Pie Share: The New CSA

Are you one of those people who complain about not being able to finish all the vegetables you get in your CSA box? Well, maybe you should consider moving to the Durham/Chapel Hill area of North Carolina and trading in your CSA for a CSP. That is, a Community Supported Pie. Phoebe Lawless, formerly of the famous Magnolia Grill, is now selling pies at her local farmers' markets under the name Scratch Seasonal Artisan Bakery. She's also letting people prepay for a month of weekly surprise pies, a.k.a. buy into the CSP.

I haven't tried the pies, but Michelle Polzine, the James Beard–nominated pastry chef from Range restaurant in San Francisco, was raving about Lawless's desserts. And the idea certainly sounds like a winner: For $60 a month, you get one large or three small pies each week for four weeks, sweet and savory. Past flavors have included Mexican chocolate chess, garlicky collard and apple-smoked bacon, farmhouse white bean and sage, and brown butter sugar pie. On Lawless's Twitter feed, she says she's making honeyed green garlic, strawberry rhubarb, and asparagus and local bacon. Sign me up!

Photo courtesy of Scratch Seasonal Artisan Bakery