We signed up for a CSA with rave reviews (an average of 4.5+ stars on Yelp) and got two boxes. We paid $35 for week home delivery of a box of produce.

For $35, we got:

• Strawberries (2 pints; several moldy or mushy)
• 4 Fuji Apples
• 4 Baby Bok Choy
• 4 Green Bell Peppers
• large bunch of Red Butter Lettuce
• large bunch of Green Curly Kale
• 1 Romanesco
• 1 Cheddar (yellow) Cauliflower
• 1 bag Bloomsdale Spinach
• 1 pint Cherry Tomatoes
• 1 bunch Pink Radishes

Hmmm…well, the quality was great, but not phenomenal. The tomatoes were delicious; savory. The lettuce was terrific, soft and blemish-free. The rest was quite good but nothing to write home about. And I believe all of it was organic.

For comparison, we went to Berkeley Bowl and got the following produce (hand-picked, so we could choose exactly what we wanted):

• 48 squash blossoms (flor de calabaza)
• 7 small beets (organic)
• 1 large pomegranate
• 4 large bunches of Swiss chard
• 1 bunch of celery (organic)
• 1 plantain
• 1 medium-sized bunch of wine grapes
• 1 small head (?) of ginger
• 1 bunch of basil
• 2 large yellow onions
• 7 gorgeous heirloom peppers
• 6 vine-ripened tomatoes
• yellow and orange bell peppers (1 of each)
• 1 fuyu persimmon
• 1 hachiya persimmon
• 1 bunch of radishes (organic)
• 1 red prickly pear (cactus fruit)
• 1 bunch of savory (herb; organic)
• 1 bag of fresh fava beans (organic)
• 5 carrots (organic)
• 3 large watermelon radishes (organic)
• 1 head green cabbage (organic)
• 1 Chinese bitter melon
• 1 kabocha squash (organic)

Now, not everything was organic, as you can see above. But the total cost of ALL of those items? $41.72. It’s easily twice as much food, and all food of our picking. What’s a little puzzling is that there is a middleman here who demands 50%, so the farmers are providing this bounty of food to BB for a bit more than $20. Aren’t CSAs supposed to be cheaper because there isn’t a middleman?

If you want to be completely fair about it, there’s the cost of gas (about 1.2 gallons for the round trip, so about $5.40) and the cost of the bridge toll ($5), so now we’re up to about $52. And there’s the cost of time, which is almost nothing, considering that my time is practically worthless at this point, I enjoy shopping there, and we have had to shop for non-produce items anyway.

Yep, we’ve cancelled our CSA service. And we’re planning on weekly trips to Berkeley Bowl instead.