CSA Community

Meet The Member: Kelly

Meet CSA Member Kelly

Member since 2021

I want to introduce you to Kelly! Kelly works at a tech company and her spouse works at a local university. They moved to Portland 20 years ago and love that the city is full of like-minded people. A big draw for them to the area was that the community supports local food, local farming, and the environment.

The family enjoys cooking and their new puppy!

CSA Pick-Up Location

Portland


Type of Share

10#


Word Of Mouth

Kelly first heard about the CSA from her coworker and long-term member, Heather. Kelly was familiar with the CSA experience from participating in veggie CSAs. She felt that the CSA model is a great tool for accessing local food.

“I like the creativity of having an item and figuring out how to cook it.

I think without that, I would eat the same things over and over again.”

Kelly put herself on the waitlist and stayed on it until a spot opened up and she could join.

Increasing Support Of Local Agriculture

Kelly shared that there wasn’t one aha moment that connected her to supporting local food. Over time she started becoming more aware of factory farming and she didn’t want to contribute to it. She wanted to support an ethical system for raising meat.

Supporting environmental causes has also been very important to her and is critically important to the decision to support local food.

I have kids, so I'm concerned about the future. I'm really concerned about the impacts of climate change. It’s not enough for me to just be worried, but I also need to really think about how I can change my lifestyle.

One of the ways Kelly is trying to lower her climate impact is to consider how far the food has traveled to get to the store before purchasing it. Her family continues to make decisions based on these environmental priorities and looks for new ways to be more conscious and make changes in their lives.

CSA Experience

So far Kelly’s CSA experience has been amazing. She loves that the meat is high quality and tastes great!

Other aspects of the CSA that she has enjoyed include:

  • The food is healthy food for the kids and is nourishing their bodies.

  • Having meat in the freezer means that you always know what you have to work with for dinner. Kelly loves the go-to cuts like the ground meats and the new to her cuts that provide a little bit of a challenge.

  • Recipe support from the CSA like “Unboxing” blog posts and “I Ate It And It Was Great” emails help her meal plan with a busy schedule. Seeing tried and true recipe suggestions cuts the time down on having to scour online for ideas.

“I like having a smaller structure and smaller community of places with good ideas. I have eaten some great things and gotten some really good ideas.

I feel sometimes things are on such a large scale and I want things that can be simpler and on a small community scale. Things that make life a lot easier. I appreciate anything that simplifies my life.
”

Weekly Meal Planning

Kelly is an established weekly meal planner. She gets the meat at pick up once a month and then gets a bi-weekly veggie CSA. She looks at what they have in the fridge and pantry on the weekends and then picks any needed items up at the store.

Her motto is to use what they have first though. A big source of pride is having an empty fridge. It means that nothing is going to waste. She loves seeing what they can make with items on hand.

Mealtime Inspiration

Outside of CSA recipe supports, Kelly looks to a few established cooking blogs and some favorite cookbooks for mealtime inspiration.

Some of her go-to sites are:

Some of her go-to cookbooks include:

Kelly loves the Chicken Curry Bake from Hussain’s cookbook. Her family eats it regularly!

Outstanding Cuts And Meals

Other great meals that the family has enjoyed include using the stir-fry beef strips to make beef and broccoli.

Kelly loves getting the whole chickens, cooking them, and making a lot of different dishes with the meat. The family also loves getting steak in their share!

Final Thoughts

“I think that Katia is always so nice and friendly at pick up, all the time. Everybody is that I chat with.

It’s just lovely. I love being a part of this. I’m really glad I did it.”

Thank you, Kelly, for sharing your experience with us! -Rachel



Meet The Member: Jen

Meet CSA Member Jen

Member since 2023

I want to introduce you to Jen. She has lived most of her life in Oregon, having grown up on the coast. She has two kids and is a massage therapist. Prior to moving to Portland, for over a decade she raised cattle, poultry, and pigs on a 60-acre farm in the valley.

She loves spending time in nature. She shared that even though she has traveled extensively to other countries, she still finds the Pacific Northwest to be one of the most beautiful places she has ever been.

