CSA’s & Fun Family Nutrition: Are You Ready to Try It?

Since August of 2011 I have been a member of a Community Supported Agriculture venture based in the Skagit Valley. They grow and deliver certified organic produce and provide jobs and job training in sustainable agriculture, coffee roasting and baking in the Skagit Valley community. For the last three summers I even got to help out on the farm with friends over a weekend each year. Talk about knowing where your food comes from and how it is grown! I even knew every person involved in growing and harvesting it. Wonderful human connections which I really value. 

CSA’s generally provide recently harvested produce from local farmers who use sustainable growing methods. The produce is then literally delivered fresh from the fields in a reusable waxed cardboard box to one’s home or a central delivery spot for a group of participants, like a workplace or school. Many CSA’s are organized as non-profit organizations that provide social programs and training opportunities that benefit their communities in important ways. CSA’s foster human connections and community while providing healthful fresh food.

I first became aware of CSA’s when my grad student next door neighbors in Berkeley started receiving weekly deliveries of beautiful organic veggies. Then the Ballard cooperative preschool I worked for had group deliveries of veggies and milk from a for-profit delivery service. CSA’s have very widespread and efficiently organized since my first exposure making it very easy for families who would like to participate.

It just got WAY easier for Kidspace families. Growing Washington will be delivering fresh picked organic produce right to our door each week on Thursdays. One advantage to GW’s ordering system is the amount of choice one has. You choose how many items are in the box and can pick only the food you want among all that are available. It’s like being able to shop at the farmers market from the comfort of your screen.You can also leave the choosing to the CSA folks, and enjoy improvising with the variety.

My CSA in Skagit County did not offer choice of size of box or what produce would be delivered. I grew in my ability to use each item and to love the surprise factor I started cooking according to season and  used the online recipes the CSA chef developed for what was in the box that week. I learned so much about food and local varieties, and enjoyed how fresh everything was (always picked the day before delivery). Unfortunately, over the winter my CSA decided to move their farm site from rented property to land that they own. That meant suspension of veggie deliveries for me this summer as they establish a new permaculture.  I have really missed my veggie box of surprises this summer. I got in the habit of cooking with the seasonal offerings and the healthy meals. Now I’m so glad Kidspace will be a delivery site for Growing Washington CSA and I can resume my fresh food routines. I will be ordering a weekly mini box (perfect for just me), and I will get the farmer’s choice box because I love improvising with a box of beautiful produce I haven’t chosen. You may feel differently about the element of surprise and would want to choose each item and get a few more things. I hope you will join the Kidspace families who have decided to participate. There is so much more to being part of a CSA than just buying produce. It helps your family eat healthy, spurs creativity and new adventures in food, educates you and your family about seasonal food and local farming practices, and benefits our community and the region in social and ecological ways. It’s a win-win for all.  If you’d like to jump into the season’s bounty, refer to the email Fran sent out inviting families to join, and check out the Growing Washington website at http://growingwashington.org/. Hope you try it out and enjoy the adventures that arrive in your box on our front porch each week!