Community Supported Fishery

We recently joined a Community Supported Fishery (CSF). You’ve probably heard of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) where you buy a share from a farmer in exchange for weekly deliveries of fresh produce and other farm raised items. Well a CSF works similarly. For the very reasonable price of $18.75 per week we receive two pounds of two kinds of fish or shellfish every Thursday. So far our share has included shrimp, flounder, jumping red mullet, and crab and last week we got 24 beautiful clams and 5 fillets of Spanish mackerel. The group organizing this in our area is called Core Sound Seafood and they are bringing fish up every week from the sound of North Carolina. It’s a great opportunity to try out different kinds of fish we might not normally buy and everything has been incredibly fresh and delicious. Furthermore, the money goes straight to the fisherman with no middleman so they get a good price to help support them staying in the fishing business. We never know what we are getting until about a day before and it’s a surprise and a treat. The group sends an e-mail announcing the sea foods of the week and we learn about exactly where it came from and who the fisher people were that caught it for us.

For the mackerel we made a rub of chile powder, cumin, oregano and thyme to put on the fish and then grilled it to juicy perfection. We then topped tostada shells with guacamole, fish, grilled squash and onions, cabbage and fresh made pico de gallo-chopped tomatoes, white onions and Serrano peppers. I didn’t have cilantro so I used Italian parsley, muy delicioso! Finished off with a squeeze of lime and washed down with a cold beer, we were very satisfied indeed.

There are still shares available so if you are in the Carrboro area, check them out!

Our drought and heat wave continue and we are spending multiple hours standing behind the hose so the garden carries on. Made my first batch of tomato sauce last week and the eggplants are starting to come in. The blueberries are really starting to ripen up too. Every day I pray for rain, we were fortunate to get a half an inch in a thunderstorm the other night, but we need much more. Here’s hoping, as everything is burning up, including me.