Need Veggie Variety? Look into a Local CSA

I didn't know that CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farms existed until last Saturday. I found one that still had shares available. For the share price, I'll get a basket of locally-grown vegetables and fruit each week for 23 weeks, whatever they are growing. No need to grow my own garden (more like plant and watch die.) I'll be forced to find new recipes to use the variety of produce I'd never buy on my own. I'll finally get enough veggies into my diet. Our Local Foods Guide has good info on How to Join a CSA. If you got an Economic Stimulus check and were debating how to spend it, I'd suggest this is a great way to keep it local and do something good for your body and the planet.

I found one by searching for my zip code at LocalHarvest.org. For urban-dwellers, the CSA farm will often have a pick-up point at a local farmers market or other convenient site in town. We are almost into the growing season and many CSAs have already sold out their shares. But you may be lucky like I was, or be able to get onto a waiting list if more shares open up during the season.

I grew up in farm country, and about half of what I ate each day was grown in our garden or on Grandpa's farm, including the meat. But I'm a walker, not a gardener. I only seem to get to a farmers market when I'm in the middle of a long walk with limited carrying capacity. Yet I long to return to eating fresh local produce in season. Now, it will be easy!
Why Should You Eat Local Foods?
How to Eat Locally

Week 1: May 27 My first basket included pea shoots, radishes, young celery, green onions, spinach and lots of various kinds of lettuce. My first failure was with the pea shoots. I looked up recipes and decided to saute them with butter and garlic. They were tasty, but completely tough and impossible to swallow. The lettuce and onions were wonderful. My husband doesn't like exotic greens in his salad, but he was happy with the lettuce variety. One of them had multi-colored leaves -- exotic-looking but with normal taste and texture. I'll be making Gingery Radish Salad. I was impressed with how mild the radishes were, I usually don't like them much in salad. I discovered that radish greens are just fine in salad - they are a little tougher than most lettuce, but no more so than some fancy greens. I'm not big on celery. I think I'll try a Stir Fry Chinese Celery recipe for it. If that doesn't work out, I'll blanch and freeze the celery for use later in the year.
Watch a news video of the CSA farm I joined.
Photo © Wendy Bumgardner 2000