So what, you might wonder, would possess a person to write a $600 check for something as mundane as turnips and broccoli?

In a word, freshness.

Five years in, Cameron Place CSA is successfully providing fresh vegetables and fruits to local families and restaurants. The CSA  stands for Community Supported Agriculture. For an annual subscription, local homes and businesses get a weekly allotment of fresh, just-picked produce. The subscribers take on some of the risk of lost crops or reward of bumper crops, and the farm gets a guaranteed revenue stream.

In my previous experience with Cameron Place, lack of product has not been an issue. The biggest problem I have had is trying to get all of that fresh produce eaten before the next pick-up day arrives.


Although they offer several pick-up locations, this year I opted for going directly to the farm for my weekly allotment. I wanted to get a little closer to the source and have the option of picking fresh herbs from the garden. The first two weeks found us picking strawberries in the field. If that's not your thing, then you may not realize you never have had a really good strawberry. Berries that can withstand trucking, distribution and a week in your fridge simply were not picked for flavor.

So this week my produce bins are stuffed with sweet cherries, fresh cabbage, broccoli, baby gold turnips, bok choy, patty pan squash, zucchini, arugula and garlic scapes. 

What are garlic scapes? They are the fresh green shoots that are thinned from the garlic bed. They have a bracing fresh-garlic bite and are great chopped into stir fries or salad dressing.

I'm packing the camper today for a three-day trip to Ridgway, and we'll be eating cabbage and broccoli slaw and arugula salad with grilled mango chipotle sausages, buttered turnips with grilled chicken, and sauteed squash with apricot-glazed spare ribs.

All that produce will make us feel a little better about our nightly s'mores.