One CSA Sharer's Story

Hi! My name is Jayne. I’ve been a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) sharer for some time now, and I’m going to appear on Val’s Cincinnati Locavore blog from time to time to give you a sense of what it’s like to be a CSA sharer. Below is a little piece I wrote in Sept, 2003 for the Turner Farm CSA newsletter. Tells you where I’ve been on this journey:

One Sharer’s Story……
I became a Turner Farm sharer in 1996 –really through no effort of my own. A friend had seen an article in City Beat about the farm and approached my husband and I about joining together. Seeing it more as an opportunity to get together regularly with some close friends, my husband and I signed on with no predetermined expectations about what it would be like to be a CSA sharer. Seven years and two (and a half) children later, I have found that being a part of Turner Farm continues to enrich my life in a variety of ways, even though those friends have since moved away and my husband has relinquished all sharer responsibilities to me.

Growing up in suburbia, I had little appreciation of the work it takes to grow your own vegetables, let alone run an entire farm. I was more than a little impressed at seeing ripe asparagus and prickly okra on the plant. And I remember a particularly beautiful day in October in one of my first seasons when I was harvesting purple wax beans from the vine. I believe I came close to achieving a state of Zen that day – with the sun on my skin, moving slowly down the row on my little wheeled cart, my mind at peace. Participating in this type of soul-satisfying work was such a welcome change from my usual fast-paced life.

And then there were the vegetables. My novice kitchen had never seen the likes of Swiss chard, okra, turnips, and edible soybeans. Now chard (or “shard” as my daughter calls it) is my family’s favorite vegetable. As I gazed at each week’s variety of veggies, I was forced to seek out new ways to cook them and as a result, I discovered that I love to cook. Who knew? As my family grows, and life seems to consist of more things, more activities, more responsibilities, I’ve found that my connection with Turner Farm has been a wonderful antidote to it all.

Five years later, I’m still here. So while you’re still digesting the little romantic overview above, here’s a few logistics about my CSA: Turner Farm is one of those CSA’s that require all sharers to work a certain number of hours each season (fostering that community part of a CSA). Our summer season runs from May 15 – Oct 15 each year, and we need to work a total of 44 hours, that’s 2 per week. For the past 8 years, I’ve created the shareholder newsletter to fulfill the majority of my work hours. This has worked out well during a period in my life that included three pregnancy-through-toddler stages, when my productivity in the fields was somewhat limited. Now that my kids are old enough to be of some actual help (well, sort of), I’m happy to be back in the dirt on occasion. I pick up my weekly share each Thursday, and that pretty much determines what’s on my dinner table for that week. Turner is a vegetable CSA – we’ve had a couple forays into fruits (raspberries one year, yummy melons another), but the fruit hasn’t been a rousing success so far. That’s fine – the veggies keep me busy enough.

Well, now that I’ve introduced myself – I’ll be back to share more of my adventures as a CSA sharer.

Equinox Feast at Grailville

Grailville in Loveland is celebrating the harvest with an Equinox Feast featuring a buffet of Grailville-grown and other local foods September 21st 2008 at 5:30.

If you show up a bit early, you can drop in for the free-to-the-public opening reception for their new photo exhibit, Documenting a Season of Growth at Grailville, featuring photographs taken throughout the 2008 growing season on Grailville's 300 acres of woodlands, pastures, and organic gardens with music by Auburn Cantiga.

Cost of dinner is $15 for adults, $10 for kids. Reservations required; call (513) 683-2340 or make your reservation online.

Market Night Dinners at Vineyard Cafe

The Vineyard Cafe (Erie & Edwards in Hyde Park) is offering Market Night Dinners on Monday evenings (following the Sunday farmers' market across the street through October.) Dinner is a 3-course prix-fixe menu for $30, with an optional half glass of wine pairing offered with each course for an extra $10. Each course highlights products from Hyde Park Farmers' Market vendors. Dinner hours 4 - 10 pm. (513) 871-6167 for reservations.

Drink & Democracy: A Stroll Through Kentucky's Bourbon Country

TableTours is offering a three-day local eating and drinking tour of Kentucky's Bourbon country October 2 - 4.

The price of the tour is $350 per person and includes diverse Bourbon tastings, customized breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus from some of Kentucky's most celebrated chefs, distillery and museum visits, and lectures on Bourbon and Kentucky history. Lodging is on your own from a selection of Bardstown bed-and-breakfasts.

