Community Supported Agriculture

From this day on we will no longer be buying our fruits and vegetables from the grocery store. Well- the majority of them anyway. Last weekend my mom came to visit and was going on and on about how great our produce was here- Really?!? Because I was not too impressed with what I was finding at Walmart and Ingles, but then again she was shopping at the produce stand on the side of the road. I guess we do have great produce, but the problem is...it is not convenient for me to ever stop. First, it is on the side of the road and I am usually in tow with at least two small kids. No grocery cart to secure them in and keep them from running in the road and TWO, when I could go by myself kid-free, it would be closed. THREE- I don't have time to run to Walmart and to the produce stand. I know it sounds silly, but where I am at right now in life, it is all about what saves me time.

We want to eat fresh, organic as possible and especially support our local farmers. I loath going into Walmart and buying basil and tomatoes when I know 1/4 a mile away someone is selling it fresh from their garden, picked that morning.

While we were at the Farmer's Market with my mom, I picked up a brochure on Community Supported Agriculture. Tommy had mentioned it before, but we never took the time to really investigate. CSA is basically a partnership between the farmer and consumer. You pay a fee to support the farmer that goes towards growing and harvesting the crops and in return, weekly May-October, you receive a part of the crop. So every Saturday, those that participate go to the farmer's market to pick up a big box of fresh fruit and vegetables. Some of vegetables and fruits available are: Basil, broccoli, cantaloupe, cilantro, sweet corn, read leaf lettuce, okra, bell peppers, red potatoes, strawberries, squash, heirloom tomatoes and lots more. We did the math and it averaged out to only about $12 a week. I am paying more than that now for much less quality produce.

We talked to a lot of friends who participate in the CSA program and heard nothing but positive feedback- they did say there were ALOT of greens- but plenty of other stuff too. In fact, the majority of people we spoke with actually said they typically give away a lot of their box because there is just too much food. Canning might be in my future.

Last night we pulled the trigger and joined. We will go this weekend and get our box- I am actually excited to see what we get. I guess I will be doing my weekend menu panning around the mystery delivery now. Very exciting! We feel good about doing this- for our family and for our community. If you want to read more about the Shelton Family Farm, where we are doing our Community Supported Agriculture, you can go to www.sheltonfamilyfarm.com.