Sun Gold Farms

So I have farmgirl aspirations. I love barns. Chickens excite me. Compost? So amazing. Alpacas? Nifty beasts.
When I was single living in Eugene I had an enormous vegetable garden and lived out there spring till fall. It was my obsession, my haven. I blame my years living in the desert for this fascination with green, growing, blooming stuff. I lived for trips to nurseries, crop rotation, my fresh herbs, collecting salad fixings five minutes before a great meal. Social worker grind by day, earth mother the rest of the time. Bliss. I always had dirt under my nails, tomatoes to share, and I slept really really well.
Things changed though when I moved to Portland and got a man, then a kid, then had aging parents to take care of in addition to my day job. I could barely get to the store much less a farm stand or the farmer’s market.
Enter the CSA. What a great idea. Support local farms, share the risk, reap some of the harvest. My first attempt didn’t go so well (long story about a crazy lady, slugs, and the Sheriff) and expensive. 10 weeks for $ 780. Ouchie. My kid got to meet the llamas and chickens though. That was sweet.
This time we tried Sun Gold Farms. It is way more reasonable, 18 weeks for a full share, less than $ 500 and the produce is outstanding. I pick ours up every Wednesday evening in my neighborhood. I love the recipes and stories on their website, the people are great, they have honey shares too if you are interested, We have had some awesome dinners and my kid has tried new veggies. (Ex: fresh chickpeas on a chunk of the bush!)
They have an open house (we unfortunately were out of town) every summer for their csa members which is cool, too. I think this farm really does everything well. Its not certified organic but its spray free and focuses on sustainable green practices.
I can’t think of anything more to tell you. I’m including a photo of this week’s share. (there are three of us at home plus my brother in law eats here a lot, so we have a fulll share) Oh, it runs summer into fall. You missed it this year.
I’m going to go eat some homemade apple pear crisp now (fruit from my csa basket).
I’m a lucky farm girl. Ish.