Daily Decisions: Some CSA action

Recently Matthew and I bought a share in a local CSA.  The acronym CSA, in case you are unaware, stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  Generally, you will purchase a share from a farm before the harvest season, and they will provide you boxes of fruits and veggies (or possibly honey, eggs, etc. depending on the type of share you are buying) during the harvest season.  The benefit to this approach is that it supplies farmers with the money that they need when they need it.  The risk to the buyer is that crops aren't guaranteed; however, while one crop might not come in, others almost definitely will because our farmers know what they are doing!  Regardless, the money goes to a local family to support them while they do a hugely important job: Providing good, healthy food to people!

One thing that could be good or bad depending on how you see things is that you don't control what produce comes into your home any given week.  I personally try to cook with the seasons anyway, and I like figuring out what to cook based on what's available, so to me it is an exciting challenge!

The farm that we picked is Sun Gold Farm which is in Forest Grove, OR (just two suburbs west of us... a hop skip away!).  One reason that we picked this farm is the growing practices that they use (sustainable, people-friendly, earth-friendly), and another is the fact that we can pick up the food box at the Farmer's Market that is just half a mile away from Matthew's work (about 1.2 miles from our apartment).  If I'm teaching Wednesday nights during the season, Matthew can pick it up right after work.  Otherwise, I can go up to pick it up and meet up with Matthew on his way home.  Plus, if we want any specific produce that doesn't come with the food box, we can pick it up while at the Farmers' Market.  Perfect!

If you are interested in supporting a local farm through a CSA program, you can visit the Local Harvest site to find one in your area!