Farmer's Market CSA

I meant to blog about this sooner, but you know how time flies.  It's so hard to believe that summer is up and fall is starting.

So the hubby and I signed up to be in the local CSA program for fall.  We decided to eat healthier and thought this was a great way to support local farmers.  What is CSA you might ask.  I'm glad you did!

A Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program consists of a community of individuals who pledge their support to the farmers and the Farm Market through a subscription to purchase seasonal produce.  Subscribers pay for the produce in advance, which provides the farmers with the ability to plan their crops with the knowledge that a portion of what they produce is already sold.  Cool right?

This also benefits the Farmer Market by providing it with known quantities of produce to procure and a steady flow of customers who may want to add to their produce with other grocery items from the Farmer Market.  Also, as a Farm Market CSA, the Farm Market works with many farmers across the region, providing a better variety of produce and cushioning the subscribers against drought conditions, plant diseases and pests that may affect produce supplies.

So each Friday I pick up fresh, seasonal local and regional produce as part of my CSA.  It says that each subscription is enough to generously feed two veggie lovers or a family of four with vegetable side dishes.  In addition, they'll give recipes and ideas of how to prepare the produce.  We'll see how well this works.

I really like the idea that they work with local and regional as well as small family farmers state wide.  They say that the farmers use as little fertilizer and other treatments due to the expense.  Which I really like.  Not the expense part but the fact they don't use as many chemicals.  They conduct farm visits to ensure the quality and treatment of the produce.

Some times they will go as far as North and South Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida to help provide variety, but thy will identify where everything is from.

And sometimes they will have organically grown items.  I'm really looking forward to this.  Here's looking forward to the next twelve weeks!