I love my CSA farm share, but 15 to 17 pounds of vegetables (including lots of light-weight lettuce and herbs) is a wad to eat in one week. The up side of buying a “share” of a local farm’s harvest is that you’re getting ultra-fresh, organic produce at a fraction of what you’d spend at Whole Foods. You can also feel good about providing “insurance” for local farmers that they’ll be able to sell their crop and make ends meet.

But you also quickly find out that if your farm is productive, you’d better be prepared to stay at home and eat a lot of veggies! (I’m estimating 90 pounds over the six-week “mini” season. Click here for a blog on the basics of how a CSA farm share works. Click here for a blog about exactly what’s been in my boxes.)

If you don’t want to waste a lot of exceptionally fine produce, you’ll probably need to cook in some new ways. In the month since my $27-per-weekly share started, here’s what I’ve made that I never would have cooked otherwise:

• 8 batches of pesto -- 4 kinds (freezer is full!)
• 3 batches Swedish pickled cucumbers (my kids eat ’em like candy)
• 2 batches roasted tomatoes (also frozen)
• 2 batches roasted beets
• 2 skillets of sautéed rainbow chard
• 3 batches fresh tomato sauce (yep, now frozen)
• 1 batch Pepperonata (recipe from Desperation Dinners cookbook)
• 1 batch roasted eggplant (and more to do!)
• 1 tomato-bacon pie (also from Desperation Dinners)
• 1 batch chilled cucumber soup (recipe improvised on the spot)
• 1 pint mint-infused simple syrup (for ice cream and mojitos)
• 2 bunches air-dried herbs (thyme and tarragon)

Here’s what’s still in my refrigerator: 2 eggplants, 2 squashes, 1 Vidalia onion, 1 bag bell peppers, 1 bag each rosemary, thyme and mint.

All of this cooking (food preservation, really) is quite time-consuming. One option is to “share” a Farm Share with another family or “gift” your neighbors some of the extra bounty. A neighbor and I split a weekly vegetable box back when I lived in Minneapolis, but that farm season didn’t prove to be so productive and it wasn’t quite enough. So it’s a gamble either way. I really like Alicia’s Farm Share system, where she visits the farm and chooses her own box each week. (Stay tuned for Alicia’s CSA blog.)

All in all, the taste of a real, heirloom tomato on a BLT is more than worth the effort it’s taken to make the best use of my glut of organic veggies. I wouldn’t trade this experience but come next growing season, I’m going to investigate some different options. With family travel and social obligations, I just don’t think we can eat this many veggies for 12 weeks. It seems incredibly weird to be shying away from something because it’s too good of a deal!

If you’d like to know how I made the pesto, tomato sauce and simple syrup, stay tuned for upcoming posts.