The Farm has Come In!

Most gardens are just beginning to push their way out of the ground but we're lucky enough to be eating more greens than Popeye right now!

How has this happened? Have I stumbled on some magnificent gardening version of the island on Lost that allows veggies to grow in variable plot lines? No, I paid a farmer to grow them for me.

Once again this year we've joined a local CSA and bought a share of a farm. Many CSAs give you a steady share of the yield all through the harvest but ours allows us to pick and choose what we want to 'buy' with our credit. I like this method because we have fewer dead veggies in the crisper at the end of the week but it does require that we stretch ourselves sometimes.

This week we went to the 17th Street Farmer's Market to pick up our veggies and Comfort announced to Farmer Charlie that she wanted rutabagas. Seriously. Now, I'm pretty sure she heard about rutabagas from watching 'Olivia' on Nick, Jr. and that she doesn't actually know what one is but she was ready to get one. Farmer Charlie said he didn't have any but he'd like one, too, and he talked to her about them while we picked out lovely heads of lettuce, bags of spinach, and a bunch of radishes. Then she points at the chives and declares that we should try them because they are pretty. And they are with their lovely purple flowers.

Finding a CSA isn't hard although at this time of the year many may not have shares left. Check Local Harvest for CSAs in your area. Also, you can also find farmer's markets listed as well. If you can't have veggies fresh from your own garden buying veggies grown locally is the next best thing and definitely a Cool Idea!