What is a CSA farm?

I recently found an article talking about sourcing your summer produce on one of my favorite blogs (simplebites.net). I loved the idea of CSA's and started looking into them, talked to Dan about it, and we decided to do it.

A CSA is a Community Supported Agriculture farm. What happens is a farm provides a certain number of shares for people to buy. With each share you get a box of farm fresh vegetables, fruit, and herbs (varying by the season and particular farm) each week.

I am really big into food. Yes, I love eating it, but I also love learning about it (what is healthy & what isn't, how to buy locally and seasonally, etc). I feel that eating good, whole foods is one of the most important things you can do for your health (although I am not claiming to be perfect at it). One thing I have been trying to do more of this past year or so is eating more locally and seasonally. (Greatly inspired by the book, Plenty.) There are many, many reasons to eat locally: health, the environment, and the local economy, etc.

Now that Arlo is getting older and eating more & more food, I want him to have a healthy relationship with food. I want him to know where his food comes from, to see it grow, to know that it doesn't come from the grocery store in nice packages, it comes from the earth and from real animals. I want him to visit the farms where his food is grown and even get his own hands dirty.

I, too, want to know where my food comes from. I want to know the farmer that grows it and support them in what I feel is a very important and honorable job. I want to know the practices used in farming and growing my food (what chemicals, if any, are used? do they use GMO seeds? etc). I am also looking forward to the opportunity to try new produce (many farmers provide recipes and help with how to prepare unknown veggies) and to eat healthier!

Find a CSA in your area: http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

Check out these videos:

Have you ever joined a CSA? How was it?