This year since my garden is not producing as it has in the past, I joined a community supported farm (CSA) in the area. The first weeks produce included fresh corn, 4 kinds of summer squash, 2 kinds of cucumbers, eggplant, tomatoes, honey, blueberries and fresh green beans. Each week will be a new adventure in using locally grown produce. This farm is not organic, but I will be looking for one next year.
Going to pick up my box reminded me of my childhood waiting for the farm truck to drive around. We had a local farmer that would load up his harvest weekly and drive around our town to sell his vegetables. I remember waiting for him to come each Wednesday night so I could pick out some exotic vegetable like fresh kholrabi, beets or fresh carrots. With my mom raising 5 kids and working she often had to serve us canned vegetables so when he came around it was a real treat.
I made fresh blueberry muffins today for our family breakfast. Then we headed to a local pick your own farm to pick raspberries and more blueberries. I will share a gluten-free blueberry rhubarb crisp recipe in my next post so look for it later this week.
I love having fresh produce that I know was grown locally and supporting the farmers in my area. To find a CSA farm in your area – search Community Supported Agriculture using google or ask the farmers markets vendors you frequent if their farms have a CSA program. If more of us support our local farms we may be able to have a say in how our food is produced and limit pesticides and genetically modified organisms in our diets.