Hey, Kansas City!

Remember back in 2020, when I signed up to purchase 26 weeks worth of farm-fresh veggies grown by refugee immigrants as part of the New Roots for Refugees Farm Share program? I blogged about that experience with the hope that it would be a useful resource for Kansas Citians interested in supporting local farmers. The veggies were tasty, and despite only blogging thru August 2020, I signed up for a Farm Share again in 2021 and 2022.

But this year, I decided to switch it up and subscribe to a different CSA program. Introducing Bread and Roses: a regenerative farm on KC’s eastside.

Why make the switch? Well, last summer I learned that New Roots hold their employees to rules that don’t align with my values. Specifically, their employees cannot: “publicly oppose the teachings of the Catholic Faith nor publicly advocate for any position in conflict with Catholic teaching, or the specific positions of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas or the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops“… which, yea nope… I can’t put my dollar behind that.

I had also found that the New Roots veggie selection from week-to-week had grown a little stagnant. Most weeks, it felt like I was just getting shares full of beets (far too many beets), greens, and not much else. I missed the variety of produce that I had experienced in 2020.

So it was clear to me that it was time to try something new. Bread and Roses came highly recommended by friends. Their ethos seem aligned with mine. And I’m very excited about their mission. In their own words they:

…are committed to increasing biodiversity and soil life on the farm, both for healthier plants, and as a haven for insect and plant species that would otherwise not thrive in the city. We are committed to remineralizing the soil to provide nutrient dense food, and we are committed to making our produce economically fair to the farmer and to the eaters.

With the switch, I’ve decided to (yet again) blog about my CSA experience in the hopes that it can serve as a resource to locals considering signing up for next season’s shares, and that both blog series combined can help folks compare their options for farm-fresh veggies in the Kansas City-area.


The Nuts-n-Bolts: Cost, Share-Size, Schedule

I registered for my shares in late January, and started receiving veggies on May 8th. Veggies are delivered once a week on Mondays. Each week’s share costs around $19 and change ($500 total, for 26 weeks worth of produce), and I’ll get a generous portion of 5-7 different items a week. That’s almost $10 cheaper per week than New Roots!

So far, I feel like I’m getting about the same amount of produce in my B&R shares as I did each week with New Roots: 5 generous portions of veg, more than plenty to feed my 2-person household. Have a larger family? Bread & Roses offers a “Queen-sized” share option at $650/26 weeks — or about $25 a share — with 8-10 different items a week… that’s still cheaper than New Roots by a couple of bucks!

Another way that B&R differs from New Roots and other local CSA programs? Instead of picking up my groceries mid-day in a parking lot, Flora (the farmer behind Bread and Roses) hand-delivers each share. So far, it’s been a little magical… I’ve been home in the evenings for the past three Mondays, but I’ve never caught sight of Flora making a drop-off. A bunch of veggies just seem to magically materialize in the cooler on my front porch. Rad!

About those magical veggies: during week 1, we enjoyed all the makings of a tasty salad: arugula, baby lettuce, and some lovely little, jewel-toned radishes. Our shares also contained green garlic, which found its way into almost every dinner that week, and a bushel of turnips. We’ll revisit them later in the post.

Week 2 saw a lettuce mix which I used that week for daily lunchtime salads, cress — a new to me leafy green that looks feathery, tastes peppery, and added a nice bite to those aforementioned salads — garlic chives (the perfect topping for both grilled corn and baked potatoes), beets that I haven’t gotten around to eating yet, and even more turnips.

Last night, I baked all the turnips into an au gratin with Gruyere cheese. It was tasty, although a little bit soupy… I need to track down a better recipe, but the pairing of the turnips with the smoky cheese was delectable.

Week 3’s bounty included carrots (possibly my favorite vegetable?), more beets that I haven’t cooked yet, 3 gorgeous heads of broccoli (two of which we roasted and ate that evening, as the topping for baked potatoes), scallions (also consumed almost instantly as a potato topper), and more lettuce mix… enough for another week’s worth of lunchtime salads.

What will week 4 (and beyond) hold? Well, you’ll have to check back here and find out. But so far, I’m deeply impressed with Bread and Roses Farm and their CSA program.