Two months ago I we opted for the long term commitment, and purchased a full year of veggies from Johnson’s Backyard Garden.
So how has it been going? (this is 3 months of veggies now).
Overall pretty decent. There are positives, there are negatives.
On the negative side, you get what you get. For instance, right now there is arugula… and none of us like it. But we get it, we paid for it, and so… we give it away. 🙂 If we had a choice, I’d love more beets or summer squash (in terms of what’s coming in the box right now), but alas… we only get so much of those.
Another negative is quantity. We get a crapload of peppers; in fact, we’ve got a lot from weeks past still sitting in the fridge. Yes, I’ve tried my hand at pickling peppers, but even then we’re all not huge fans. If there were more straight-up bell peppers and the like sure… but all the jalapeno and serrano and such doesn’t go over well with everyone in the household. But still, we’re overflowing with peppers. On the other hand, we’d love more squashes, be it winter or summer, but we only get so many. Plus, many times they are small, so putting all the squahes and eggplants and everything together makes enough for one side for one meal for our family of 5. Yeah, maybe I should get a second box.
One thing we didn’t count on was the routine. That is, we must pick up veggies every week. It’s not always convenient and sometimes becomes a friendly “I don’t want to do it, you do it… let’s get Mikey!” sort of thing between Wife and myself. 🙂 And then yes, you better consume those veggies because there’s nothing preserving them. Those sweet potato greens must be consumed immediately or they go kaput (but they are soooo yummy).
But that’s really the big positive: everything is so delicious. There are varieties you don’t get in the big stores, like these purple skin but white flesh peppers (not sure what the variety is, but the flavor is pleasant). The flavors are so much better, the quality is overall so much better.
You can only have so much idea what will be in the box. Sure, we can guess what will generally be in the box but we’ve been at it long enough to watch things fade in and out. It’s sad when something goes out of season (those sunburst squash are awesome), but exciting when something new comes around (like okra). It’s also really neat to try things we’ve never had before, like the sweet potato greens. It forces you out of your box, out of any sort of rut you might be in. It’s not just a parade of corn, peas, green beans, broccoli, and the usual typical veggies that we eat. I really like that. Every week I pull up the farm’s website to see what’s coming in this week’s box, and there’s always an excitement with it. Long-term, I really look forward to seeing what’s going to be coming in the box as the seasons change… what will there be in November/December? Then what will there be come April? There’s a fun excitement involved.
I’m still pleased with what we’re doing. We’re eating more fresh veggies. The only reason we’re buying any veggies at the store, be it fresh or frozen, tends to be because we need it for something like making the stew we feed Sasha (dog).
The one hard thing is trying to determine if we should do something different, like getting a second box. I still don’t know if we should. I guess it’ll just take more time before we know. Go through more boxes, more cycles, more seasons.
Nevertheless, I heartily endorse this approach. It supports local farmers. It provides you with better selection, better quality, seasonal food. No, it’s not perfect, but what is? Overall I’m happy.
