Plough Girls CSA Soup

“There ain’t no point in making soup unless others eat it. Soup needs another mouth to taste it, another heart to be warmed by it.” – children’s author Kate DiCamillo

Plough Girls Soup CSA came into being because of the Covid epidemic four years ago.  Delivering soups enabled me to socialize, while savoring my own soups kept my insides warm and calm during this period of uncertainty.

Today, we no longer isolate (for the most part), but soup days are just as important now as then, even without the masks.

“Finding Beauty in a Bowl of Soup” is the best essay I have ever read on this topic.  It appeared as an opinion piece by Major Jackson in the NYTimes back in August. Here is an excerpt:  

Eating soup is unlike consuming other kinds of food. It’s not just nourishing; it’s also soothing. Soup calls our better, more peaceful selves to the table. Its liquid base and simmered ingredients do not respond to violence — a knife (slicing, stabbing) or a fork (poking, puncturing) — but to something more gentle. 

A bowl of posole requires soft spooning. A warm stew will humble you. Spoon too abruptly, and soup will spill and burn you. Soup takes patience and time. It slows us down.”

Inspired by his words, I will be offering a 4 week Soup CSA beginning Jan. 29 (Thursday).  While October’s offering featured the flavors of early fall, this batch of soup will be a bit heavier, a soup to see you through wintry days.

Beef & Bean Chili and Texas Sheet Cake

Sweet Potato Minestrone with Pesto & Rosemary Shortbread

Chicken/Sausage Gumbo & Pralines

Corn Chowder & Banana Bread Bars

If you are interested in signing up, please let me know. Pick up times will be the same, but for a small fee, I am willing to deliver if you would prefer.

The Plough Girls Association February Soup CSA runs for 4 weeks.  Here is how it works.  Individuals will subscribe to have a quart of homemade seasonal soup (with the option of an add-on dessert) delivered each week to a designated pick-up location.

At this point, one pick-up location will be at the Caswell Farmer’s Market (Goodwill) parking lot in Yanceyville at 4:30 p.m.  and another will be at the Food Lion (Southwyke) parking lot in Danville, VA at 9:30 a.m..  If a group wants to get together and order soups, we can arrange other drop-off points.  If you are within 8 miles of one of the designated locations, I can drop off the soup at your home for $5 per delivery.

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. According to its original design, it allows consumers to buy food directly from a farm. You sign up at the beginning of the growing season and receive a weekly load of fresh produce.  However, my “crops” are home-made soups and desserts, many of which were served at the Yancey House Restaurant (and my current culinary classes).

During my restaurant days, I attended the Safe Serve classes.  Yancey House had a 102% rating from opening day.  Plough Girl soups and desserts are prepared in my NC Certified kitchen by me (Chef Lucindy).  In addition, I will brew the soups a few days before delivery so I can freeze them.  This way, I won’t have to worry if you decide to run a few errands before heading home with your soup.

I’m considering having one for dinner and storing the other in the freezer. Great idea.  You can sign up for two quarts (or more) a week and receive a small discount.  However, if you have signed up for 1 quart but want to add an extra quart one week (for example, maybe for a Valentine or Mardi Gras gift, just let me know five days before the delivery dates so I can plan accordingly. The second quart would be the same price as the first quart.

In addition, if you do not like one of the soups I have listed, you can skip that week and then “double” up on another soup choice.  For example, you might not want the gumbo.  In that case, you could choose to get two quarts of butternut squash soup.

Probably so.  Just email me and I will do my best to accommodate you and your group. Depending on the number, you might still be charged a delivery fee.  We can talk about it.

Remember Dani Rojas in Ted Lasso): “Football is life!”  I feel the same way about soup.  Many years ago, famed French chef, Escoffier, said: ““Soup puts the heart at ease, calms down the violence of hunger, eliminates the tension of the day, and awakens and refines the appetite.”