Claire and Paul have been subscribing to the Riverbend Gardens CSA since 2012! Over that time they’ve changed houses, jobs, grown their family, and still the CSA remains an integral part of the household. We caught up with Claire and her daughter while they walked for their veggie pick-up at ACME Meat Market on a gorgeous October afternoon to talk to her about why the CSA works so well for them.
Claire first heard about the CSA back in 2012, while shopping her usual list at Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market. Back then, Riverbend was early in our CSA journey. We had three pick up locations and a max of 50 subscribers.
From the start, Claire and Paul picked up their CSA at ACME. They have always been amazed at the product that ACME offers, from the quality of meat cuts to the selection of frozen meals. Located in Ritchie Market, her daughter appreciates the pick up location as well since Little Duchess is right next door. After a quick chat about boars with Corey – owner of Acme Meat Market – they stopped by the Little Duchess case to pick up the perfect birthday cake macarons to round out the trip.
For Claire, one of the main selling features of the Riverbend CSA is that it was the most economical of the local CSA options and didn’t require on-farm gardening hours. The affordability of the Riverbend CSA has remained a major factor in continuing as CSA subscribers for more than a decade. They love that the CSA has only increased in price twice during the course of the past thirteen years and that it doesn’t follow the inflation impacting grocery store pricing, but rather the cost directly reflects the farm’s own input and growing costs.
They enjoy the way the CSA is consistent in value across the season: knowing they’re getting the same dollar value each week rather than seeing much smaller bounties to start out and very large ones to contend with during the peak season.
Another reason they continue to subscribe every year is convenience and dietary habits. Claire explained that most of the veggies in the CSA are ones that are usually ones they would purchase from the grocery store anyway but having them regularly show up in their house each week increases the amount of veggies they consume without having to put more thought or effort into it.
"If we’re buying the food anyway, why not buy the freshest, most local vegetables we can buy? It’s easy to know your veggies are coming every week and then your shopping is decided for you. It’s done."
As far as the veggies go, everyone in the household has their favourite. When first asked about her favourites, Claire’s daughter said that veggies weren’t her thing, but upon reflection, she said that little fries made out of Riverbend potatoes were a win for her and that broccoli wasn’t so bad either.
Claire said yellow-fleshed potatoes and kohlrabi top her list, but that she’s also really loved trying her had at pickling short season crops like field cucumbers and beans to make the flavours of the summer last long into the winter months.