CSA Pick-Up Location

Portland

Type of Share

10#

Up Close And Personal With Local Agriculture

Jen grew up with a family that cooked from scratch and owned a cooking store. They even had a mill that Bob from Bob’s Red Mill helped them set up. She shared she always had a local attitude towards food. After college she started familiarizing herself with purchasing local and organic food. She joined a vegetable CSA.

After living out of state for a few years she made her way back to Oregon. At the time the plan was to raise her kids on a small acreage. They found a unique property that was in farm deferral, a special land designation. This led to Jen raising cattle. She had a small herd of no more than 30. She would then sell shares of beef and yearlings. She admits it was a lot of hard work and it was a big learning curve, but she really enjoyed it. Over time she started also raising chickens and pigs.

CSA Origin Story

Raising animals for meat on her own farm gave Jen a unique perspective when life changed directions.

It was a challenge finding meat that met her standards In Portland. She had tried another meat CSA, but it wasn’t a good fit.

“When we had our own farm, I didn’t want to eat anything that we didn’t raise.

For a period of time, I felt that we really shouldn’t be eating the amount of meat that most Americans consume.

I would rather spend more for meat that is from an animal that has had a kinder life, and that’s more ethically and humanely raised. Then just eat less of it per serving.
”
— Jen

Jen later found out about the Double F Ranch CSA by word of mouth. While dining at the home of a friend who is a chef, another guest who owns a restaurant in town was talking about their CSA. Curious, she asked about it and Jen got excited. She showed up at pick up to purchase some of the extras provided and loved it! She quickly signed up for a membership.

Seamless Transition To The CSA

With her experience raising animals, Jen didn’t find joining the CSA as intimidating. Quite the opposite, she was used to trying new things and felt confident in her cooking skills. She even prefers to get the whole chicken and cut it up herself.

When raising your own meat,

...there was no I don't know what to do with this. When you move away from just getting chicken breasts you just have to figure it out.

Top Qualities Of Belonging To The CSA

Jen identified her CSA top favorite qualities as:

  • Having access to more variety of meats than are available for purchase at the store. She loves trying new things and getting the variety forces her to try new methods of cooking.

  • She loves being able to get meat from one specific farm.

  • High quality meat

Mealtime Inspiration

Over the years her inspiration has come from many sources including:

  • Saveur, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, and New York Times Cooking.

  • Friends that are chefs who share their food on Instagram.

  • Sharing recipes with friends who also really love food.

She also has lots of cookbooks that she turns to for inspiration, but some are also for entertainment value, like her Campbell Soup Cookbook. Others though, like Victory Garden, the 1956 edition Betty Crocker cookbook and 1967 edition of Joy of Cooking are staples.

Jen shared that this past holiday season the plan was to do a white elephant gift exchange where everyone would look through the old cookbooks and find the grossest recipe to determine who goes first. Think mayonnaise popsicle! There is more than one way to use up those odd ball cookbooks.

Outstanding Cuts & Meals

The steaks are one of the outstanding cuts that Jen really loves.

  • She uses the leftover meat by thinly slicing it and making a cold Vietnamese salad with herbs, rice noodles, roasted veggies, and fish sauce.

She was excited to get a brisket and make corned beef this year for St. Patrick’s day. For New Year’s, she used a ham hock to make a soup with black-eyed peas, tomatoes, and collard greens.

Some of her go-to meals right now are mezze style. She shared her quick and easy mix:

  • In a food processor, pulse ground beef, shallots, mint, cilantro, sumac, and garlic. Flatten the meat and roast it.

Final Thoughts

Jen shared these final comments about her CSA experience so far;

I enjoy having it and I'm grateful for the fact that I have a deep freeze. I don't get through it all in one month, but I stage it and go through the most recent and it just keeps a lot longer. It is nice to have it on hand and not have to go to the store for it.

I prefer that it’s from one animal, from one butcher and not commingled. I just really like knowing that it's raised with good care from a small farm.




