Letter to the editor

Hello,

I saw your request for individuals who are participating in a CSA crop share. This is my first year participating in a CSA share. I signed up with Olden Produce back in March, after a couple of Twitter friends had mentioned how much they enjoyed it. I read their excited tweets all last summer and saw the pictures and blog posts about how wonderful it was and I was hooked. I signed up for the ½ farm share, fruit share and late season produce share. This cost me around $600, with the early bird pricing. Not including the late season produce share, I am spending roughly $27 a week on whatever they decide to give me.

The season started out wonderfully, the strawberries were like crack and having fresh produce pesticide-free was exciting; however, it has become quite daunting. Some weeks it feels like a chore, zucchini and summer squash again?? There has been 2-3 weeks, where I have received nothing in my fruit share, yet their Saturday morning Farmer’s Market booth in Oshkosh is full of melons and berries, yet I get nothing? They send out weekly newsletters, the past few weeks touting that I should buy a bushel of tomatoes for canning, yet, I received only 2 tomatoes one week and none the last (except for a small pint of cherry tomatoes)…instead I got MORE zucchini, MORE summer squash and an eggplant.

It is only my husband and I in the house and we both work full-time. I have been working hard on eating better/healthier, but constantly having the same items to cook (in which we were never a big fan of in the beginning) is difficult. I love the concept, I love buying local, I am willing to spend the extra dime (or $10 bill) on these things, but I hate wasting. Some weeks we are so busy with work, volunteering and other activities, that I don’t have time to cook, or if we are out of town, the produce just sits. Having a CSA forces to you to plan ahead and lots of freezing of items. I don’t anticipate getting a CSA again next year. Instead, I will shop at the Farmer’s market and get what I like, when I want it and how much of it.