Meet CSA Member Helen
Member since 2019
I want to introduce you to Helen.
Helen grew up in England and made her way to the Midwest for college. While there she met her husband. Eventually settling in the US, they moved to Portland partially because Helen thought it sounded really nice in the Northwest! She was also in search of a job at a museum that suited her interests more.
After spending some time volunteering with the Oregon Historical Society, she is now the curator of collections. There she works with the historical objects. This can be anything from small pieces of jewelry to large wagons. Some of her favorite items include dresses designed and created by the Shogren sisters* in Portland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
CSA Pick Up Location
Portland
Type of Membership
#10 share with lamb upgrade
A Growing Understanding
Helen’s disinterest in store bought meat started her on a journey to look for a higher quality product.
“When we were in Chicago, I started getting dissatisfied with the quality of meat that was available in grocery stores and the conditions that animals were kept in. I was reading a lot around it. I read Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. ”
Helen found the books motto, “Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.” to be a philosophy to live by. She found Omnivore’s Dilemma to be eye opening and it confirmed a lot of things she was already thinking about her food. It pushed her to be more deliberate about where her food was coming from.
Searching For Options
Helen began looking online for any and all options available to her that would fit her growing understanding of food but also her lifestyle. At that time, she did not know meat CSAs existed. It seemed like the only option was buying half a cow. That was not going to work.
But then she came across a small farm and here was a meat CSA that delivered 10 lbs in a monthly share. Perfect! They signed up and loved it! Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm in Illinois became their regular meat provider and it’s where Helen says, “I got addicted to really good eggs!”
After moving to Portland, Helen started looking for a new monthly meat CSA. At the time she was not able to locate one. She again quickly became dissatisfied with the options at the store and decided to resume her search. It was at that time she came across Double F Ranch meat CSA. She joined the wait list for a short time before a membership became available.
Value Of The CSA
One of the big values of belonging to the CSA has been the variety of cuts the shares contain. Helen laments the lack of variety of meat cuts in the US compared to the UK.
“The lack of variety is just a bit startling, honestly. [There would be] two cuts of things and that’s all you can have and then the quality of it was not very good.
You could seek out higher quality, but you still don’t exactly know what conditions the animals have been raised under. I like the accountability of literally knowing who your farmers are. ”
That same variety pushes Helen in her cooking. She loves to cook and doesn’t mind spending time looking at recipes and deciding what to do with each cut.
“I enjoy having less choices. The meat turns up and then you figure out what to do with it.
I think if you just take what you want, you end up doing the same things all the time. ”
Helen mentioned that one of the ways the CSA has benefited her life is that they actually eat less meat. She saves the majority of the cuts for the weekends, and they eat primarily vegetarian during the week.
Favorite Cuts
Hands down, Helen loves the CSA pork!
“I’m just getting all these different cuts of pork that are so flavorful and you can do so many interesting things with.”
Some of her favorite pork cuts include:
Pork shoulder, gotta love leftovers!
Ham hocks
She also really enjoys the whole chickens. She told me how she cooks it the same way each time based on a recipe from one of Thomas Keller’s cookbooks.
This chicken gets super crispy, and it only really works as well with the local farm raised chicken that isn't too big. It gets super crispy and then you eat it with green salad and some bread with it. Then the rest is for leftovers, and I make stock out of the carcass.
Meal Planning
Helen finds it helpful to meal plan. Her quick and easy process includes:
At the beginning of the week, see what is on hand and decide what meals to make.
Go to the store and purchase everything needed for the meals.
Do a top up shopping trip if needed mid-week.
Helen really enjoys the ritual of spending time each evening cooking. Meal planning is an important process, while meal prepping is not always the goal. She aims to not cook dishes that take too long during the week, reserving elaborate dishes for the weekend, especially those that produce leftovers.
A Special Meal
There are many amazing meals to make with your CSA share. One particularly special meal to Helen is lamb shanks. Specifically, because it was the meal at her wedding.
I really like it if we get lamb shanks. Which I think has only happened a couple of times. It's not a particularly common cut. But that's what we had at our wedding. So, whenever we have lamb shanks, it always just makes me think of that. I cook it in a similar way, which is in red wine.
Final Thoughts
“It’s been great reading all the different stories and seeing how many different people with different experiences are all enjoying this meat CSA.
I love it and I love Katia and Nathan. I’m really happy that I found this CSA.
”
Thank you, Helen, for sharing your experience with the CSA! -Rachel