A few years ago, I was diagnosed with bleeding ulcers (hooray). That's when I started to really need to watch what I ate - or watch my stress levels. There's nothing quite like stress induced indigestion...and all its various noises (nice!).
On the flipside, I love to cook & to eat. I'll be going for my WSET next year...so I am always looking for an excuse to try new things & new recipes. Also, being a little more flush with cash, I do my best to make my food decisions based on health & locality rather than price. I figured a good way to super serve my various health, economic, political needs was to sign up for a CSA. Fast forward 3 years later - almost all my food comes from various CSAs. Now, that I'm in the groove of all of it, I've been able to keep my weight stable. I've not been super sick in a long time. I've saved a lot of money. Even if those weren't things, I've tried so much new stuff.
If you're interested, I cannot recommend these farmers enough:
Farmer Dave's Vegetable & Fruit Share
He is a Dracut farmer who sends out these amazingly philosophical emails. He offers his CSA year round although, unfortunately, only the Summer/Early Fall shares are convenient for me...
The portions are generous - Once, we got 6 melons in 1 week because the harvest was so good. He also has a bunch of add ons like honey, maple syrup, etc..
Enterprise Farm
They're out in Western MA & they supply Whole Foods. Their winter CSA sources up & down the East Coast so you get that super expensive, tasty Florida citrus in the middle of February!
I pick it up near my work. When I bring it in the office, I always get a few curious people nosing around the box.
MF Dulock Meat Club
They do a monthly meat club - everything from veal to steak to offal. Everybody who works there is super knowledgeable & very nice. They've just started selling chickens too - which is a bonus.
Cape Cod Fish Share
All local - relatively cheap for what it is. There have been times where I've gotten scallops & lobster in addition to the fillet fish. BONUS - If you say you were referred by somebody, that person gets a free month of fish (hint, hint)
Then, I hit my local Farmer's Market for eggs, bread, & anything else that looks good. Rumor has it the Boston Public Market will be opening at the Haymarket T Stop in 2015. HOORAY! (note: this "hooray" is much different than the other "hooray" mentioned earlier in the post)
At this point, it's the rare occasion that I am in a big box supermarket. I haven't had anything from a box in about a year (save those Petits Coeurs cookies from France). The only downside to all the CSA is that now, I can no longer eat conventional food without getting serious indigestion. That poses a bit of a problem before parties or going out to restaurants. At this point, there are not many restaurants I can eat in anymore (booo hisssss)...but it's probably better that way.
If you have any favorites, I am all ears. Aside from the food CSAs, I am psyched Free The Grapes got mail order wine passed in MA. Now, I can sign up for that sparkling wine club I've been eyeballing for years. Again, HOORAY!!!!
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