Stanton Street CSA

What exactly will your vegetable share consist of? While we can promise that you’ll receive many different types of delicious veggies in your share each week, keep in mind that the harvest is subject to any number of unpredictable meteorological phenomena. Variety is part of the fun of CSA! Also though, during much of the season, we use a free-choice distribution format; since member preferences vary, we try to offer as many options as possible. For example, there might be three or four kinds of greens available, and we’ll let you choose which to take home and which to leave. If you don’t like kale, leave it for someone who does, and take more lettuce instead. We’ll also place roots, bulbs and tubers together, specify the weight you may take, and let you decide. If you like, you may take an assortment of items (e.g., carrots, potatoes and onions), but you’re also free to take a larger quantity of just one item (e.g., just onions). Our shareholders have been happiest when they’ve had the most freedom to choose.

In terms of quantity, that also varies a bit from week to week—the season starts and ends with slightly smaller share sizes. As a rough guideline, know that one full vegetable share is just about guaranteed to be far more than one person could ever handle alone, and would be better suited for two people (who cook veggie-centric meals on a nearly daily basis), or three to four people (who are perhaps not completely avid home cooks). Members who have been with us in previous years should note that our shares for the summer 2008 season will be larger than what you’ve received from us in the past, by about a third.

Below are some highlights of what you may find in your veggie share throughout the season:

JUNE

Lettuces, succulent salad greens, ‘Mei Qing’ choi, ‘Oregon Giant’ snow peas, French breakfast radishes, white Japanese turnips, fresh scallions, potted Mediterranean herbs for your windowsill, and, with some luck, a harvest of spring broccoli. This is salad month, a fresh start to the harvest year.

JULY

Spring spinach and greens give way to baby beets, bunched carrots, crisp cucumbers, and, by mid-month, squashes, green beans, and basil. By late July, we’ll have green onions, sweet corn, and, with good weather, ‘Juliet’ tomatoes from our covered field houses.

AUGUST

The dog days… sweet bell peppers, egg-plants, zucchinis, red onions, and new potatoes. Dripping, sliced tomatoes, and mouth-watering melons. All these, along with lettuce mixes, more green beans, carrots, and herbs.

SEPTEMBER

Cool nights invite the return of greens and broccoli, while warm days keep the summer vegetables happy. Garden salads and simple steamed vegetables adorn your table.

OCTOBER

Frost ends the summer vegetables, but improves the flavor of those left behind. Crunchy carrots, perhaps some cauliflower, bowls of potato-leek soup, shell beans, steaming winter squash. And pie pumpkins .

NOVEMBER

The season ends with cold-loving kale and other hardy greens, salad greens from the field houses, dry beans, carrots, leeks, celery root, potatoes, and cabbage. Hearty stews and roasted root vegetables help us prepare for the coming of winter.