If you're interested, act now! Registration closes today.

Taste Here: Celebration of Local Foods

Central Ohio River Valley Local Food Initiative (CORV) is hosting a local food tasting fundraiser Sunday September 21st from 3 - 5pm at the Civic Garden Center.  Local foods made by local chefs.  Local music.  Proceeds benefit CORV and are used to produce their Local Foods Guide.  Tickets are $20 and available at EatLocalCORV.org or by calling the Civic Garden Center at (513) 221-0981.

Oat Groats: Cheap, Tasty, Healthy Breakfast

I'm eating a lot of oat groats these days. I found a source for locally-grown oat groats, but the minimum order was 25 pounds. Oat groats are the least processed of all edible forms of oats, so they store a very long time (some sources are giving them 30 years under the right conditions.) So even though I'd never tasted them before, I decided to give them a try. I figured any minimally-processed food was a good addition to our diet, and even if it took us years to use them up, it'd be okay. And in the meantime if the apocalypse arrived, there'd be something to eat. Win-win-win.

Oh. My. God. This is what oats taste like. I like good old-fashioned oatmeal just fine -- I've eaten it for years, still happy to eat it if that's what's on the table. When I discovered pinhead oats and stone ground oatmeal, though, I realized just how much regular oatmeal had lost in the process of being...well, processed. (Don't speak to me of instant oatmeal. That's not a food.) So it comes as no surprise that getting closer to the whole grain results in an even more interesting taste and texture.

Even so, oat groats were a revelation. If you've never had them, you are missing out. They take a while to cook -- these are not a convenience food -- but they're so worth it. They're nutty, with a firm texture. The cooked grains are bigger than a grain of cooked rice, which along with the chewy texture makes them much more interesting than the soupy-paste of rolled oats and superior even to that of pinhead oats, which up until now I'd thought the pinnacle of oat gastronomy.

And I'm starting to see the 25-pound minimum order as an advantage. I paid $0.65/pound for my oat groats, which works out to about five cents for a 3/4 cup serving. In the morning, I bring 2 cups of water to a boil, add a 1/2 t of salt and a cup (~5 oz) of oat groats and set it over my heat diffuser on the lowest setting on my stove. It barely simmers for 45 minutes and is ready just about the time the rest of the family rolls into the kitchen. Add a splash of milk and you've got breakfast for four. Pretty good for about thirty cents.

Originally posted at Eat.Drink.Better.

Kinkead Ridge Annual Vineyard Tour

Kinkead Ridge Estate Winery in Ripley (about an hour east of Cincinnati) will be open for the Annual Vineyard Tour Saturday August 30 and Monday September 1 for the release of the 2006 red wines. Visit the winery and vineyards, meet the winegrowers. Pets and children welcome. (No public restrooms.) Winery: 904 Hamburg Street, Ripley. Vineyard: 4288 Kinkead Road.

When I discovered Kinkead Ridge wines last year, they quickly became my pour-of-choice. This is Ohio wine for true wine lovers. Definitely worth checking out.

New Website for Just Cured Salmon

Just Cured, an Over-the-Rhine company smoking fresh sustainably-raised salmon, has a new website.

Cultivating The Web: High Tech Tools for the Sustainable Food Movement

Eat Well Guide has announced the release of their new book, Cultivating The Web, which discusses using the web to promote sustainable & local eating. According to The End of Nature author Bill McKibben,

It is undeniably odd and lovely that among the most important parts of our food system - a little behind rain and sun and seed - are the new digital tools that allow us to bypass the big advertisers, the mega-chains, the junk peddlers, and instead find all the other people growing, processing, cooking and eating actual, delicious food.

The book is available for download free in PDF form.

Woodstone Creek's Straight Bourbon Whiskey Debuts at Party Source

Woodstone Creek's Straight Bourbon Whiskey, made locally in Norwood at Ohio's first microdistillery, will debut tonight at the Party Source's Craft Spirit Tasting event in Covington.

Woodstone Creek is the first Ohio-made aged bourbon released since 1865. Bottles will be labeled with barrel number in limited edition releases one barrel at a time. Barrel #1 bottle #1 will be auctioned off September 6th at Gourmet Sensation to benefit Hospice of Cincinnati.

Based on the quality of Woodstone Creek's Vodka, I intend to find a bottle soon.