Thank you, Jen, for sharing your experience with us! -Rachel

Meet The Member: Katrina

Meet CSA Member Katrina

Member Since 2022

I want to introduce you to Katrina! She is the founder and former executive director of High Desert Food & Farm Alliance or HDFFA. Katrina grew up on a farm in Eastern Oregon. From an early age she had respect and admiration for farmers. Her professional career developed into a committed dedication to improving the food system in Central Oregon.

Her work at HDFFA built a network to help support local farmers and ranchers to grow food and make connections to sell it with a focus on food access for low-income households.

Although she no longer works at HDFFA, the positive impact of her work in Central Oregon is well-known and lauded. She now runs her own consulting business and is working again with rural communities through grant writing to support many different people and causes.

CSA Pick-Up Location

Bend

Type Of Share

10#

Connection To Double F Ranch

When Double F Ranch joined HDFFA as a partner farm, Katrina got to know Katia more as she participated in many of the programs they offered and got to know her in a different way outside of farming.

Katrina was impressed with Katia and the work she was doing with their programs. She was amazed at how she was living in the middle of nowhere with her family and was growing her business, producing great products, and incorporating successful marketing strategies.

Katrina fell in love with everything Katia was doing. Katrina has tried a lot of products from local farmers, all with the desire to support as many people as possible. But having such an up close and personal look at the Double F Ranch CSA really persuaded her to become a member.

“I think what keeps me going back is the quality.

The quality of her product is really good, but also she knows everybody and you feel like part of the family...the farm family.”
— Katrina

Lifelong Local Food Support

Katrina was immersed in farm life growing up on a cherry farm. She did every chore imaginable and sold cherries on the side of the road. Her lifelong support of local food and connections to it stems from childhood.

One of the main things that stands out to her was watching as seasonal workers came to the farm every year. As she grew older and she learned more about the ins and outs of farming, she learned what it meant to have seasonal workers and provide shelter on the farm.

She learned about this paradoxical invisible labor force that it is an integral part of our food system, that no one really talks about. In college, she studied environmental science and community and economic development. But it was those foundational experiences that were propelling her to understand more about the injustices in our food system. Katrina wanted to work to improve it.

As she looked to educate people it led her to start HDFFA. She believed that for these efforts to be successful there needed to be people in the community who understood farming and could articulate these complex issues and solutions.

I felt that it was my calling to really help have this discussion with our community.

What I Enjoy Most About The CSA

I really value exploring different cuts. I'm pretty familiar with most cuts but it allows me to choose things that I'm not used to and one at a time, so it doesn't feel overwhelming.

I enjoy the inspiration of what other people are cooking. It is a huge help that then allows me to explore more.

I just love getting the whole chickens. Because one, I love roasted chicken, but I also enjoy seeing the different sizes and just knowing these chickens were loved and they're not the same looking. I appreciate that because in the store it all looks the same. 

Our culture is such that [food] has to be perfect and I think I like that it is not.

Memorable Moments

Katrina shared that at Thanksgiving she chose a pork shoulder for her My Choice selection. She was really excited and took it to her father’s for the holiday. During each step of preparing and cooking the pork shoulder, her family was amazed at what a beautiful cut it was.

Then, they all enjoyed it and everyone was amazed at how delicious it was.

“I know who created this. I picked it out.

There is some ownership in that and that’s what I like about cooking food in my kitchen with their animals.

I feel a part of it. It’s really lovely. ”
— Katrina

Katrina values being a part of a bigger system and sharing that with others. Several years ago, Katrina was making dinner with her nephew who lives in a large urban area. As they prepared the chicken she asked him, “Do you know where chickens come from?” He replied, “ The store.” She countered, “But where do they really come from?”

It began a deeper conversation behind the meat found in the store and the bigger questions like, were the animals happy? At the time it was a concept they had not ever thought about. A few weeks later her nephew called to share that at school he was telling another kid about where chickens came from, and the kid didn’t believe him! He persisted in explaining and Katrina shared in a proud auntie moment.

Looking Forward

Katrina loves getting the monthly emails from Katia. She feels the inspiration in them. She looks forward to CSA pick-ups and connecting in person with Katia and Nathan.

