Pros and Cons of this season's CSA

I have been m.i.a. to the blogesphere lately. Life is going much better. It's the first time in 6 months that I acually can answer the question, "What's going on with you?" with "Not much, really." It feels good! Life was a little too eventful there for a while.  But God is faithful.

So, sadly, our CSA ends this week. I pick up our last share on Wednesday. Since I have posted so much about it over the past several months. Here's the bottom line: I loved it and will do it again. Did I love the seemingly thousands of cantaloupes/ melon, as we all know I hate melons? No. Did I always get what I wanted? No. Here are some pros/cons of my CSA season.

1. Green peppers, beets, and melons are still on my hit list. Your fee does include paying for vegetables you may not like. We shared these things with others.
2. That's a lot of vegetables to eat. You really have to get creative and purposeful with your meals, which can be a pro and a con.
3. I learned that I like a lot of veggies I would never buy... winter squash, acorn squash, greens, radishes.
4. It really challenges your cooking and causes you to expand your "cooking repertoire." For example homemade ketchup, greens, fried okra, bierocks, a coleslaw I actually liked, carrot bread, veggie salsa, ratatouille, etc.
5. Fresh, local veggies taste AWESOME! Seriously, I am not imaging this. Bethy agreed with me. When you eat produce as soon as it's picked, the nutrients are packed in there, and the flavor is packed. The zucchini I had tonight was SO flavorful. And fresh mashed potatoes are the best I have ever had. When the veggies have that much flavor, it really reduces the amount of butter and spices you have to use. Seriously, all my veggies this summer were flavored with a little butter, salt, and pepper. And they were FABULOUS!
6. The nerd in me loves all the ways it helps the environment... There are no pesticides or chemicals involved in Delvin Farms; buying local produce reduces fuel emitted into the environment (trucks bringing it to your local grocer), there's no major packaging (plastic bags) so it saves resources.
7. There were times we weren't able to eat everything before they went bad. Of course, that's happened with the grocery store too.
8. When it's squash season, it's SQUASH SEASON. Make sure you really like the veggies on your list before committing, because when it's time for those veggies, they come in bulk. It's great for people like me who can't get enough zucchini!
9. It's fun to meet and support local farmers. I grew up having Mr. Elvis, a rice farmer, as a close family friend. Mom always taught me the importance of buying local when possible.
10. It came out a LOT cheaper than buying organic produce at the store. I mean a LOT cheaper. An organic eggplant costs $4-5 at Wholefoods (the only place I can find them). The whole season of organic produce half-share (a box every other week) cost about $60 a month ($30 each split between Bethy and me).

If you're interested in one next year, I recommend Delvin Farms for you Nashvillians.  There are several good ones around here.  If you live elsewhere, localharvest.org is a great resource.