Comments on: First Harmony Valley Farm CSA Box of 2008

By: MSPD

MSPD — Tue, 25 May 2010 19:27:10 +0000

Amen to that. I have the benefit of 5 people eating whatever crazy stuff comes in the box.

Although we still haven’t used a burdock root….maybe I’ll give you ours this year.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 25 May 2010 19:10:08 +0000

Chad, I was certainly interested in CSAs that offered meat shares but after much research I picked Blue Gentian Farm as my provider of meat. He’s available at the Minneapolis Farmers Market on the weekends and it makes it easy for me to get what I need–even down to an ala carte method instead of something more traditional like a 1/4 or 1/2 animal. I get 75% of my meat from BGF (I buy chicken in bulk from the co-op) and honestly I believe it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. You can find the post about it here: http://www.lazylightning.org/44lbs-of-blue-gentian-farm-meat

MSPD, even if it had been an “up” year I am not quite certain it would have worked for us. The overabundance of vegetables that are not “standard” do not appeal to my wife and thus were left to me to consume. While that would be fine if the prices had been reasonable, they were too expensive for me to be purchasing the CSA box for myself and then more standard vegetables for my wife. Basically what it came down to was other methods worked better for my family. A great experience but not one that we can afford to do again when much better options exist for us.

By: MSPD

MSPD — Tue, 25 May 2010 19:01:28 +0000

I totally respect Bill’s assessment. I will say though that the HVF boxes we’ve gotten last year and this year so far are much more abundant than the ones during that year. I really think having nearly entire farm flooded like that really set things back for them. I wish you could have experienced an “up” year.

Right now, being as busy as I am, I wouldn’t have the time/organization to make shopping farmer’s markets and co-ops work on a regular basis and achieve the same outcome I get from picking up the CSA box.

By: Chad

Chad — Tue, 25 May 2010 18:29:22 +0000

Thanks Bill. I just read through that, and it is great info. We have been going back and forth for a few days.

Another question though. I thought at one point I read that you had done a CSA that included meat? Was that my imagination?

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 25 May 2010 17:18:03 +0000

Here are some of my more recent thoughts about HVF’s CSA and how I choose to get my vegetables instead: http://simplegoodandtasty.com/2010/03/10/still-searching-for-a-csa-consider-this#comment-4009

By: MSPD

MSPD — Tue, 25 May 2010 17:15:56 +0000

Yes, the vegetable shares have been selling out the last two years.

By: Chad

Chad — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:10:42 +0000

I looked at Harmony Valley, and we were thinking the Fruit and Veggtables, but it appears at least the veggies are sold out for this year.

Thank you all for the responses. Time for some research.

By: MSPD

MSPD — Tue, 25 May 2010 04:11:01 +0000

Year four of Harmony Valley and still very satisfied. We get vegetables, fruit and coffee shares.

By: Jason DeRusha

Jason DeRusha — Tue, 25 May 2010 02:37:45 +0000

I’m on year 3 of Featherstone – and I love it! Very consistent over my 3 seasons. Can’t wait to get my fresh salad greens next week!

By: Amy Boland

Amy Boland — Tue, 25 May 2010 02:23:23 +0000

Harmony Valley is the BEST! Got more soul than all the rest!

Oh, OK. I don’t know if that’s true. But I like Harmony Valley because they try new things AND they deliver on seasonal favorites too.

The nettles were cursing ME like a mo-fo after they walked through my recipe and ended up in a taco.