Most importantly she looks forward to continuing to support a family and knowing where her food comes from.

I sat down for dinner and told the story about where the roast came from. I shared about where Katia and Nathan live and how their family is making it out there in the middle of nowhere, and how important that is. I look forward to being a part of that.

Advice For New & Established Members

Katrina shared some advice for anyone just starting to explore local food or new to joining a CSA:

Be open to trying new things and just take it one step at the time.  Even if it's just making dishes that people are familiar with and then maybe adding a different spice or trying a different cut with the same recipe. 

When sharing the importance of supporting local agriculture with others, Katrina is patient, kind, and tries an immersive approach with others.

For example, with my mom she always bought store meat. I said, how can you buy it when you know who I am? She said the cost and ease was a big factor. So, I was like just come over for dinner and try this. She recognized it was really good and now she is really aware, but it took years and is not something that may come naturally, and it may take time.

Final Thoughts

“I think that anyone that’s buying meat from Katia and her family is lucky. They are amazing.

I think in Central Oregon we are lucky to have all sorts of foods that we can eat that are local and we know where they come from, and that’s a kind of a blessing.”
— Katrina


Thank you so much, Katrina, for sharing your CSA experience with us! -Rachel


Meet The Member: Katie & Sean

Meet CSA Members Katie & Sean

Members since 2022

I want to introduce you to Sean, Katie, and their son. Sean is a software developer and Katie works for the Deschutes Land Trust.

They are passionate about slow food and home cooking. They enjoy food projects like homebrewing, making jam or their own sausages. They embody the CSA philosophies of commitment to local food and sharing about that food whether in conversation or through food with friends.

CSA Pick-Up Location

Bend

Type Of Membership

10# Share

Why Double F Ranch Meat CSA

Sean and Katie first heard about the CSA through their friends, CSA members Kyle and Katie. They had been talking about this Meat CSA that they loved and so Katie wrote it down to look up.

As she began to learn more about the CSA she realized it would be a perfect fit for their family. They have been involved with vegetable CSAs for 15 years and felt like the Meat CSA fit in with the same food goals they were working towards.

“I loved that it wasn’t just beef, because we don’t cook only one thing. Having that flexibility is really nice and the quality has been amazing.”
— Katie

Living in Bend gave them more up and close agricultural exposure.

“When we moved to Bend you are closer to a lot of the ranching, so the concept of local food starts to make more sense.

You start thinking more about how to find a way of getting a local source of meat versus when you are in Portland and going to the grocery store. ”
— Katie

Early Local Food Experiences

Sean grew up on a small farm and Katie’s family was immersed in the slow food movement.

Katie’s family runs a mail order seed company and as she grew up agriculture was everywhere. Her mother was a great home cook, loved to forage, and was deeply connected to the slow food movement in Corvallis. Sean also had family involved in a slow food group.

Each of their early experiences gave them experience with a variety of food and helped start a connection to local food.

Favorite CSA Qualities

Sean and Katie value knowing the story behind their food.

“There is a certain quality behind the CSA. It is different than going to the store and having the impersonality of a freezer case. You don’t know the story. ”
— Sean

Knowing the story creates an opportunity to share in conversation with others about local food, which is how they learned about the CSA in the first place. They love continuing to spread the word about Double F Ranch’s meat.

Katie and Sean shared how much they enjoy the variety of meat they get from the CSA. They felt like before they were more likely to stick with cuts they were familiar with but now enjoy learning about and getting better at cooking the variety that comes each month.

Mealtime Changes Since Joining

Katie and Sean have found as they have expanded their own cooking skills and meals, it has also had a positive impact on their son. He has become a more adventurous eater and has been trying all the new foods, spices, and flavors.

With a busy family life competing for time, they have found that meal planning has become essential since joining the CSA. Knowing what meat is available in the freezer helps a lot.


Favorite Cuts And Meals

They love the skirt steak, sausages, and any other cut that helps them make quick and easy meals.

Katie shared that they have had so many great meals since joining the CSA it is hard to remember them all.

