Community Supported Agriculture – Buy Local. Eat Healthier. Enjoy Variety.

Having fresh, local, and mostly organic fruits and vegetables delivered to your house is absolutely wonderful and very helpful for a busy family. We signed up with a local CSA, which stands for Community Supported Agriculture, about one year ago and have been impressed with the high quality, freshness, and superior taste of the produce. Some of the many reasons to join a CSA include supporting local farms, knowledge of where food is grown, fresher and healthier produce, and it is simply convenient. Another reason is it helps you avoid extra supermarket trips and impulse buys.

How it works: Look up your local CSA at http://www.localharvest.org/csa/ Here you can find a variety of farms in your area to choose from. Many farms use organic and ecological farming techniques, which means your fruits and veggies are that much more healthy and vitamin packed!

We chose a CSA here in San Luis Obispo (see SLOVeg.com) where we could easily sign-up or change our delivery if on vacation. Our boxes have always been filled with bright, colorful, fresh fruits and vegetables. The quality, quantity and variety of the produce has been exceptional and we are very pleased! Options may include receiving a weekly or bi-weekly box, day of the week for delivery, small, medium, or large box, and/or delivery to home, work, or business. We receive an email on Mondays listing the varieties of fruits and vegetables we will receive that week. The email includes names of the local farms where the produce was grown and healthy recipes. When our box is delivered, my daughter opens it up and learns different fruits and vegetables and helps organize them for storage.

Our box this week includes: organic savoy cabbage, sugar snap peas, shanghai bok choy, spring onions, radishes, celery, “bambi or butter Leaf” lettuce, organic Italian basil, sweet rainier cherries, apricots, and yellow nectarines. Our local farms include: Canyon Ranch Farms, Smith Grove Farms, Rocking Chair Ranch, Le Fort’s Organic Crops, Bautista Farm, Bell Farms, Cal Poly Organic Farm, and Vasquez Farms.

Benefits: Eat very fresh produce that is in season, make meal plans for a healthy and varied diet, go to the grocery store less, save money, gas and time, avoid trips to the store with young kids, learn new ways to cook, support local farmers, and enjoy learning more about the amazing plants God has made for our enjoyment! Enjoy the fruits!

Genesis 1: 11-12 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth…And God saw that it was good.”