Wellness in The Woodlands: Country Market Woodlands /Spring CSA Review
Welcome to my new blog series, Wellness in The Woodlands. I’m going to let you know where to source healthy food, review healthy eateries in the area, where to exercise, relax, recover and hike in and around the area.
My first review is of the Country Market CSA, specifically, The Woodlands/Spring Drop.
What is a CSA?
CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, which allows delivery of fresh, high quality, locally-grown, and in this case, organic produce, from regional farms to city dwellers. By taking part in a CSA, you are supporting local farmers while cutting out the middleman. This means that you can use your dollar to support local organic farming, and in the process, save dollars that would go to the supermarkets!
Country Market CSA
Produce for the Country Market CSA comes from 2 organic farms in Rockingdale, Texas. A smaller farm managed by Kenneth Erwin and Amanda Briner, and a 3rd generation family farm of almost 500 acres.
There are multiple pick-up locations for the Country Market CSA around Houston – The Woodlands and Spring (my local), a second Spring location, Conroe, Cypress, and Katy. You can find links to all of these groups below.
Occasionally a non-organic or non-local food is offered in the weekly box. The farmers stipulate this well in the weekly offerings. If this is something you choose to avoid, you can customize your box to leave it out.
The Woodlands/Spring drop off for Country Market CSA
The Spring/Woodlands group is run by a local holistic dentist, Teresa Scott. The produce is delivered to 2 locations. You can choose to regularly pick up your box from either her office in Spring (Wednesday afternoons, until 5pm) or from a home address in The Woodlands (Wednesday afternoons and evenings, until 10pm).
The weekly boxes are $35 each. You also have the option to customize your box and add extras. Every week the farmer lists a bunch of ‘extras’, which could be fruit or veg that she has in limited supply, local raw honey, free range eggs and seasonal items, like Jack-O-Lanterns.
To be part of this group, you can join the facebook group here. From there you text the organizer, pay 2 weeks in advance and decide where your pick up point will be. Joining as a member is a commitment – you agree to order a box weekly. However you have the option to negotiate weeks off for vacation with the organizer.
If you don’t think you would go through a box every week there is an option to find a split partner in the group. You get a box every other week, they get the box the althernate week.
My review
I’ve been a member of this CSA for a couple of months now. I love the weekly produce! The standard weekly box always contains a good variety of fruit and veg, from leafy greens to tomatoes/peppers to root veg to mushrooms. And there is always a rainbow of color in the box, as you can see in my pic above!
Being part of this CSA has lead to me discovering new veg I have never eaten before. I never knew there were so many different varieties of squash! And I had never seen a real tomatillo, nor knew what to do with it. After a Google search, I was set up for making a quick and easy tomatillo salsa.
My picture above are the fruit and veg I received in last week’s box, un-customized and without extras. I think this volume of organic fruit, veg and herbs are a bargain, at $35.
CSA pickup day is a highlight of my week. I love unpacking my box into the fridge and backwards meal planning. Starting with the produce, then finding the recipes. It’s a great way to get out of a rut in food shopping and try new things!
Links for the Country Market CSA drop off locations around Houston
The other Spring drop off (I-45 and Cypreswood)