Veggies N'at? What's that you say?

Getting Started

I will begin with the obligatory first blog post. My husband and I started our journey with local organic eating last summer with our first CSA share. We live in the city, so we are close to a lot of the wonderful places in Pittsburgh's burgeoning food scene. We were unsatisfied with the price and quality of grocery offerings in our neck of the woods - expensive, very little choice, and often poor quality (yinz know about those sad wilted greens in the pitiful organic section of our local grocery chain). That not only goes for produce but meat as well. So we began to investigate local sources of ethical meat and organic produce and decided that a CSA would be the best choice for our summer and fall produce. We get our meat from local butchers (whom I will recommend later in this post).

A little about us: Robyn (that's me!) is an anthropologist by day (a PhD Candidate at the University of Pittsburgh) and an amateur chef, crafter, and writer by night. She delights in crochet, drawing, painting, food and wine tasting, and nerdy pursuits. Shaun works for a non-profit and is an avid bike rider, tattoo enthusiast, volunteer firefighter, poet, coffee connoisseur, and amateur photographer. 

So what's this all about anyway? What's a CSA?

For all of you noobs to this idea, CSA stands for Community Shared Agriculture. These are programs in which you pay a flat fee (most have payment plans or you can pay in advance) and you receive a box or bag of fresh produce every week. How does that work? CSA's generally have multiple pick up sites where your share is delivered and you pick it up on a select day of the week. Most have pickup times as well. We pick up our share at a local business and these options typically have the widest time window for pickups. However, CSA shares aren't just about veggies (hence the n'at). Shares will often include fruits, fresh herbs, and even fresh cut flowers. Many CSAs have meat, cheese, and egg options or shares that you can add on. 

This blog will be a documented journey throughout using 100% of each week's share. Items which Shaun and I do not particularly care for we will be donated to health conscious friends and relatives. I will ask them to share recipes with us for what they use items for. Every week, I will post a photo and list of what we get in our share, and how we plan to use each item, sharing any original recipes that I have concocted as well as any links or sources of recipes that are not my own original work.

Where can I find a CSA program in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas?

Thanks to a wealth of farms in and around western Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh and surrounding areas have many different CSA options to choose from. Here is a link to many of the options in the area from an article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

http://www.post-gazette.com/life/food/2009/03/26/Find-a-CSA-Farm/stories/200903260457

The CSA we use is not on that site, but it is one of the larger ones in the area. It is through Clarion River Organics. You can find their produce at the East End Food Co-op and they have a strong presence at local farmer's markets as well as a location in the Pittsburgh Public Market in the Strip District. They have a large selection of pick-up places in the city and in the suburbs, and a very convenient schedule for professionals. You can find out more about their CSA program here:

http://clarionriverorganicscsa.blogspot.com/p/csa-community-supported-agriculture-csa.html

Other Local Recommendations

Our pickup site is the Commonplace Coffeehouse in Squirrel Hill. My husband is a personal friend of the proprietor, who imports coffee beans from all over the world and roasts locally.

While our CSA does offer meat shares, we don't have the freezer or storage space for that much volume at one time. Our favorite local butcher shop (featuring wonderful natural meats, bacon, and sausages) is DJ's Butcher Block on Liberty Ave in Bloomfield.

https://www.facebook.com/DjsButcherBlock