I've been interested in joining a CSA or produce delivery service for a while, but I hesitated because many of them require you to sign up for a whole season. What's nice about Farm Fresh to You is that you can join or cancel whenever you want. You can also easily change your delivery frequency, box size and produce type on their website. And you can let them know if there are certain fruits or vegetables you're not interested in getting, so you don't get a delivery of something you won't eat. The user-friendliness is really great, and the produce is fresh and flavorful.
The photo above shows our second delivery. That's the "regular mixed" box, which we're currently getting every-other week. It had a good mix of seasonal fruit, including oranges, apples and grapes, and Fall vegetables and greens. I like how this kind of service helps me plan meals around seasonal produce. It gives me a starting point, and then I search for recipes that use what I've got and sound tasty. I've never cooked with pumpkin before, and I'm not sure I would have if one hadn't shown up in our box.
Another thing I like about Farm Fresh to You is that they tell you exactly where each item in your box is grown. Most of the produce comes from California, with a couple of items from further up the West Coast (apples, pears). The company's first farm was in the Capay Valley, near San Francisco, but they now have farms closer it Los Angeles in Riverside County and near San Diego. That means the produce is all relatively local--perhaps not as close as farmers market veggies, but much closer than most supermarket produce.
The combination of convenience and variety is really working for us so far. I'm looking forward to receiving our next box this Wednesday.
That's so cool. I've thought about joining one of those myself.
What farm in Capay Valley?
Here's a link with info about that first farm in the Capay Valley:
http://www.farmfreshtoyou.com/index2.php?cmd=aboutourfarm
It's called Capay Fruits and Vegetables, and started in the 1970s by the owners' parents. Nice story, really.
Cool, I lived pretty close to that place as a wee lad.