Join a Winter CSA

SO. Sorry I’ve been ghost on the blog, you guys. But if it’s any consolation, please understand that I’ve been absent in other areas of my life, too. I’ve been a subpar wife, unreliable friend, mediocre yoga teacher…and I’m just barely hanging onto this mom thing. Yup, I’m a new mom. My baby girl turned my world upside down 5 months ago, and the dust is just now settling. HA, just kidding—it’s really not. I’m simply learning how to live with a thin film of dust over everything instead.

Oh! We also moved twice in a month, bought a house and relocated our little family. All while trying (and failing) to sleep train.

My new neighbor stopped by last week to introduce herself and welcome me to the neighborhood. At 11am I answered the door in my husband’s pajamas, without having yet brushed my teeth (never mind my hair—that hadn’t been handled in 2 weeks), my under eye circles lending a sketchy Edward Scissorhands-like quality to my tired self.

Point being, some basic hygiene practices have fallen by the wayside, and self care strategies are a thing of the past. It’s clear to any outsider looking in that I don’t have my shit together quite yet (some might argue that once a mom, you never really do).

So yes, I’m feeling a little scattered trying to not only navigate this new mom thing, but also a maintain a new house and land, and learn a new stomping grounds. Some days I feel like I’m coming apart at the seams; some days I feel like I can LITERALLY DO ANYTHING! My new life is consistently inconsistent and my new focus is simply putting one foot in front of the other and getting through each day. Things have changed, no doubt.

With that said, my intention is not to turn this into another Scary Mommy blog—someone else is already doing that, and doing it REALLY hilariously well. But I do need to acknowledge that my new reality is in fact that of a mom. And it’s…kinda scary.

SO, they’ll be some parent stuff peppered into this healthy lifestyle blog.

The long and short of it is this: 

1. Despite being a crazy person some days, feeling good and eating healthfully and sustainably are still my priorities. 

2. Through two moves and with an infant, I’m still leading my real food lifestyle. 

Would it be easier to grab takeout more often than not or start relying on more packaged foods? Yep. Would it make me feel like shit? Totally. So, in the end, it’s not worth it to me.

I will admit that with more irons in the fire, it does take some creativity and simplification to maintain my real food way. I understand that my simple might be different than your simple, but I’m willing to share my methods and ideas if you’re willing to listen.

For starters, part of making my life (and food) a bit simpler involved purchasing a winter CSA share. In case you’re not familiar with CSAs...

CSA STANDS FOR COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE.  

Typically how it works: you—as the consumer—pay a lump sum to a farm at the beginning of the season for a share of the farm. Every week of the season, you pick up your share of veggies (certain CSAs go beyond produce to include eggs, poultry, meat, and/or dairy) based on what the farm has produced. When you sign up for (or subscribe to) a farm share, you essentially invest in that farm.

For example, I’ve signed up for a Fall/Winter CSA from Brookford Farm. This current season runs from October through March, 20 weeks total. My share includes organic veggies and 1 dozen eggs each week. Every week I pick up my share at a location fairly close to my house. I paid just over $600 up front, which breaks down to roughly $30 a week.

WHY CSA?  

When you purchase a share, you support a local, small business (a farm). You also regularly receive local food that is very, very fresh. Like, not just not-picked-in-California-and-ripened-on-its-way-to-you fresh, but maybe even just-picked-from-the-ground-that-day fresh. Keep in mind that with a CSA, you don’t know exactly what you’re going to get each week. Some people consider this unpredictability a drawback; I consider it a boon.

A CSA share takes a lot of the guesswork out of meal planning.

In my new world of cloth vs. disposable, Ferber vs. co-sleep, top loader vs. front loader, Mindful Grey vs. Intellectual Grey (that’s paint, for the record), it’s just ONE LESS THING I have to decide upon. I show up, pick up whatever food they’re giving me that week, go home and cook it. There’s often the added bonus of experimenting with foods that I wouldn’t otherwise buy (kohlrabi, anyone?).

Here's my secret: Google. Yep. A simple Google search of “what to do with this ingredient” provides loads of ideas and recipes. Try one out and BOOM—you’ve added a new dish to your repertoire.

So check it—here’s what I pulled in the first week of my CSA share: Brussels sprouts, daikon radish, kohlrabi, red onions, carrots, garlic, sweet potatoes, winter squash, romaine lettuce, spinach, mixed greens, 1 dozen eggs.

You want to know what I did with all that farm-fresh schwag? Then keep coming back to the blog!