Ever since I first heard of a CSA [Community Supported Agriculture] program, I have been wanting to purchase a share. But, because my financial priority was always to buy the cheapest “healthy” food possible, I never felt that I could afford to pay share prices. The vegetables at the grocery store were healthy enough and fit in my budget.

[I haven’t actually done the research to determine whether store vegetables are cheaper – I just always assumed that they were.]

But, now that we’ve adjusted our financial priorities to reflect our true values regarding food [sustainability, healthfulness, and quality over…everything else], not only is a CSA suddenly affordable – it is literally the very best option BY A MILE and one that we will likely choose for the rest of our lives [assuming we always have a CSA available in our community].

Here are some reasons why I love it – and why you should give it a try:

Sustainability: Owning a CSA share is extremely sustainable. I picked up my share this week with my own canvas bags. There was literally no paper exchanged, no plastic bags or film around the food, no twisty ties, no produce stickers [hallelujah, cuz those little buggers are so unnecessary and wasteful].

Healthfulness: A CSA share provides the healthiest produce for my family. Each week, I am picking up food that is local and in season and just harvested the day before. I know exactly where it was grown, how it was grown, even the people who are growing it.

Variety: When I go to the grocery store where literally every vegetable is available to me all year long, I can easily just choose my favorites and eat the same vegetables my whole life [not to mention that I don’t even consider where this cucumber must have come from or how it has been preserved so well after being shipped half way across the country or how long ago it was picked OR how does it look so perfect anyway???? …but I digress]. With a CSA, I don’t even get a choice. Whatever is ready to be harvested that week – that’s what we’ll be eating. It makes so much sense. I can’t wait to experiment with a wide variety of foods – some that I have never even heard of before – and hopefully discover some new favorites!

Today was the first pickup of our 20 week share and I was so excited that I almost woke the baby up early from her morning nap so we could get going.

At the farm, the kids had fun petting and feeding the goats and chasing the chickens.

Oh, how we would LOVE farm life.

We picked up our food and thanked our farmers.

This just feels right.

Ever since Brett and I started rethinking how we wanted to live our lives, I have been wanting a simpler existence and more intentional, cooperative relationships with the people in my community. A CSA share feels like the biggest step we have made in that direction so far. And it feels good.

Now, I have to go figure out how to prepare kohlrabi for dinner…

Karis