Cream of the Crop CSA

I’m on my 4^th year with this CSA (fka Chubby Bunny) and its just awesome. Not only are there the mountains of fresh produce, but there’s a wide array of «optional shares» to which you can choose to subscribe, such as milk, cheeses, pork, beef, pasta, eggs, mushrooms, yogurt, chicken breasts, etc. And, throughout the season, even if you didn’t «subscribe» to these optional shares for the duration of the CSA, you can buy a week’s share. So its like having a little farmer’s market. In years past there were several other optional shares like fish and ice cream. Each year it seems to be different. Hoping the fish comes back!
I always go through a little CSA-​withdrawl in November when I don’t know what to cook anymore! Its sort of nice having menus dictated but what was just picked that week.

It’s summer so CSA has started again! This is my second year and I am so pleased it’s back.
Veggie variety has been good. Lots of herbs and leafy greens right now. My cart got heavier as the season progressed last year. I look forward to the staples like onions, tomatoes, peppers etc.
I really love the convenience of having my fridge filled, with great produce each week, without a thought. I was attracted to Cream of the Crop by the number of optional shares available. As well as my veggie and fruit shares, I have a chicken, beef and cheese share. Other choices include pork, lamb, mushrooms, pasta and ravioli shares.
Cream of the Crop gives me access to local, organic, additive-​free food. I’m still astonished I now live in the biggest metropolis in the world and have such easy, consistent access to fresh and natural foods. Life is good.

This CSA is coming to a close for the year. It enjoyed the experience, but I won’t be signing up again.
The produce just wan’t that great. It’s from Hepworth Farms in NY, which is organic. For whatever reason, the tomatoes were almost always rotten, and other produce went bad much faster than what their counterparts at Whole Foods. In fact, I saw tomatoes on sale at Whole Foods from the same exact farm, and they looked much better. Does Hepworth give the CSA the bottom of the barrel?
The shares had very little variation. I frequently found myself at the supermarket buying different vegetables. Also, half shares were not truly half shares — almost every week the full share got veggies not included in the half share. Very frustrating.
I cannot stress this enough, there were so many obnoxious emails! In addition to the always-​late weekly update, expect non-​stop emails harassing you to volunteer. If more volunteers are needed, they should require more than the 2 or 3 days stated, instead of pathetically begging everyone all the time.