Bountiful baskets

I've been telling neighbors and friends about this produce co-op that I signed up for...with very little info about it. Well, now I've gone and picked up my produce and I still don't know very much about it but I can tell you what the ladies in line told me.

First of all I'll tell you what I got--

2 big heads of green leaf or romaine(I'm not to hip on my produce) along with a ladybug.
3 heads or crowns of broccoli
2 cucumbers
5 large tomatoes
8 pears
8 oranges
9 bananas
2 red peppers(yum!)
1 honey dew melon
1 spaghetti squash
3 granny smith apples
7 red potatoes
7 orange squishy things with tiny black dots....tropical fruit???**update--I'm thinking papaya?**

This will obviously expand my produce knowledge -- I can tell already.

Anyway, this is all for $15. what do you think? Did I do good? I honestly don't even know.

This is how it works....The co-op is held every 2 weeks. I chose to go to the Clearfield pick up location(it was the closest for me) You pay $15 ahead of time on-line at www.bountifulbaskets.org (apparently there are only a set amount of spots and if you miss it, you miss it.) For my first time I had to pay an extra $3(don't know why) and $1.50 handling charge. So, I think it would be $16.50 each time. There are also options to purchase bread, they come in 5 loaf packages for $10. I remember an Italian bread, a 9 grain and a whole wheat. They also had big boxes of granny smith apples and a big box of Chinese produce this time. Apparently they always have bread but the other boxes change. Last pick up they had blackberries and the time before they had Gala Apples.

Pick up day --- I headed out the door at 6:50, yes you have to be there at 7 AM. All produce that is not picked up is donated to local fire houses. I waited in a line for about 20 minutes, chatted with some ladies, got my produce and headed out. One major boo boo on my part. Apparently you need a laundry basket to put all of your stuff in. I just grabbed some old boxes they had there, but really, the laundry basket seemed to be the way to go.

Now remember this is a co-op...thus they need volunteers. It's the only way it runs. So some come an hour early and help set up, some stay late to help clean up and some work during.

I rather liked the whole idea.

I'm off to see what to do with my little orange fruity things.

Oh, one more thing. Where does the produce come from? Yeah, I don't know either. BUT one woman said she thought it was from AZ. It comes on big trucks...do we need to know more?