Our First CSA Allotment

What an exciting day! This morning we picked up our first monthly CSA allotment from Stonewall Farm. CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is where customers buy a share in the year’s crop in exchange for paying at the beginning of the season. This is the first year for Stonewall Farms, located on the westside of Evansville, Indiana to have a CSA. There were a variety of shares to choose from including meat, poultry, country breakfast, and eggs. We chose the Poultry Small Share where we get one chicken per month and one dozen eggs. In this share we will also receive a turkey during the holidays. Since we figured we would eat more than one chicken a month, we also chose a Just Chicken share. Then because we paid for the whole year up front, we get an extra dozen eggs. So every month our cooler will contain two chickens and two dozen eggs. For large families they have larger quantities including their Full Meat Share which includes 20 lbs of meat.

June's allotment plus extras

Also, we can also order additional items, if they have them available. We had added two pounds of bacon this month, and then at the farmer’s market where we picked up our cooler, we bought pork chops and rainbow trout. The rainbow trout is the only item they do not raise, but comes from a fellow farmer in Indiana. So we are set for the month.

There are many reasons we wanted to participate in this CSA. Knowing where our meat is coming from and that it is local was important. We liked that these animals are free range grass fed with no pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, animal by-products or herbicides in the pasture or in their feed. We also like supporting our local farmers. We’ve been to the farm several times and really like these people, who originally decided to raise their own beef, pork and chicken so that their children could grow up healthy. By joining the CSA,  farmers have a better idea of how to plan for future needs and gives them the upfront capital. So it’s really a win-win situation for all of us. Oh, I forgot to mention the taste. We tried the eggs, bacon, and ground beef these last two months. We could not believe the difference in the taste, especially the bacon! We’re looking forward to the chicken and pork chops.

If you think your family may be too small to join a CSA, check in your local area.

Now to our local harvesting. Today I picked our first blueberries.

First Blueberry Pick

Nothing to get real excited about. In fact, the total was 15 blueberries! I noticed the birds are starting to watch them, so I moved the cds from the cherry tree to the blueberry area. But it looks like all of our bushes will have blueberries this year. I’m looking forward to those blueberry smoothies and muffins.