Last week I did something I’ve always wanted to do. I visited my CSA farm. This has been on my summer bucket list for a few years.
We have had farm shares from farms where the food was grown in the past so it was easy to see where the food was coming from, but our current farm share comes from a farm an hour and a half west of us and is delivered to a nearby drop off point each week. The farm often sends out invitations for shareholder days with music, picnics, help weeding and whatnot. They also invite shareholders to visit and help themselves (within a set limit) to a selection of pick-your-own choices depending on what is ripe. I’ve always wanted to check out the farm and I’m even more tempted when our favorites show up on the pick-your-own list. But no one else in my house is ever interested and we’ve never gone. I have two kids who are great on car rides, but have a tendency towards car sickness, and we’ve just never had a whole summer day (or spring or fall) that we want to spend in the car.
Until last week, when I did have a day. Sort of. I woke up on the first day of no spring sports and wanted to go and blew off a few things I probably should have been doing. My easily nauseous kids were already planning to go early morning fishing with my husband. My tween daughter agreed it would be an okay adventure for us to take the drive, especially because strawberries were ripe and included in the pick-your-own and she is a strawberry fan, and even more especially because her BFF was awake and interested in the last minute trip and they had some matchmaking game they had been playing and wanted to continue.
The ride was nice. The weather and picking excellent. We ran into two people – much easier than the crowds at our local pick your own strawberries, not to mention the strawberries were organic and included in our farm share so seemed “free.” My companions were happy and amiable (I did listen to an audiobook with headphones on the drive while they did whatever they do in the backseat).
Most importantly, I took the time for myself and knocked that adventure off my personal bucket list and now I can say I know where our food comes from.
As a bonus, my middle came down with a case of the end of school transitions and took a mental health day from school and helped me make and can jam the next day (Happy Father’s Day, Papa!)
Have you visited your CSA farm or gone strawberry picking yet this year?