One great meal that stands out to them is the time they made a pork tenderloin. Katie shared that it was marinated in honey, red wine vinegar, orange juice, thyme, rosemary, and olive oil. It was cooked to perfection, and it was a stellar meal.

The CSA eggs have also been super helpful for feeding their son’s crepe obsession. They have explored lots of different recipes.

Key Mealtime Inspiration

Both love utilizing the Serious Eats website for meal inspiration. Sean loves that it has a lot of science-based cooking guides that he finds helpful. The detailed instructions provided help get the desired cooking results such as tenderness or rareness.

But their all-time favorite mealtime tool is cookbooks. They find that many recipes online are not always tested thoroughly. Not only do the cookbooks provide tried and tested recipes they also are great for perusing and gaining inspiration.

Cookbooks are a family affair. Katie shared that she comes from a family that always had many cookbooks to consult. Cookbooks line her shelves, and her parents’ shelves, and she has inherited many cookbooks throughout the years from family members. You can even find her checking them out at the local library.

I think the nice thing about cookbooks is seeing and reading through recipes, even if they don’t have pictures. We could take a little bit from one recipe and do something with another and it kind of becomes a little inspiring.

Currently, they have been moving through several Greek cookbooks. They also enjoy restaurant-based cooking books.

Some of their current favorite cookbooks include:

Tips For New Members

Some of Katie and Sean’s tips for those just starting out in the CSA include:

  • Take time to thaw out the meat. It takes some time to plan but planning a few days in advance helps a lot.

  • By planning out your meals in advance it also helps provide leftovers for a tasty meal the next day.

Final Thoughts

“Our son loves getting the little stickers and tattoos at pick-up.

It’s so nice. It’s just been a great experience.”
— Katie & Sean


Thank you so much Katie and Sean for sharing your CSA experience with us.

-Rachel

Meet The Member: Meg

Meet CSA Member Meg

Member since 2021

Meg and her family moved to the Bend area from Seattle to get more access to the outdoors and increase their quality of life. They have really enjoyed raising their kids in a smaller town and feel a stronger sense of community in Bend.

Meg is a trained physical therapist but has been working for a company that handles complex medical equipment. Her husband, Dan, works in the medical field. They have two little kids and two energetic Vizsla dogs, that keep them on their toes.

As a passionate local food supporter and adventurous eater, Meg and her family make a great addition to our CSA community.

CSA Share Pick-Up Location

Bend



Type of Membership

10# with lamb upgrade



A Commitment To Local And High-Quality Food

Over time Meg developed a growing sense that there is more to her food than what is on the label. She became more and more aware of the environmental impact of what she ate. She noticed that the food coming from the grocery store had lots of steps in processing that seemed unnecessary.

She and her spouse come from the Midwest. While there is a bigger focus on local food in the Northwest, that same local access is rare in the Midwest. There just isn’t the same pressure or emphasis to buy things that come from the community. She feels really lucky to have access to so much local food and the resources to purchase it.

“Being able to buy things that come from your community is important to us in all of the realms of life.

It’s a decision to support local in as many parts of our lives as we can.

”
— Meg

Another important impact of buying local food meant that Meg could also have an impact on her health.

“It’s really important for us to eat less red meat. We decided that if we’re going to eat less, then when we do, we are going to do it well.

Having really phenomenal meat, less of the time, has been a really nice change for us.”
— Meg

Finding The CSA

Before moving to Bend, Meg and her spouse lived for a year in their camper van. During those days they were mostly vegetarian because it was easier for their lifestyle. When they decided to start buying meat again they weren’t doing it very often but they were prioritizing higher quality meat. It meant more money out of their grocery budget but they were buying meat from local sources such as the butcher and fish stores.

After moving to Bend they wanted to maintain the same high-quality local food. They had been involved with a vegetable and flower CSA in the Seattle area and so began searching for another one in Bend.

Meg just happened upon the Double F Ranch Meat CSA during an internet search. She thought “this is awesome” and hopped on the waitlist.

