Eat Local

I signed up for a CSA (Community Sponsored Agriculture) program through work, and we're loving it! Each week I have a payroll deduction for $20, and I pick up a bag of all local food through Good Nature Family Farms who partners with HenHouse. I just pick up my bag of food on my walk to my car after work. While I don't know that it's any big bargain (that's not what I was after), each week has been a fair amount of food for $20, and we love the variety and the fact that it's all grown locally (comes from farmers in KS, MO, and NE). And the surprise of what we're getting is fun. We get a "what's in the bag" list a few days before the weekly delivery to let us know what's coming. The weirdest things we've received are Tofu and Swiss Chard. We cooked and tried both items according the recipes provided. The Swiss Chard was bearable, but the tofu was AWFUL! It's safe to say I will never eat Tofu again. It came from somewhere in Lawrence - go figure. I've worked out a deal with a girl at work to trade her my Tofu for her hot dogs. She's from Russia and hates hot dogs, and this Kansas girl just can't handle that squishy tofu so it's a good compromise.

Here's a picture of last week's CSA goods.


In addition to our CSA, we've visited a local produce stand by our house where we got peaches and plums. They had a whole assortment of produce, but our CSA is keeping us pretty stocked. Matt's also growing tomatoes. His vines look great and there are plenty of green tomatoes--we're still waiting for the first ripe one! While these tomatoes are local, not sure if they would qualify as organic since Matt's been giving them a miracle boost every now and then.


And finally here's my herb garden. I've even started making my own spaghetti sauce with my fresh basil and oregano and frozen tomatoes from our crop last year. We also bought a quarter of a beef from a local farmer last fall. There have been many meals recently where I point out to Matt that it's an all local meal.

When I was growing up my Dad had a huge garden (corn, eggplant, tomatoes, okra, squash, zucchini, peppers, green onions, and radishes). I also remember going to pick strawberries from a local patch and visiting local produce stands. We're hoping to expand our garden next year to include more than just tomatoes. We will probably never reach the level of gardening that my Dad did, but this CSA is a great way to get locally grown produce!