As I return my box to Farmer Don, I contemplate the list of items I'm scheduled to receive that week: rat-tailed radishes, baking zucchini, dragon tongue beans, cucumbers, salad mix and kale. Thankful for the sense of normalcy brought by the presence of the salad mix and cucumbers, I think to myself: what the hell am I going to do with rat-tailed radishes?
Farmer Don owns Dancing Hen Farm, a community supported agriculture (CSA) farm in Columbia County. CSA is a program designed to provide farmers with a guaranteed demand for their crops and to supply members with freshly harvested produce at or below market price. On a whim last spring, I decided that it would be great to have an ongoing supply of local, organic vegetables, so I went to FarmtoCity.org and paid $375 to purchase a half-share in Dancing Hen. Every Wednesday since June (and continuing until November) I've been picking up six types of produce, varying from week to week and ranging from one to two pounds each, at the Farmers' Market down at City Hall.
Even a half-share (full- and half-shares are available) is a tremendous amount of vegetables for one person. And given that I am a vegetarian and probably eat more vegetables than most, I still cook dinner for friends to make sure nothing goes to waste. It works out well; I love to cook and to try new recipes, and everyone loves free food. My biggest hit thusfar has probably been the kale frittata that I served at a dinner party over the summer.
The best thing about my farm share is that I never know what I'm going to get, and oftentimes I can't identify half of the vegetables when I pick them up. Although I could have found everything in my share at the farmers' market each week, intimidation and inertia probably would have kept me purchasing only salad greens and tomatoes.
Buying into a CSA isn't for everyone; you have to either really love vegetables or have friends around who want to split it with you. And then there is the fact that you have to be around Philly for the majority of the summer.
If you want to explore the possibilities of purchasing delicious local food without committing to a CSA, the Philadelphia Winter Harvest is perfect for you. The Winter Harvest is a buying club available on FarmtoCity.org; you pay however much money you want to upfront, and then you order exactly what you'd like for each week from a list of over 440 available items from the local region. Vegetables, milk, yogurt, eggs, meats, breads - you name it, it's probably on the list. And they deliver right to Penn's campus, so you don't have to trek to FroGro in the cold for your groceries.
So, let's say you sign up. Wondering how to make kale taste good?
Kale Frittata
Ingredients:
3 cups kale, chopped
1 « cups onion, chopped
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
¬ cup water
6 eggs
« cup milk
_ cup grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat 9-inch round baking pan with vegetable cooking spray. Heat oil in large frying pan on medium-high. Add chopped onion and sauté for 3-5 minutes, until soft and brown. Stir in chopped kale and water. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and allow mixture to cool. In large bowl, combine eggs, milk, cheese, salt and pepper. Blend in kale mixture. Pour mixture into baking pan. Bake 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let set for 2-3 minutes. Slice into wedges.
