What the Heck is a CSA Anyway?!

If you're like I was a year ago, you have no idea what a CSA is. A friend of mine (thanks Matt) had posted something about it and, being the curious and nosy woman I am, I had to know more. Turns out CSA means Community Supported Agriculture and it works something like this:
You sign up with a farm and buy a share, paying for a session up front. The CSA I joined begins the end of May with a ten week session. Every week at a pre-determined drop, you pick up your weekly mystery box o' goodies. This is basically a box filled to the brim of whatever was ready to harvest that week. The veggies are all organic, local and seasonal. With thoughts of the phrases "Climate Change", "Think Globally, Act Locally" and "Pesticide Free" in my brain, I decided this was a good idea. I signed up and received my first box this week.

A bounty of Southern goodness awaited me. My first box contained gorgeous Red Leaf and Romaine lettuce, delicate baby beets, deep green bok choy, yellow onions, collards, hand milled grits and garlic scapes (more on that later). Ok, now what to do with it all?! To some of you this may seem simple enough, but let me explain a little something about myself. I'm a novice foodie. I love to cook. I love to eat. I'm excited about using super fresh, local ingredients. However, while I have lived over half my life in the South, I lived most of my formative eating years in California. Now don't get me wrong, we have our fair share of awesome veggies out there, and although I ate my weight in garlic, indulged in artichokes and suffered through brussels sprouts, I couldn't tell you what a collard was and grits sounded more like something you'd dump out of your beach bag than put on your plate and eat. Since moving to the South, I have embraced the grit but, hating my mother's spinach as a child, the quintessential collard has never touched my Le Creuset or lips. But, I had made a deal with myself (and my husband who funded this little endeavour) that I would cook everything I got at least once. I figured I could beg, borrow, or trade my way out of any unsavory items after that if need be. Anyway, after washing and putting away my treasures I sat down to do a little research.

First off, what are those curly green things at the bottom of the box? Apparently they're garlic scapes. Farmers cut the stalk off garlic in the spring to force the plant to direct all of its energy into the bulb. They have great (yet stronger than I expected) garlic flavor and were turned into a garlic scape pesto compliments of my slightly modified version of Dorie Greenspan's recipe (doriegreenspan.com):

Garlic Scape Pesto
10 garlic scapes, finely chopped
1/3 to 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan (to taste and texture)
1/3 cup toasted pinenuts
About 1/2 cup olive oil
Sea salt
Put the scapes, 1/3 cup of the cheese, almonds and half the olive oil in the bowl of a food processor (or use a blender or a mortar and pestle). Whir to chop and blend all the ingredients and then add the remainder of the oil and, if you want, more cheese. If you like the texture, stop; if you'd like it a little thinner, add some more oil. Season with salt.

I tossed some of this with pasta and froze some for later use. I'm thinking smeared on some crusty Ciabatta would make some pretty super garlic bread. Next up, I'm tackling my first ever collard greens. I'll let you know how it goes.

Which brings me to the point of why I'm doing this blog in the first place. As I said before, I am a novice foodie who loves to cook. I surprised myself with the level of passion and excitement I have toward this CSA experience and wanted the opportunity to share it. I also happen to like to write. In a former life, I was a pretty good technical writer, meaning I wrote IT training manuals and user guides. Great for end-users, maybe not so great for blog readers. So I hope you'll bear with me and my sloppy prose. I hope I can make you all laugh and learn a little as I stumble and succeed through my first CSA seasons.

Happy Eating!
Shar