November 7 was the twentieth and final week of our CSA  (Waldingfield Farm)–and what a  busy week it was! The pick-up point was at Waldingfield Farm in Washington, CT since the Sandy Hook Organic Farmers Market closed a few weeks ago.

We scored:

• leeks
• kale
• broccoli
• red potatoes
• brown potatoes
• acorn squash
• butternut squash
• mustard greens
• broccoli rabe greens
• salad greens

This being the last week, some review of the season seems in order. CSA is Community Supported Agriculture. The eater makes a financial commitment to the farm before the growing season begins and becomes a shareholder in the farm’s bounty as well as assuming a share of the risk (flood, drought, pestilence–the sorts of things that could happen on a farm).

Our CSA share with Waldingfield Farm cost $550 (a full share) for 20 weeks ($27.50 a week). As you can tell by looking at the quantity, quality, and variety in my CSA posts, we got our money’s worth and often more. And it’s organic too!

A full share is designed for a family of four. We are a family of two adults. Due to work or other commitments, we don’t always eat dinner at home. Additionally, we are dieters (the portion-control weight-maintenance kind). So, our share provided a lot more vegetables than we were able to consume in a week. This worked out well since we are also year-round locavores and were able to put by some vegetables for the dark days.

My farmers (Patrick, Quincy, and Daniel)–and I’ve come to refer to them as my farmers–specialize in tomatoes, so we had the opportunity to enjoy many heirloom tomatoes this year. I still can’t name many of them by sight, but loved each one of them. Maybe next year I’ll make an image chart called The Heirloom Tomatoes of Waldingfield.

My Farmers: Quincy Horan, a friend of theirs, and Patrick Horan

Part of having a CSA share is dealing with nature along with the farmers. This was a difficult year for tomatoes all around. Due to an inordinate amount of rain at a critical point in the growing season and some other weather-related issue, many of the tomatoes were late or didn’t give the yields they normally do. That’s life. Another part of having a CSA share is eating what grows when it grows. Barbara Kingsolver’s husband said it best (and I’m paraphrasing here): Instead of taking a recipe and going on a scavenger hunt for ingredients, why not take the food you have and get creative with how you can prepare it? And that brings us up to squash, the ubiquitous indigenous food. This year, we had an opportunity to sample several varieties of squashes of which I’d never heard of before.

Patrick asked what we’d like to see in the future, so here goes: I’m an Italian American and am particularly fond of the vegetables I had growing up. I was pleased with their supply of zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, and arugula and definitely want to see those continue. To the extent that it’s possible, I’d like to see escarole, fennel bulbs, Italian roasting peppers, San Marzano tomatoes, artichokes, and garlic. Waldingfield did plant broccoli rabe this year and the shares had lots of the greens, but unfortunately nature didn’t cooperate with shoot development this year. Another thing I’d like Waldingfield to consider is a winter CSA. I really got swamped trying to put by enough food for the winter, my freezer is packed, and still I doubt I have enough to stay greater than 75% local through next June.

Some other things I’d like to be able to get from the farmers in this region (not necessarily from Waldingfield (I don’t expect them to grow everything) are chestnuts, hazelnuts, mushrooms, figs, wheat, and beans (legumes).

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed having a CSA share and can’t wait for next year. If you’ve been contemplating joining a CSA, I’d suggest doing so soon since they tend to fill up rather quickly. I believe Waldingfield has a waiting list already!