One of the first posts I ever made on this blog, last October, was about Community Supported Agriculture and now that Winter is finally nearing its end, its time to think about signing up for a local farm CSA. While I have only been doing a CSA for two years, I think its safe to say I will do it every year as long as there is one nearby. I wont quote my old blog post, but I wanted to reiterate the concept and the reason to support local farms.
Sure a lot of people don’t eat tons of fruits and vegetables, and while some do, they may only like certain varieties and want to be able to chose what they eat. I used to feel that way, but I think if you enjoy cooking and enjoy vegetables, its worth subscribing to challenge yourself in the kitchen to cook what you get and also to support local farms that may not sell all their produce otherwise.
I recently came across a retweet (sorry I can’t remember who it was) by Rhea Kennedy which said: “Give up the middleman and buy directly from farmers!” I then saw that Rhea for the Examiner about local farmers, talking a lot about farmers markets, another way to buy from farmers. Obviously many people prefer that method over the store and also over a CSA, but hopefully I can persuade some of you to go all out this spring/summer/fall and sign up for a CSA.
I hate to plug the CSA that I subscribed to last year, but I will anyway (no, they aren’t paying me to say this). Norman’s Farm Market has been around more than twenty years and I know that in the past I have purchased produce from their street side stands. Last year I went with Norman’s as I had moved out of downtown Washington, DC, and needed a more local pickup. Norman’s not only sells their own produce, but they buy from other, smaller, farms and allow them to dish out their delicious fruits and veggies.
If you are a vegetable lover like me (and I don’t only mean my vegetarian fiancee), then you should check out a CSA. If you need help finding one near you, and I promise there is one, check out Local Harvest, as they have a listing of all the local farms. Trust me, you’ll love it.
