This year we decided to be wild and crazy and join a CSA. What’s a CSA, you ask? Well, you could click the link that explains it, or I could just tell you that it’s like buying a share of a local farm. You pay your set price for a share of the farm, helping the farm cover operating expenses, and in return you get a share of the harvest from that farm.
Every week we get new and delicious vegetables delivered to our door. I’ll admit – I’m not much of a vegetable expert, and occasionally I find something green in the cooler that I don’t recognize. But most of the time I get excited to peek in the cooler, seeing a vegetable I wouldn’t have ever thought of buying, but something I know I like.
This is what greeted me the first week:
And this week, when I checked to see what the produce fairy had left on my doorstep, I squealed as I spied several ears of sweet corn and a green pepper, along with some lettuce, green onions and spinach.
So far I’m loving our CSA. It’s giving me a reason to eat more vegetables – I’ve had corn two nights in a row now, and will likely have it tonight as well – and we’re helping to support a local farm. We know where our food came from, we know how they grow it, and we can visit the farm any day we want to. And our food doesn’t have to travel long distances to reach us, reducing the amount of energy required to transport it.
If you have a CSA in your area, I highly recommend looking into it. If not, or if you can’t commit to that amount of produce, find a farmer’s market nearby and search for local fruits and vegetables on a per-week basis. I can’t guarantee it’ll make your kids want to eat their vegetables any more than they do now, but it might get them a little more excited about learning about where their food comes from.
We’ve been making a habit of going to our farmers’ market on weekends and I love it. I love getting locally grown veggies and fruits, even if they’re grown by someone else – we’re waiting for ours to come in so to speak.
Yummy! I’m growing some of my own veggies this year but plan on making some trips to the farmers market as well!
Wow, can’t believe you got corn already! Our CSA has been fun so far and the kids are being good about trying new things just because they came from “our farm.”
OMG Kohlrabi! Have you tried it in stir-fry?
I feel like such a slacker. I keep telling myself that I’m going to find either as CSA OR a farmer’s market around here and I haven’t done either at all. I think looking at your vegetables settles it, we’re definitely going to find a market this weekend. I mean it this time!
We have been members of two different CSAs in two different places and we love it. The best part has been the recipes our CSA includes, giving me a chance to cook differently.
for those looking , here is how to find a CSA or a farmer’s market.
http://www.localharvest.org/
I’m loving my first year of being a CSA rookie too. I cut CSA corn off of the cob and used it to make a stoup – yummy!
I’ve frozen a few of the things like the peas that we haven’t been able to get to right away. Fortunately my dog is helping out in that department. He finds and eats peas when I shell them. He thinks CSA delivery day is the best day of the week!
We joined a CSA this year too – a full share, which I am having to work hard to use up before the next week’s pickup (which is tomorrow!) – lettuce has been particularly abundant. No corn yet, but we have had their own solar/windpowered-greenhouse tomatoes!
So what did you do with your kohlrabi?
Wonderful advice on SUCH an important topic! Thanks for a great post- I’m gonna look up CSAs in my area.
Good job! I actually have a friend who farms but I am so lame that since I’d have to pick up my veggies from a drop off point near me, and I don’t know what I’d do with everything,I just have not signed up. I mean, it’s not like I’m not busy, with a full time job and two young kids, one wiht special needs, but still, I could be less lame.