I am very excited today. Want to know why? We are now members of a local farm's CSA program. For those who don't know, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. CSA is kind of like a co-op. A local farm finds members to join before the start of each growing season. Members pay for their share up front. Each week, for roughly 20 weeks depending on your farm, you will pick up a basket of fresh produce. Imagine having fruits and vegetables each and every week that have just been picked. This isn't about saving money. CSA is about supporting local farmers and the idea of sustainable agriculture. There is a joint risk involved with buying a share in a local farm. If it's a bad year for the crops, you will be affected. Personally, I am willing to take that risk to support something I believe in so strongly.
If you are interested in finding a local farm who participates in CSA, check out:
Local Harvest
For more information on CSA:
Biodynamic Farming
Wikipedia
National Agriculture Library
Our farm share will start at the beginning of May. Each Sunday, I will post pictures of what we received in our share and include the produce in my weekly menu plan. Additionally, I will post one new recipe each week that includes one of the items from our share as the main ingredient.
Now, on to this week's menu...
Are you looking for a printable Weekly Menu Planner to plan your meals each week? Erin over at $5 Dinners has made one available for free!
Breakfast:
cereal, waffles (homemade from the batch I froze), oatmeal, smoothies, granola bars
Lunch:
sandwiches, leftovers, salads, fruit
Dinner:
Pork Scallopini
Sweet Chili Linguine w/ Grilled Chicken
Tasty Tuna Burgers
Cheesy Ham Scrambled Eggs
Crockpot Broccoli Beef
Snacks:
homemade microwave popcorn, crackers, fruit, cheese sticks
For more menu planning ideas, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie.
You are so lucky to have a CSA close to you! I would love to be a member but there isn't one close enough to me. We do have a wonderful farmers market that I buy all my produce from in the summer. But, I have been dreaming of a CSA membership for years!
ReplyDeleteDid you get the download to work yet? Sorry about that. I wonder if it's some sort of security problem? Anyways, hope you get it figured out!
God Bless your husband and your family! We need more good men like him! I have nothing but the highest amount of respect for our servicemen & woman and the sacrifices they and their families make.
Sounds like you have some great meals planned!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog http://raisingmy4sons.com
I'm following you now! :)
Thanks for the homemade microwave popcorn tutorial. I had no idea! How cool! Thanks for following. I'm following you now!
ReplyDeletei'm so jealous you have a co-op like store close to you! you'd seriously think that in the small town like I live in we'd have one.. but NO! your menu looks yummy :)
ReplyDeleteWe are also starting with a CSA this year. I am so excited. I blogged about making the decision to do one too! Thanks for all the great links and menu ideas etc. I will definitely use them.
ReplyDelete@alissa if you have a farmers market there is a chance that a farther away CSA delivers boxes to your market. The one we joined does that for 2 farmers markets in our state if you have signed up with them for it.
~Amber @ The Mom Road