Fall

Before my husband left to pick up our CSA share this week we had a conversation about what vegetables he might come home with.  I love the CSA.  I love the element of surprise.  We agreed that we would probably get lots of squash.  We were happily surprised by what is probably our last round of tomatoes, some gorgeous purple, yellow and orange carrots, eggplant, potatoes, beets, lettuce, bok choy, red onions, garlic, kale and winter squash.

There isn't a farmer's market near us, so we decided to join a CSA.  Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a system where you sign up for a farm share before the growing season.  The fees help the farmer pay for seeds, supplies and equipment for the season.  As vegetables are harvested, once a week the farmer delivers vegetables to the city and you go collect your share of fresh, local, organic produce.  The amount of food and what kind is dependent on what is ripe and how the growing season is going.  We've been CSA members for two years now and have really enjoyed it.

One of my major goals is to simplify my life, home, schedule, commitments, diet, etc..  It's a big task!  But being a part of the CSA has really been a no brainer .  We keep our food staples on hand and know that every Tuesday we're going to be collecting some delicious, fresh, organic goods.  As the seasons change and our vegetables lean more toward roots and squash, rather than the corn, leafy greens and varieties of gorgeous heirloom tomatoes we've enjoyed so far this year, I find myself anticipating a long winter.  As the days get shorter I need to keep focused!  So I think we're going to branch out into the winter produce share, frozen fruit and vegetable share and special order local goods.  At least that way I can move ahead knowing my diet won't suffer in the coming months.  And next summer we'll go visit the farm!