I grew up often eating from a garden, whether it was our small family garden plot in the back yard, the larger gardens of dear friends or from the family farm.  And confession time; as a young child I would often raid the gardens of our neighbors, sometimes cleaning them out of their entire crop of peas.  Many times my mother was called out by the neighbors about my “thievery”.  Sorry Ma!  Those peas were just so good!  My ancestors were farmers and even those who went to “live in the city” had gardens – Victory Gardens.  The reasoning behind it primarily wasn’t based on healthy eating.  You simply grew what you ate to survive.  For my parents growing up, often times going to the grocery store was reserved for things like spices, baking powder, flour (but only if you couldn’t grind your own) and the occasional luxury item at Christmas time like an orange.  One of my fondest childhood memories was running out to our little plot in the back yard and digging up onions that my dad had planted or getting lost in the huge garden that my best friend’s father had planted.  Mr. Davis would say “go pick something for dinner, girls”  and we’d be off and running.

So how did I end up marrying a guy who had never stepped onto a farm in his life?  What the heck is a beet, he’d ask.  Having traveled the world growing up, he had that adventurous spirit.  So I decided to take advantage of that and make his next adventure food.  He was all in.  Throughout our 34 years of marriage, we have enjoyed trying new foods and always take advantage of our local farmer’s markets.  Several years ago, we felt like we had to step up our game.  Introducing CSA – Community Supported Agriculture.  It’s another way to eat what is grown by local farmers; but on a sort of imposed schedule kind of way.

Let me explain.  You sign up with a particular farmer or group of farmers who have a CSA program.  It’s like a magazine subscription.  Every week you get a share of what they are growing and what is in season at the time.  There are local pick up sites and some deliver to offices or right to your front door.  We absolutely love not knowing what we are going to get in our share from week to week.  And then the challenge is making sure it’s nearly gone before the next share arrives without throwing anything in the trash.

Some great things have come out of this for us.  We eat healthier.  And I was determined that my kids learned that lettuce didn’t come from a bag.  When early Spring arrives and you get that first CSA share, be prepared to eat like a rabbit.  You guessed it; lots of lettuce.  But that’s what’s in season!  Doesn’t this make sense?  Eating what is in season and what the Earth is ready to provide?  That’s what my family of farmers have done for generations.  And in some strange way, even though I’m not growing the food myself, I’m feeling that connection to those who have gone before me, my grandparents, great grandparents that ate what the Earth could provide.  Back to our bag of goodies…when the broccoli, tomatoes and green beans start arriving, they taste so wonderful!  Yes, they are fresh.  But a big part of that wonderful taste is that THEY ARE NOT LETTUCE.  Just when you get sick and tired of that yellow squash and simply can’t think of any other way to eat it, here comes that lettuce again.  Oh, how I’ve missed you lettuce!  Good bye yellow squash!  Lov’n me a big, fresh, delicious salad.  Thank you, Mother Earth!

Every so often, “our” farmer likes to throw us a curve ball.  What the heck are garlic shapes?  Sunflower sprouts?  Black radishes?  Sunchokes?  Thank goodness for Pinterest and the Google machine.  We learned that garlic scapes are the green curly tops that come out of the garlic bulb.  Chop them up in your salad, add them to a stir fry; they are delicious.  Sunflower sprouts are great on a sandwich or again dare I say the infamous salad. See a pattern here with the salad situation?  Ya gotta get creative people!  My husband loves radishes, so those black radishes were right up his ally.  One of the main reasons he loves radishes is that his dad loved them.  Radishes, in a small way, keeps him connected to his dad.  There’s another connection with the food we eat; that connection to our past.  I love it!  But back to our curve ball veggies; the sunchokes.  I went to the Google machine and discovered all the health benefits of these bumpy, weird looking things; low in calories, full of potassium and iron.  So what do I do?  I slice those puppies up thin like potato chips and fry them.  That’ll show ya!  No sunchoke is going throw me for a loop, I can tell you that!

So if you’re looking for a new kind of adventure and want to add more veggies to your diet; your local CSA farmer has your weekly produce share ready with your name on it.  Hippity Hop and Bon Appetite!

Help Us Be Nice, Amen!