Thursdays are CSA Pick-up Days! Abbondanza Organic Seeds & Produce is a local CSA, or “Community Supported Agriculture” farm. CSA membership fees in the winter and spring help support the farm, and members pick up a share of the produce each week during harvest.

That’s CSA 101. And this is CSA Week 2!

(What happened to Week 1? I was out of town. Oops.)

Click over to the Abbondanza web page and take a look at the upper-right-hand corner of the page: “What’s in the Box?” This is updated every week to give members an idea what to expect when they come pick up their veggies. This week, Week 2, a lot of the produce was damaged by hail, particularly the lettuce and the arugula. That’s farming for you – stuff happens. But there were plenty yummies to be had regardless. Here’s what I brought home today in my partial share (full and individual shares vary):

CSA 2009 Week 2

• Garlic “scapes” (stems)
• Spinach
• Radishes
• Mizuna
• Hon Tsai Tai

There was also cilantro, from which I abstained.

Hon Tsai Tai is a new one on me. Monday I got to meet it in the field when a team of us were out there weeding (wanna volunteer? click here!). They pointed it out to us as we unrolled the hail-protective covers from several rows of lettuces and Asian greens. “See that one there? That’s a great crop. It’s kinda like broccoli. You can just eat it raw in a salad–the flowers, too.”

Some of everything, except the garlic scapes, went into tonight’s salad, which accompanied my first grilled cheese sandwiches since de-rusting, cleaning, and re-seasoning my grandmother’s old cast-iron skillet. Bliss. And now I’m looking forward to stir-fry.

Recipe: Very Simple Basalmic Vinaigrette

• 3 tbls balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbls olive oil
• 1 tsp or 3 stems chives
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 hard boiled egg yolk, mashed

Combine all ingredients. Chill overnight. Shake thoroughly when you think about it.

(Next batch will have a garlic scape instead of the chives.)

Note! Abbondanza are still taking membership applications! Also, you can find them at the farmer’s markets in downtown Boulder and I do believe in Longmont too.

This is a question to ask yourself, come Wednesday. And if, when you do, your answer is, “Well, until recently, just chillin’ under the ground at Thomas Open Space,” then that must mean you’re an Abbondanza Keeper Share CSA Member!

CSA: Community Supported Agriculture. You give ’em money at the beginning of the season when it’s most needed, and, if the season goes well and stuff does in fact grow, they give you a bunch of locally grown yummy at regular intervals (weekly is the usual rule) all season long.

Abbondanza Organdic Seeds and Produce: A Boulder County located CSA Farm.

Keeper Share: An allotment of late-season, long-storage vegetables (potatoes, onions, carrots, winter squash, dried herbs, etc.) to be picked up every other week or so from late October through early December. First pick-up will be October 29th. (Abbo also offers regular summer veggie shares, fruit shares from Ela Family Farms, coffee shares, a pick-up location for Windsor Dairy‘s whole milk shares.)

Between that salmonella outbreak that tainted the nation’s tomato supply earlier this year and the ever rising cost of gas, “eating local” has never seemed a better idea. This past summer, my family has been doing a lot of that, having become CSA members for the first time. I’ve also spent my Thursdays helping out at their two farms on a volunteer basis, which means I’ve had the satisfaction of eating veggies that I myself helped pick and process. I’m begun to learn what it means to eat in season. And with all that extra greenery coming into the house each week, the need to eat it up rather than let it go to waste means eating out less, buying less in stores, finding new recipes, and eating more healthily all around.

If you’re interested, it’s not too late to buy in to a Keeper Share. Like I said, first pick-up is this Wednesday coming, and after that pick-ups are every other or every third Wednesday through December 17th. Follow the link (here it is again!) to learn all about what veggies will be waiting for you and how much it costs to buy a whole or half share.

If you hurry, you can also visit Abbondanza’s Farm Stand at the Thomson Open Space. There you can buy pretty much everything that’s in season (sorry, that would not include peaches and squash right now; these pictures were taken late August or early September), along with fruit from Ela Family Farms (their cider is divine ambrosia, I kid you not) and bread from local bakery “Good Feedback”. Still haven’t picked up a jack-o-lantern pumpkin? Abbo’s got some lovely ones. Planning your own garden next year? Abbo’s seeds come from the very plants they grow right here.

The Farm Stand is just west of the Highway 287 and Baseline intersection. It’s open from 9 AM until 7 PM every day through Samhain / All Souls’ day / Día de los Muertos / November 1.

And–hey!–it’s not too early to sign up for a 2009 membership!