Time to sign up for your local CSA

This morning I signed up for our family's vegetable and fruit shares through our local CSA.  It feels good.  We know we will have a steady supply of locally grown and mostly, if not all, organic produce from mid-May to late October.

What is a CSA? CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  Members pay an annual fee which financially supports local farmers and in return receive a weekly share of the harvests.  It's a great way to support local farmers and at the same time feed your family real food that you can feel good about.

We are actually quite new to this process having just signed up for the first time this past fall.  It's funny, I just signed up on a whim.  I had come across a post from one of my favorite bloggers, Laurel on Health Food, encouraging people to sign up for a local CSA.  I didn't really know what CSA meant, but I followed her link and was intrigued.  It's one of those things, I was in the right mood for it. Some days I am too wired to investigate and commit to something like this, so it could have easily just slipped past my attention.  I am really glad it didn't.  The last delivery was in mid-December and since then I've been jonesing for the new season to start up. 

So why am I hooked on a box of veggies that I didn't even pick out? The quality of the veggies was awesome.  Things stayed fresh in my refrigerator much longer than anything from the grocery store.  Plus, we ended up trying veggies that I never buy.  That was one of the reasons I decided to go for it the first time around.  We were in a veggie rut.  Now there are lots of new veggies on my go to list such as celeriac and kohlrabi.  Who knew my daughter would request that I make "the mash," which happens to be a mash of turnips, romanesco cauliflower, and celeriac. I understand that some folks may not be into the more "adventurous" veggies, and if that is the case the Sandy Spring CSA offers a 65% box, which leaves those veggies out.

If you want to to give it a try, Sandy Spring CSA with pick up spots in the Montgomery County, MD area is a great organization with competitive pricing.  For those of you, outside the area you can check look for one in your area on Local Harvest. Happy eating!