One of my occasional departures from curating and commenting about storytelling material — and instead telling the story of my own life ….
The day crackled with anticipation yesterday. The hours passed slowly, and we felt like children on Christmas Eve.
Finally, it was time to pick up our box …
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I’d been influenced by the book Omnivore’s Dilemma and had realized the importance of knowing your food’s story — the story of where it comes from.
That epiphany inspired me (and my husband) to subscribe to a Community-Supported Agriculture organization (CSA). I knew about these organizations because my best friend has subscribed to one for about six years and frequently described the bounty of produce she received every summer Friday. I was thrilled to learn a CSA was available in the Kettle Falls area.
The USDA’s National Agricultural Library defines CSAs like this:
CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community’s farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production. Typically, members or “share-holders” of the farm or garden pledge in advance to cover the anticipated costs of the farm operation and farmer’s salary. In return, they receive shares in the farm’s bounty throughout the growing season, as well as satisfaction gained from reconnecting to the land and participating directly in food production.
Among many other advantages is the knowledge of exactly where your food has come from, the flavor and quality of just-harvested produce, the satisfaction of supporting local farmers, and relief that you are not supporting big-agra practices, including consumption of fossil fuels from shipping produce to you from distant locales.
I was thrilled to consume a dinner consisting mostly of foods I had just picked up from the farm — BLTs on whole-wheat bread and fresh broccoli.
Since I’m not a big fruit eater, I might have preferred a bit less fruit and a few more veggies.
But the excitement of wondering what’s in the box each week will sustain me through mid-October.