Inch by inch, row by row

Just as Michelle Obama is planting a garden on the South Lawn of the White House, I am becoming a huge advocate of the CSA (community supported agriculture) movement. One of the highlights of my week is picking up the delivery of fresh produce on Wednesday afternoons.

I feel somewhat like an aging hippie as I start to volunteer my help for whatever needs to be done at Spiritual Food CSA. On Monday afternoon I will work with another volunteer to cut cheese for the 180 customers who will also pick up their “crates” on Wednesday. (Our CSA goes beyond fruits and vegetables to offer eggs, yogurt, cheese, oatmeal, dried peas and beans, and other surprises.) On Wednesday morning I will spend a few hours loading up the vans that will take the food for 180 people to their respective pick-up points. It’s quite an operation.

Our eating habits were always good, but we were spending a lot of money on organic produce at Whole Foods that wasn’t always as fresh as it could have been. And we were eating a rotation of a handful of vegetables. Belonging to a CSA has saved my figuring out what to buy and has added color and variety to our previously rather dull diet.

My dinner last night included leftover red cabbage with apples, pinto bean soup that definitely improves with age, and a green salad that tasted like it just came out of the garden. A free-range hard-boiled egg and bits of cheese in the salad eliminated the need for additional protein.

This week I will also contact two farmers who help supply our CSA for an interview that will be posted on the CSA website. The first is from Good Humus Produce, which supplies our dried fruit: apricots, peaches, nectarines. The second is from Kimberton CSA, supplier of biodynamic eggs. What would you ask a farmer who is dedicated to producing quality food?