I was very pleased to wake up early this morning and head down to Hell’s Kitchen for my first distribution/volunteer experience with my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), Upper Meadow Farm. Starting in June, then running through November, my CSA provides a weekly supply of fresh organic produce. As a member, part of the agreement is a minimum of four hours volunteer work, which I partly served this morning by running set up of the distribution and making sure all the veggies were well stocked and artfully presented. It was wonderful to be out in the early morning, handling vegetables “so fresh they didn’t even know they were dead” (as the farmer, Len, likes to say).
Each week, the shares vary according to the crops of that week. I have an “individual share,” which means I pick several of the items instead of taking them all. This week for instance, the share items were lettuce (a variety to choose from), garlic chives, pea vine tips, chicory/dandelion, greek oregano, giant red mustard, and an added bonus of asparagus. I picked out a beautiful head of green oak leaf lettuce (I spotted it while arranging the greens), giant red mustard, garlic chives, pea vine tips, and got 3 spears of asparagus (you were supposed to take only what you need). I also picked up a dozen farm fresh eggs from Upper Meadow ($5/dozen – I swear the best eggs I’ve ever eaten) and a jar of delicious and organic honey extracted from honeycombs right on the farm.
I am so excited to try all these delicious treats, and even more excited to see how this season spoils me with the best produce I can eat! Stay tuned for more updates with future distributions, and hopefully, some new and interested recipes!
Ashley Harrell 
Sounds fantastic! How long will your share last you? a whole week? I’m going to wander out to my own garden later and see what’s in store here. A couple of weeks back I made fresh pasta dumplings out of swiss chard from the garden, things always taste so much better when they are super fresh!
How fun. Thanks for sharing. If you could only come and pick fresh arrugula, lettuce and parsley in our garden and yes: a bunch of beautiful princess lillies. We are enjoying fresh cherries from our neighbor’s tree. Yum. Oma