I have joined a CSA (community-supported agriculture), or a farm share.

Way back in February, when I was still eating potatoes and butternuts and dreaming of warmer days, I signed up as a member of the Bull Run Farm. For a flat fee upfront, I share in the farm’s bounties and failures in the coming growing season.

Every week, I walk the short block and a half from my front door to the pick-up point in Dupont Circle, where I load up my tote bag with that week’s produce.

Some farm shares pre-pack their boxes, and when you get it home you root through it and discover what treasures lie within. Bull Run’s allows for just a touch more control: The crates of produce are all laid out, and the quantities of each item allowed per share are written out, but I get to actually pick out the onions and heads of bok choi myself.

I also purchased an egg share, getting a half-dozen eggs each week, and a fruit share, which will start up next month.

CSAs are gaining in popularity as a less-expensive alternative to farmers’ markets (my vegetable, fruit and egg shares all came to just under $300 for the entire growing season). They also ensure a steady intake of diverse fruits and vegetables — a simple way to eat locally and seasonally while directly supporting a local, small farmer.

The Washington area has ample CSAs to choose from, and if you’re interested in signing up for one for next year’s growing season, visit www.localharvest.org.

In addition to all these do-gooder benefits of fewer food miles and support of local organics, what I really like is that each week I get a plethora of vegetables I have no control over. This is the aspect that sometimes keeps people away from joining a CSA, but personally, I think that’s what makes them so darn fun.

The late-season frost, followed by all the rain and heat, did some damage to some of the crops that Bull Run had originally planned on, so my daydreams about springtime broccoli all washed away, quite literally.

Instead, the past three weeks of pickups have been heavy on the spring onions, bok choy, and garlic scapes.

It is the challenge of finding things to do with a steady supply of garlic scapes that is the great part for me. Without this abundance of this lesser-known vegetable, I would never know the delicate pleasure of scape soup, or the pungent tang of scape pesto.

Garlic scapes grow out of the top of the garlic bulb. They are the stems — more mature than green garlic and cut away from the bulb. They are bright green and uncontrollably curly. Atop their wild, snaking length there sits a small, closed flower bud to be trimmed away when preparing them.

Scapes smell clean, like cut grass, but with a hint of sharpness. And they taste like the sweetest, mildest garlic; the garlic is a subtle undertone to the delicately sweet, clean taste of the scape.

With my recent abundance of scapes, I’ve had a chance to test several recipes. Not all of them succeeded (there was an unfortunate Asian-style soup that did not go well) but the two below were home runs.

The pesto is a near-classic pesto, substituting scapes for raw garlic to get a fragrant, basil-packed and slightly garlicky sauce. The soup is akin to the subtlest, most delicate vichyssoise, slightly sour and clean and bright with summer flavor.

Both of them will keep you satisfied and well fed when facing a scape-heavy CSA delivery.

Garlic Scape Pesto

Takes 10 minutes, makes about 1 ½ cups (freezes well)

• 3 scapes, trimmed and diced

• 1 c. fresh basil, loosely packed

• 1 c. parmesan cheese, grated

• ½ c. pine nuts

• ¾ - 1 c. olive oil

• Salt

Toast the pine nuts by heating them over high heat in a dry skillet, stirring occasionally, until they are browned and fragrant. Let cool.

Add all the ingredients except the salt and olive oil in your blender (or food processor, or mortar and pestle depending on the kitchen gadgets at your disposal).

Add ¾ c. of oil to start, and then blend the ingredients. Drizzle in the remaining ¼ c. of oil (or less) until it forms a thick sauce. Taste, and add salt to taste (the cheese is pretty salty, so go light at first).

Spoon over hot pasta, as a condiment for sandwiches, dollop over scrambled eggs or freeze for later use.

Scape soup

Adapted from Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson

Takes 30 minutes, serves 6

• 2 dozen scapes, trimmed and diced

• 2 Tbsp olive oil

• 2 Yukon Gold potatoes, diced

• 5 c. vegetable stock

• 2 large handfuls of spinach leaves, stemmed

• 2 Tbsp. cider vinegar

• Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, then add the scapes sauté for two minutes.

Add the potatoes and sauté for a minute more.

Add the stock, turn the heat up to high and bring it up to a boil. Turn the heat down to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through and are beginning to break down.

Remove the soup from the heat, and add the spinach which will wilt immediately.

Puree the soup, using a blender. This is where a stick blender would be a dream, but unfortunately I only have a standing blender. If using a standard blender, be sure not to fill it more that halfway, as hot liquid expands and you don’t want to hurt yourself.

Stir in the vinegar, some salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the seasonings. You want to add vinegar until there is a slightly acidic bite to it, and salt until the flavors really pop. Serve immediately, or chill and serve cold. Makes for excellent leftovers.