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!

Just because the weather is getting cooler, and perhaps a tad wetter, don't forget about the bounty of produce that can be found at your local farmer's markets. Of course, this will vary depending on what part of the country you live in but here in Virginia we're seeing a resurgence of the greens - beautiful lettuce, arugula, basil, and swiss chard - as well as root vegetables like beet, turnips, and radishes. Beans, peppers and onions can still be found and since these veggies that can be 'put away' in a variety of ways buy bunches of them and freeze or can them. Potatoes, sweet and white, will keep in a cool/ dry place for quiet a while so you can stock up on these items as well.

And then there are the fall fruits that are coming in with apples being our favorite! Crisp and delicious and most markets have a bounty this time of the year. Take advantage of the great deals to buy local produce and make applesauce or apple butter. I made a crockpot full of apple butter last year and we're still eating it! It was both easy and delicious!!

This is also the time of the year to think about how to extend the summertime table into the winter months. Although we don't have to think ahead like our fore-mothers due to the advent of refrigeration and a grocery store in every town we all know that 'putting away', as our grandmothers called it, is not only cheaper but it preserves the freshness of the summer months of our local produce.

Now, I don't know how to do my own canning. My best friend does and I think she said she's put away over 40 quarts of tomoto products and 20 quarts of pepper of some sort. Then she did pints. Yep, she had a bounteous garden this year but then she decided it was enough. Personally, I'm about freezing things. I dice up and freeze onions and peppers. I've even frozen whole tomotoes which I learned you could do in Animal, Vegetable, Mineral. I also carmelize onions and freeze them.
Don't forget that you can make and freeze pesto. Use a ice cube tray to get 1 oz. portions then when you have cubes pop them out into a zip top freezer bag.

Well, there you go. So many ideas to get you started and so many Cool Ideas!

I've talked about this before and I'll talk about it again, I'm sure. Here's why.

1. Buying locally gives us a face to put with our purchases. I know who makes the ice cream in my neighborhood and she's a wonderful woman. Not only does she make great and unique flavors but she's part of the neighborhood. 
2. Plus, She's not trucking in her product from across the country and wasting fuel and increasing her carbon footprint. She makes the ice cream right here. Sure, there's a Ben and Jerry's in my neighborhood, too and it's hard to pass up some days but it's not the same anymore.
3. A drive through the neighborhood also showed that an increasing number of stores are now sitting vacant. I'm not great at math but that can't be good for the city's tax revenue. If businesses aren't open they aren't paying taxes or collecting sales tax and someone is going to lose - either by losing services or by paying higher taxes. Buying locally helps keep these businesses open and keeps tax revenue local, too.
4. You know where they came from. This can be especially comforting when it comes to food products. Buying your fruits and vegetables from the Farmer's Market or through a CSA is one way to make sure that you are eating food that hasn't been waxed or coated to make it hardy for transport or that has been mishandled in some way. You still need to clean foods properly but a reputable grower that is listed in localharvest.org will have their growing information and will answer any questions you might have. This is Earth Day Month - Go Green and Stay There.
5. Be a role model for your children. Teach them that being part of your community is important. Show them that knowing the people in the neighborhood is fun. We walked up to the Crayon Store [which actually has nothing to do with crayons but happens to have a place for kids to draw while adults shop], stopped by Amy's shop on the way back, ducked into the Mirror Store [it has a fun house style mirror out front], and then went into the Homer Store [so called because the owner used to have a dog by this name]. This is the way Comfort navigates our neighborhood. She feels a connection to our neighborhood and to the people who live and work here. What more could we want.

"Fridays at the Farm" is a short documentary by writer/ director Richard Hoffman about his family's experience when they joined a community-supported farm. The documentary is part of the Green Series on the Sundance Channel. To take a look at this 24 minute film enter the password fridaysscreener. And if you're still looking around for a way to get involved with locally don't forget about Local Harvest.

You might think it's too early to start to think about your garden but the seed catalogs are already in my mailbox and that means - IT'S TIME!!! Woo-hoo!! Think about those juicy tomatoes and crisp cukes and - wait a minute, I have a confession. I really, really would like to be one of those people that have a garden. Two things stand in the way. First, we have about two square feet of backyard and that's on purpose. Secondly, I'm really bad with plants. I kill them. Truly. Right now I'm looking over at the plants that I've brought inside for the winter and they are in sorry shape. Poor things. 

So what does a plant-killing, non-gardener do for fresh summer veggies? You join a CSA. CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, is a farm in which you receive a share of the weekly harvest through the growing season. Generally, you pay for your share up front when the grower needs the money for seeds, maintenance, etc., and then over the course of the season you share the harvest with the other members.  Just like all aspects of farming there are risks - extreme weather could adversely impact the harvest, but our experience- even this past year - in which our state was in an official drought was with a plethora of produce and some weeks with a box that was so heavy it definitely needed two hands to carry.

What are some of the drawback to joining a CSA? Cost. In our area the range is $500-675 for the 20-30 week season. Also, shares are limited due to small farm sizes. That's why this post is being written in January! If you are interested, start looking now. Shares in popular CSAs may already be sold by this time of the year and wait lists will be starting to form. 

What is the bonus of joining a CSA? I will spend next to nothing on vegetables all through the summer. Seriously. We will work hard to eat from our share and let nothing go to waste. Unless, there is a very bad harvest all summer long we'll have fresh organic vegetables that are free to us from May to October.

Why is this a Cool Idea? Because local farming is always a good idea - as a way of life and as a way of providing good and nutritious food that doesn't travel all the way across the country to reach us. Besides, I like the idea that there are farms willing to do the work and not use pesticides to farm responsibly, thinking about what the land will need in the future and not just what we need now.

It's also a Cool Idea to keep a variety of veggies in the Food Chain and not allow producers to allow a handful of varieties of tomatoes or corn or beans to be cultivated. Varieties exist for a reason and so do those unusual veggies that are usually relegated to the back rack of your grocer's produce shelf. Sadly, kohlrabi has been known not to make it out of my crisper alive. I just can't fathom what it tastes like - it reminds me of the Sandman from Star Wars - but I can appreciate that it has a place in our food supply.

Is this a Cool Idea for you but the cost is out of reach? Split a share with another family. That's what we do. Not only does it keep the expense more manageable but when the bounty of midsummer production arrives and the box contains 3 lbs of potatoes, 5 lbs of tomatoes,  and I don't want to count how many cucumbers we got in one week - in addition to the handful of yellow squash, peppers, and other lovely veggies - we split it up and half of it went to someone else's home. It also works well if there are veggies you don't enjoy. Luckily our friends enjoy eggplant. They ate our eggplants. We ate their cucumbers. I think it was an even trade in the end - purple for green:)

How do you find a CSA in your area? Visit Local Harvest and click on CSA and type in your zip code. You can find all kinds of locally produced products that are available from this list. We have friends who buy their meet, eggs, and fruit locally as well as their summer veggies.  It depends on what's seasonal where you live, but give it a look. It may surprise you and it's definitely a Cool Idea.