Week 0 – Prelude

Mr. Wetzel and I are members of a CSA program. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and there are many of these programs across the country. Once a week, I drive to Terry’s Berries, an organic farm in Southeast Tacoma, and pick up a couple bags of fresh produce. The way it works at Terry’s Berries is that we pre-pay for a season (summer, autumn, winter, spring), then come to the farm once a week to pick up whatever has been growing well that week. Terry also coordinates with other Washington and Oregon farms to offer a wider selection of local produce than what her farm is able to grow alone.

We started as members of the CSA program last autumn, and I am often asked by family and friends what kinds of foods I get from the share. In response, I am starting this blog series to answer that question: 52 Weeks with My CSA: One Family’s Commitment to Local Agriculture. I will post, once a week, a photo of our take home from the farm, as well as chronicle  how the experience affects our family.

One CSA share at Terry’s Berries provides enough food each week for 1 vegetarian or a family of 4. When we started the program, Mr. Wetzel and I quickly found that there was too much food for us to eat each week, so we split the share 50/50 with our neighbors. I will post photos of the share pre-split, because I often disassemble the food to split it evenly and also because this will give you an idea of what one CSA take home looks like. The summer share costs $595 for 21 weeks (June 8 – October 30), which works out to about $28/week for the total share, or $14/week for each of our households.

We also pick up a dozen eggs from the farm once a week (the pre-paid amount works out to a little over $4/dozen).

Here we go!

By ekwetzel
2010-07-07