Confessions of a failed CSA subscriber

This is the third summer that Renee and I have split a CSA share of an organic farm. For me, it will be the last. Everything about the CSA model is lovely: you pay a lump sum up front to a small, local farm in exchange for a weekly bin of organic produce picked fresh the day before. In our case, we pick up our bin every Sunday at our local farmer's market. We provide capital to a small farm, they in turn provide us with their bountiful harvest (which works out to be an extremely fair price), and we nourish our families. How can this not work for someone?

For me, a foodie who is intimidated by food preparation (I am actively working to address this disorder), it's a struggle. I am clearly not a person who can be handed a bag of random perishable ingredients with the expectation that I must now figure out what to do with them before they rot. If you truly wanted to torture me, just put me on Iron Chef. I would be the contestant holding the kohlrabi and begging to spill state secrets. "Anything! I'll tell you anything! Don't make me cook this thing!" When it comes to meal prep, I need to decide what to cook first and then go and secure the ingredients. It took three years to figure this out, but at least now we know.

What's been particularly painful is the daily walk to the backyard compost bin to dump this once-lovely produce. It was never my intention to make the MOST EXPENSIVE COMPOST EVER. Good-bye formerly purple eggplant. Au revoir squash-like substance. Toodeloo putrid parsley. I recently read something somewhere (momnesia) that said throwing food away is one of the worst things we can do for the environment. Growing and transporting food is energy-intensive, even if it's coming from a local, organic farm, and I'm just throwing away all of that energy. Reading that was what made me decide that my family's days with the CSA were numbered. With regret.

I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from joining a CSA. But it helps to know what kind of cook you are before you dive in. If you're like me, save yourself from tremendous guilt and the stench of moldering beets and shop the farmer's market with intention. I will continue to buy produce from my CSA's farmstand (they do have wonderful food), but under my own terms with my shopping list firmly in hand. No kohlrabi.

(Photo credit: Gathering Together Farm)