“The CSA has been really fun because it opened the door to lots of different cuts and pieces that we wouldn’t have exposure to, and a lot more adventurous cooking. ”
— Meg


Favorite Things About The CSA

There are many reasons to love our little CSA. Meg outlines a few of her favorite things.

At the top of the list is “convenience”.

I just love that those guys are willing to make the trek from the ranch to Bend so that I can just ride my bicycle to pick up my share. That's really awesome.

Next would be “quality” as a close second.

There has not been a cut that has come out of that tote bag yet that we haven't loved. It’s been really amazing to see all the things that Katia pulls off with the resources at her disposal.

Third would be the “community” aspect of the CSA.

I really appreciate the community that she's holding through the newsletters and the member profiles. 

I like reading them to see who else is like me, has these guiding philosophies, and wants to take part. It’s really cool to see all the different types of families and individuals that are sharing in this experience.

Adventurous Home Cooks

Meg and her husband have really enjoyed the time and freedom to experiment in the kitchen. It is something they love doing together. Dan is Vietnamese and has really found a love for both Vietnamese and pan-Asian cooking. He has gotten into making homemade ramen and noodles from scratch.

Having the CSA allows them to get a mixture of cuts that they would not normally have and some cuts they aren’t familiar with.

They have started smoking different CSA cuts and fish. They have smoked a brisket a few times now and had a lot of fun with the process.

Mealtime Is Family Time

Even though life has picked up with work and kids, they prioritize cooking meals together and end up spending more time in the kitchen.

Although their kiddos are still young and not as involved with the cooking part, they enjoy spending time in the kitchen with mom and dad. The family has a nice outdoor setup with a grill on a patio. When the weather is nice, they love spending time outside together making grilled pizzas.

Kitchen Inspiration

Meg finds inspiration in many different places. She looks at cookbooks, online internet searches, and cooking apps. The New York Times cooking app is her favorite.

She has a couple of cookbooks for various food genres that they love such as Mediterranean or Hispanic food.

They often look in the CSA bag to see what they have and then look online to find something interesting to cook. When they got beef short ribs in their share they were unsure how to prepare them. A quick search online and they were able to find a delightful ragu recipe that was perfect.

“It’s a perfect example of what I really love about this CSA. There is this mysterious element of unpacking your share and within 20 minutes of research you have a whole new genre of food to explore. ”
— Meg

Looking Forward

Meg shared that as she looks to their future in the CSA, she hopes to learn more about the process of raising the animals and what it looks like on Katia and Nathan’s end. She wants to keep learning as much as possible about the food they eat.

As adventurous eaters she also looks forward to more cooking experiences with the help of Katia’s expansive knowledge and meat selection. She shared that her spouse wanted to make a traditional Vietnamese dish that consisted of fried skin-on pork belly. They had tried to order it from a local grocer but it came to them with no skin. So, she reached out to Katia.

She emailed me back and said that she had skin on pork belly in stock right now - it wasn’t a commonly requested cut. She put some extra in our share and we made our fun dish.

That’s exactly the kind of thing I appreciate. Learning more about the options from someone who is obviously an expert, because I didn't even know that people prepare things that way.

We were super grateful for her help in finding what we needed, and it was really cool. I look forward to those kinds of interactions.

Meg also looks forward to teaching her children more about what it means to eat and support local food. Her toddler is starting to get more interested when he sees the whole chicken come out of the freezer. Meg shared that he is starting to make the connection between the animals he reads about in his books and the food on his plate.

Final Thoughts

Meg’s final thoughts encompass her love and appreciation for the CSA.

I just want to express my gratitude. I've been very fortunate to have landed in a place where I have the resources to buy what they are offering.

I am so thankful that the service exists in such a convenient fashion. I would not have the bandwidth to go out of my way to do what I'm doing. Mostly because of all their hard work, I feel like it's a nearly zero-time commitment on my part. I just show up, pick up my things, and pay for them.

I would like to say thank you. I would like to just make it known that I am so, so grateful for the service that they offer. I can't imagine how much work it is. Especially now that I have kids and watching them parent and ring up customers with all of the orders. Just truly inspiring!




Thank you, Meg, for sharing your experience with us! -Rachel