CSA Rookie

Today I will pick up my first CSA box of the season--which is also my first CSA box, ever. The CSA farm, Arctic Organics, is located in Palmer, and is run by River and Sarah Bean.

My first encounter with River Bean was at a Sierra Club screening of the movie, The Future of Food, which was, hands down, the starter's pistol for this urgent journey. River talked about Arctic Organics, and how they'd been in the organic movement long before certification, and why they've chosen not to be certified (among other things, it would mean that their Alaska Grown produce would be stamped "certified organic by the state of Washington").

I've been waiting for it for so long, and I can't wait to see what's in the box! The drop-off location is just down the street and around the corner from my house, so it will also be an opportunity to meet some almost-neighbors.

But what if I don't like any of the veggies in the box? Especially in Alaska, early season CSA offerings can be "kind of weird," as someone told me recently. Lots of bok choy. Radishes.

And what if I can't keep up with the veggies, and the box's wasted contents only add to my "bad-homemaker, not-Martha-Stewart" guilt?

But on the other hand, maybe there will be rhubarb, and since I'm one of the small subset of Alaskans not currently overrun by rhubarb, I'd like that.