CSA

We belong to a CSA which stands for community supported agriculture. The way it works is that the consumer pays the farmer a set fee at the beginning of the season and the farmer provides the goods (in our case a variety of fresh, organic, in-season locally grown vegetables) each week during the growing season. The benefit to the farmer is improved cash flow and a more predictable market for his produce. The benefit for the consumer is, well, obvious: beautiful produce which has not been contaminated with pesticides or trucked across the country (or the world). Often we get heirloom varieties which were bred for TASTE not portability. And supporting the local economy is a bonus.

We began this endeavor because we were trying to reduce the distance our food travels (at least some of our food, for part of the year). On average, food in our grocery stores has traveled 1500 miles to get to us. This produce from our CSA has just come down the pike from Grainger county. Although we won't achieve the admirable goal of eating 100% locally outlined in Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, we have definitely improved over last year, including (other than our CSA produce) some meat and dairy products. 

We visited our CSA, Green Man Farm, last fall and got to see their beautiful setup.

Megan and Nicholas had a great time. That's Gabriel, below, on the left, he's the farmer's son and he really took a shine to Megan.