with my garlic breath!

What was your favorite fruit, veggie, and/or herb from CSA this year?

The CSA helped me to try so many new and delicious foods I had never eaten before (i.e. ground cherries, watermelon radishes, the infamous garlic scapes, holy basil, and the often-sold-out "spicy salad mix"), but my absolute favorite was the tomatoes. Fresh, in-season tomatoes are so much crisper, juicier, and flavorful than the candy-red flavorless lumps for sale at Giant, and Liz often put out seconds for the taking. I used them in everything: my dad's famous spaghetti sauce (which takes multiple days to stew), tomato herb bread (a recipe from Kuhn Orchards that I laced with homemade pesto), caprese salads with thick-cut mozzarella, and on toasted country bread with avocado and soft scrambled eggs on a weekend morning with my roommate.

What tips do you have for folks who might be trying a CSA for the first time?

Make stock! When you're cooking for just one orΩ two, all that fresh produce can seem like a lot. I hate letting any of it go to waste, even the onion peels, carrot tops, or kale stems, so I throw all the cast-offs and wilty bits in a gallon ziploc bag in my freezer. Every two weeks I would accumulate enough to whip up a batch of vegetable stock, as described in this Food52 article. I'd use it in rice or other grains, risotto, savory oatmeals, soups, etc. It made everything taste better and it was unique every time. Pesto is another great way to use up leftover greens - instead of basil, substitute kale stems, carrot tops, beet leaves, or any other wilting greens.

And don't go to the supermarket until after you pick up your CSA each week - that way you can purchase items that will complement your share, like nuts to roast with your winter squash, or cheese to sprinkle on your salads, or curry spice to cook with your eggplants.

Finally, help out Liz at the weekly farmer's market! It's fun to introduce new veggies to shoppers and watch them eat a ground cherry for the first time. It's also a nice opportunity to meet some of the local chefs who source their produce from Owl's Nest.

What's your favorite CSA recipe?

Pesto: Toast a handful pine nuts or walnuts on a dry pan over medium heat until fragrant, watching that they don't burn. Transfer them to a food processor with two cloves of garlic and your choice of greens (basil, kale, beet leaves, etc.). Process until the greens are fully broken down. Add a pinch of salt and slowly add some glugs of olive oil, processing in between each addition of olive oil until the consistency begins to look like a thick paste. Add a handful of a hard cheese, like parmesan, and process until incorporated. Squeeze a lemon slice and taste, adding more lemon, salt, or cheese to as desired. Can be frozen if you make a big batch, to be used for a quick weeknight pasta dinner or baked into the swirl of an herbed savory bread.

CSA member feature: Courtney and Kaila

Why did you join the Owl's Nest Farm CSA? We decided to join Owl's Nest Farm because of the location of the Petworth Community Market and the flexibility of the market share over a traditional CSA box. We loved knowing that our weekends would start off together, visiting familiar faces, and loading up on tasty, healthy veggies for the rest of our week.

What did you like about the Market CSA model? The market model was ideal for being able to have a CSA without having to worry about missing some weeks. It was also nice knowing we'd have the flexibility of selecting the items we took home. We still had the opportunity to try new vegetables from the farm, but could also avoid the things we used less.

What was your favorite fruit, veggie, and/or herb from the market stand this year? Spicy salad mix and all the tomatoes! We eat a lot of big salads and the variety of all the greens for salads was great to change things up a bit.

Tell us about any new veggies you tried in 2016. Pea shoots and ground cherries - nicknamed the "sultry tomato".

What tips do you have for folks who might be trying a CSA for the first time? The full-share was probably too large for the two of us, but we used the excess to load up on things we could prep and freeze for later. We had cubed butternuts, tomatoes sauces, and pre-made soups in the freezer and some strawberry, blackberry, and peach jam in the pantry.