the Harvest is Plenty

It seems these days that eating local, fresh, organic, whole foods is the "in" thing to do. And I'm glad. Reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle a while ago really opened my eyes to our nation's food problem. Eating local and in season can be tricky and expensive. Eating organic is definitely costly. The most affordable food is highly processed. This was evident in this year's Food, Inc. and this season's Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. All this is attributing to our health. We've become accustomed to sugary, fatty and processed food.

Although the problem seems really big, I do think there are ways we can make changes, even if they are small ones. One way to "tackle" this problem for us has been to join a CSA. Community Supported Agriculture is a way for us (consumers) to get local and seasonal food directly from the farmer. Pretty cool stuff. It can be costly, but I think it works out in the wash. Last year the CSA we signed up with struggled and by mid to late summer it was clear we wouldn't finish the summer. I figured that is the gamble with a CSA. You take a risk and are in it with the farmer. This past January New Town Farms were giving out 15 CSA. This CSA is highly coveted and in demand. I've been on the waiting list a couple years. It turns out that I got one!! Not sure how, but I must have been online at the right time. Sammy, the farmer, said hundreds of folks emailed in for those 15. I am so excited to be a part of this CSA. Yeah, it might be cool to eat local, but I love the fact that I'm supporting real people; a real farm, a real farmer and his family. I know where my veggies are coming from this summer. It may be a challenge, but we are up to it. This week we got our first harvest and it was abundant. Luckily I'm sharing it with a friend, which helps with the cost and all the food not to go to waste. I'm really excited that Charis will get to experience some yummy fresh and local vegetables as her first foods. Oh, and the cool thing about this is we get the food within hours of it being harvested. Here are a couple pics of the goods we got this week

turnips, bok choy, radishes, spinach,
greens, lettuces, and arugula

i didn't know radishes could be purple,
white & pink

A couple great sites I've been enjoying lately on eating local and/or whole foods are Charlotte Tailgate Market (soon to be Atherton Market), Happy Foody, Local Harvest, HEAB. Once there you can go down the rabbit trail of eating whole foods, local, in season, organic, or whatever you desire! Here are some farms we've supported by buying local, grass fed beef or pork: Proffitt Farms, Grateful Growers, Underwood Family Farm to name a few, but there are tons in our area.
It can be totally overwhelming, but we are taking small steps.

and a post isn't a post without a little happiness