**SBS**

Re: **SBS**

• SBS0628

  December 2010

  Hi!

  Yup, it was me. We used Garden of Eden Organics (www.goeorganics.com). Our subscription actually ran out mid-November and we didn't renew yet. 

  Here are some reasons why we didn't renew: We found that the "small family box" was a bit big for us and with me finishing school + DH in school and working over 70 hours a week, we just weren't cooking everything fast enough and ended up wasting a bit of food.  Plus, they gave us a LOT of fruit, which doesn't seem like a bad thing, but DH and I both really hate oranges and we got lots of them. We ended up with a giant stockpile of apples and oranges, which again lead to waste.

  HOWEVER! We are hopefully going to sign up with GOE again in the new year. We think we may go for their smallest box (the "individual") or split the small family box with my mom who volunteered to pay for part of it and just take the stuff we don't like (she's not picky, DH really is!). I really loved GOE and their selection -- and their staff! Very helpful, kind people.

  You can find them on Facebook in addition to their website. And, here are some of my blog posts where I posted pictures of the food we got each week:

  http://littlelionslife.blogspot.com/2010/09/adventures-with-csa.html

  http://littlelionslife.blogspot.com/2010/10/csa-update.html

  Oh, and one more thing -- we did look into Be Wise Organics, but then we found out GOE uses them for some of their produce anyway, so by going with GOE, we got Be Wise products + products from other local farms/groups as well. And I loved the fact that GOE donates any un-picked-up boxes to a local Women's Shelter each week.

  Let me know if you have more questions! Typing this has made me really want to nudge DH to sign us up again...

  

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• joyfulgirl1

  December 2010

  Thank you so much! That is really helpful. I am going to discuss it with DH today, but I am not sure if it is a fit for us. We are in downtown La Mesa and there is a great farmers market here every friday. I always go (we are trying to give DD fresh, organic food rather than processed), but I find myself buying the same produce every time. I thought a CSA might help expand my menu, but I think ultimately I spend less at the farmers market than if I did a CSA. That being said, where did you find the recipes for the dishes you made? Maybe if I researched more recipes, I would be more inclined to pick up produce I might not have bought previously? I just want to expose DD to different tastes and textures, while doing the same for myself and DH. Sorry, I rambled a bit. TIA!
  

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• SBS0628

  December 2010

  The expansive menu/food rut is exactly WHY we did the CSA.

  Unlike the Farmer's Market (which we go to on occassion) where you can pick and choose whatever you'd like, the CSA stocks your box for you, which means you have no choice but to get inventive with your cooking! We had purple beans (like green beans, only purple) multi-colored carrots, new squashes I'd never prepped before, and lots of interesting fruits.

  I would just come home and Google "[insert new veggie here] recipes" and see what I came up with. It really did force me to be a more inventive cook and forced my DH to quit being so picky -- he wouldn't ever buy squash at the Farmer's Market, but he ate it every time I prepared it when it came from the CSA box.

  

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• keb270

  December 2010

  I'm going to bud in here, but we do a CSA too and LOVE it. If you want to find out which ones are close to use, you can use http://www.localharvest.org/ to find details about them in your area.

  Also, as SBS said, we learned how to cook a lot of new foods. There are some great local and seasonal cooks out that that have helped us a lot.

  HTH

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