Hi rivkadr. I have belonged to a local CSA for several (5 or 6?) years now. For most of the reasons that you mention - I continue to join each year. We enjoy getting naturally grown local food and since our growing season is so short here, we like to load up on the "good for you stuff" during those months. I think the fact that you are vegetarian is an even better reason to join! Our CSA printed a cookbook a few years back offering ways to use lots of the lesser known veggies that are offered and it's really quite fun trying to figure out what to do with some! I have posted many threads here at the CF asking about things, too. People here are always eager to help! I have purchased the "green bags" - since you are in CA, you can probably get them all over the place. They are called Evert fresh green bags - I think they even have on amazon. They are bags that help your produce to last longer - and they really do work. And if you have any that you don't use - compost. Our CSA even hands out containers for you to fill with scraps and bring back to nourish the ground. But I would guess that being vegetarian and with the help of this forum, and only buying an individual share, you'll use up most of what you get! Some weeks are also better than others - here. At the beginning, all we get is spinach, lettuce and maybe some radishes - lol. heck, we haven't even started yet - as we had a heavy frost last night! Look at it as a challenge - to use up those strange things! And let us know what fun stuff you get. Someone will always have a suggestion for you - lol. Stacy

That's actually what I liked about it (small town). When we were building, I was really impressed by an experience I had in town at that little Tru-Value store by McD's. I'd gone in to get some painting supplies, talking to the clerk, he knew right off where we were building. I'd gotten everything together and he'd wrung me up, and there was another customer who needed help down in the back of the store. In the middle of writing out the check, I told him to go ahead, that I'd wait. His response was that's okay-- here's the receipt. Just leave the check on the counter! Living around the New Haven area all my life (first in West Haven till I was 10, and then in Orange), that was the first time in my life I'd encountered that kind of trust from ANY business. If you think Terryville's small, you ought to see where I am now, in Maine! Bridgton has a year round residency of about 3500 people, although in the summer, that swells to about 8000. :-)

Oh I get it! But I promise you, no room in the cars! Last time I went to an ACS meeting (in Silverton OR in June of this year) we had five of us in one car going up and we hauled my husband's two horse trailer. Even IT was full by the time we were done! Of course, we hauled for everyone who was there from the Bay Area, but it was still pretty impressive!

Lilyfinch, My problem is I have too many favorite foods! Pittsburgh does not have a single, specific, signature food. I would think a Primanti sandwich, with your whole meal held between two big pieces of bread, especially your French fries, is unique to Pittsburgh. You can get the fries put on the side, but the sandwich isn't the same that way. The best pierogies are homemade, then church pierogies. My cousin Deloris said the ladies at St. Jehosaphat's, claimed theirs were the best. Those dear, old time ladies are long gone. My Aunt Mary made the best pierogies. They were huge, about the size of 4 Mrs. T's pierogies. She used a large Crisco can as the dough cutter! No wonder! What memories! My mother couldn't make good pierogi's. She didn't have the touch! Hers fell apart at the seams, but they were still delicious. Oakmont Bakery cannot be matched. You can breathe in their cakes while you're eating their cookies, twice the joy, in half the time. That's the only way to do it! Eat n' Park has a senior lunch buffet on Tuesdays. I taught English at Colfax School in Springdale, PA, many years ago. I am very knowledgeable of the river towns along the Allegheny. Cheswick is a nice place to live. There is a productive Bald Eagle's nest in Harmarville, on the cliff above Freeport Rd., at the Hulton Bridge (newly built..recently opened). Bald Eagles have returned to the Pittsburgh area after a 150 year absence! There you go, Lilyfinch, a little stroll down memory lane for both of us! Keep well. Moses