Community Supported Agriculture

So the Wacky Chinahomemaker signed us up for a weekly CSA box (see photo above). The box contains a week's worth of locally grown organic produce. The local farm (in this case Full Belly Farm) delivers all the boxes to a nearby address, and all the participants pick up their individual boxes every Saturday morning.

Every week the box contains a different assortment of seasonal vegetables, which are unknown to us until we pick them up. The farm benefits because they secure payment in advance, and they gain flexibility in knowing that any surplus they grow already has a buyer. We benefit because we get fresh organic vegetables delivered to a nearby location--for an extra fee, they would deliver straight to our door. I suppose we get a warm fuzzy from knowing that we support local agriculture, but I don't particularly care about that.

Personally, I like eating organic stuff, but I'm not particularly strict about it. I'm sure local grocery store produce is fine (and I'm certainly not opposed to going to the grocery store like some militant foodies I know), but I do gain some peace of mind knowing that what I'm eating is pesticide free and is fairly fresh. Can't say I can really taste the difference, but then again, I've never done a side-by-side comparison.

What the Wacky Chinacook and I have enjoyed about this so far is that we get random vegetables that we've never cooked at home before, which forces us to look up different recipes and try new things. For instance, in the month that we've been participating, we've had items on the dinner table such as rutabaga, kale, chard, leeks, and turnips--stuff we don't normally go out and buy--in addition to your more common broccoli, asparagus, potatoes, carrots, and spinach. So far, it's been fun and tasty.