The Enterprise Winter CSA works by utilizing crops stored locally, then gradually expanding its reach to small, organic farms down the east coast as the winter drones on and on and on. And on.

We did it last year until our regular CSA started up, from about January through May. Which meant that we got a big (pretty huge, actually) box of veggies every week. At first, there were still things like Massachusetts apples, potatoes, winter squash, onions, garlic, celeriac, parsnips and turnips. But as stores of these started to dwindle, other stuff started to take its place. Like kale from Pennsylvania and cherry tomatoes from the Carolinas and oranges and grapefruit from Florida.

Just as I was robbed  - robbed - of the true apple eating experience as a school child, so was I robbed of true citrus until last winter. Many of you New England kids may have had access to real, crisp, fresh, sweet native apples as children. And it’s not as though I didn’t technically have access. What I definitely had were thousands and thousands of dull, waxy, bruised, warm, mealy Red Deliciouses from Washington via Grand Union supermarkets. But I’d venture to say that many of you have never tried the sort of oranges and grapefruits that small organic growers produce because it’s not as though you might even have a tree in your yard next to the apple tree that you also happen to have in your yard. Just so you know, the oranges in our share were transcendent kisses from a benevolent god.

I know these were controversial last year. Some folks felt this was violating the spirit of trying to eat locally year round, since there was still plenty of meat and potatoes ’round here. But the share was economical and largely ethical and, because we had it delivered via Metro Pedal Power, it was kind of effortless. We didn’t have to schlep out to pick it up and there was basically always something to eat in the house. 

Here are the deets:

• The winter/spring season runs 6 months for a total of 25 weeks, from December 1, 2009 through May 21, 2010.
• The first payment is due December 1.  However, some pickup sites will likely fill up this season, so they recommend that you reserve a spot now.  You can do so either by paying your first installment now, or by sending a $100 deposit to the farm now to hold a spot (this amount will be credited toward your first payment).  Because demand will be high, they can’t guarantee you a spot until we receive a deposit.
• Here’s the web form for signing up 
• Here are some FAQs

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 1:21 am and is filed under CSA. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.