So, it's official. I won't be with Rock Spring Farms for my third year of CSA vegetables. Nothing against them, honestly - they were great, and I will miss things like, oh, their taking Paypal. 

But they raised their prices to $560 for 16 weeks, which seemed a bit on the high side. Also, when I first went CSA-shopping, I ignored all the ones with Linden Hills dropoffs because I didn't realize I lived near Linden Hills. So I had more options than I thought I did, and spent a couple of days doing some comparisons.

And I've settled on Driftless Organics, out of Wisconsin, for three big reasons.

First, price. $550 ($575 after March 1), but it's 20 weeks of vegetables instead of 16, which is a hefty boost. Even if the boxes end up smaller, there is value in having the same bounty spread over four extra weeks - easier to use and store and process. But I'm thinking it'll probably be more.

Second, fruit. Rock Spring offered a separate fruit share, but I could never afford it. Driftless at least claims to grow cantaloupe/watermelon, raspberries, and strawberries. I love nice fruit, and the idea of getting some as part of regular CSA boxes was irresistable.

And third, GARLIC. Rock Spring Year One had garlic, and it was a glorious thing. The whole life cycle, from scapes to fresh to storage was so much better than store-bought garlic that it was a revelation. And I missed it last year. And Driftless claims to have garlic through the entire season.

There are a few other things I'm looking forward to - they say they grow edamame, which should be fun to work with. Kohlrabi, which I'll need to actually research, since I've never even had it. And leeks, which I'll be curious to try in a more farm-fresh state.

I expect I'll miss the cherry tomatoes from Rock Spring at the very least, but we'll see how it goes once June rolls around.