A Season Of Weekly Farm-Direct Veggies, Anyone Tried?

[jyl]

Has anyone bought a season's worth of produce, delivered weekly direct from the farm?

Here's one arrangement I'm looking at:
- I box weekly of organic, locally-grown veggies and fruits
- mid-June through mid-October
- You get a mix of what's in season, so starts out w/ early veg like lettuce, spinach, turnips, that sort of thing. Then the brocolli, cauliflower, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, carrots, etc etc start up. Blueberries and strawberries through the season.
- Looks like I'd need more of stuff like basil, tomatoes, onion, shallots, and so on. Some of that will come from my own garden. The rest I'd buy from the grocery store as usual.
- I'd have to adjust to a more traditional way of eating - you eat what's in season, rather than Chilean grapes in winter.

Have you done this? Were you pleased or disappointed?

[TechnoViking]

I've tried this. Around here you get some of the good stuff like carrots, lettuce, etc. But you get a BUNCH of stuff you're not sure what to do with. Like 5 pounds of kale. And it just keeps coming.

On the plus side it motivates you to eat more veggies. Then again, I ended up throwing a lot of it out. Didn't have the energy to figure out what to do with it all.

[david911]

I get a small box delivered weekly, year round.

I really like it, but you have to be flexible about what you eat. I treat it as an "Iron Chef" kind of experience. That being said, I was a bit stumped by the 3 heads of celery in 1 month.

The only thing I have not been able to use was a bunch of dandelion greens. Bitter. Very bitter. Yuck!

[rsNINESOOPER]

My wife and I have been using a weekly produce service for over a year now and love the produce we get. We have the option to be surprised which we do once in a while but regularly choose exactly what we want. We have been very pleased with the quality (all organic no pesticides, preservatives etc) and the price is close to the supermarket although less on average. I like the fact that we are supporting the local growers and our cooking is including much more fruits and vegetables. I would recommend that you do some research into the services available in your area as there are some better than others. There are at least three different services available in my area, probably more and the first one we tried was not worth it.

Just do some research and give it a shot.

[Tishabet]

My wife and I do this in association with a group of local farms, they deliver a box of veggies every week from June through late September. As david911 said, you have to be willing to do the iron chef thing and figure out how to use what are often unfamiliar vegetables... IMHO that is the best part. I never realized how much I would enjoy chard, kale, bok choy, celery root, parsnips, etc.

[Christien]

We did it last year, had almost exactly the same experience as Martin. (though no kale, thankfully!) Tons of carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, zucchini, but the tomatoes were only ok. Lots of herbs and garlic. Lettuce wasn't great. So it's hit and miss, but a fun thing to try. We picked up right at the farm - it's only about 10 min. from our place. They also did a beef and chicken sale at one point (extra cost). The chicken was about the same as the grocery store, but the beef was phenomenal. Steaks were better than grocery store, so pretty good, but the roasts and stewing beef were some of the best I've ever had. Prices were comparable to the grocery store.

We're doing it again this summer.

[jyl]

Cool. I talked to a friend who uses this farm and her review was very positive. I talked to another friend and we're going to split a season's worth, as a trial run. She's a vegetarian and loves kale. A couple of us are looking into splitting part of a grass fed cow from the same farm.

I don't know how good a deal this will be, but I'm after the food quality.

[Normy]

I'd love to do this, but unless you are in California you really can't do it consistently.

N!

[jyl]

Why is that?

[The Gaijin]

The growing season is short up by us in up-state New York.

Whatever we don't eat out of our box we give away, whatever we can't give away is composed - and the chickens love the bugs and worms and the rotting produce.

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

It is a good way to get fresh produce inexpensively. If they have bumper crops you can get more than you bargained for. If the crop is poor, you will receive a bit less. Such is the life of farming. The veggies will last longer than store bought and should taste so much better.

But yes, you will receive stuff you would not otherwise buy. It is a chance to expand your diet. Get a good book, look up recipes on the internet, ask the farmer for serving suggestions. You will be pleasantly surprised more often than not.

If all else fails, garlic, ginger, butter seem to improve the taste of most things ;-)

Oh, and plant a personal herb garden. You can keep it on the counter, if you don't have cats (don't ask how I know that...).

[RWebb]

it's common here for organics - my friends that do it are happy

too much trouble for me...

[vash]

it will seem endless. instead, just visit local farmer's markets? it gets the family out, and teaches the kids about where food comes from.