Try This at Home: Get Yer Veggies Delivered

We all know we should be eating local, organic produce. And we know why: it’s healthier, it supports the local community, it doesn’t get shipped around the world on oil-spilling ships…

But buying local is inconvenient. In order to get what your neighbors are selling, you have to go to the farmer’s market (or—gasp—to the farm itself!) We Americans are creatures of comfort, we work dawn to dusk, and most of us don’t really “do” farmer’s markets. We’d rather go to a big store that has everything we need, so we can spend as little time buying food as possible.

So, most people still buy fruit from South America via Whole Foods. Environmentally egregious? Perhaps, but it’s easy.

Hana Newcomb sorts produce for CSA members at Potomac Vegetable Farms in Virginia

That’s why local farmers came up with the CSA.

It stands for “Community Supported Agriculture”. The concept is simple: you pay a weekly/monthly fee, and get a box of fresh, local food delivered to your door.

Farmers refer to this as buying a “share” of their harvest. The harvest is divided evenly between everyone who chips in for the CSA subscription. If enough people participate, the farm does well and there’s plenty of food to go around. This helps keeps farms afloat, and it gets consumers more involved with their food and their community.

This one’s a no-brainer, kids. CSAs are (usually) affordable; they support local growers; they help the environment while improving your health—and you don’t have to get off the couch (except, okay, to answer the frickin’ door).

The time to act is now! CSA subscriptions are usually sold at the beginning of each year, with priority going to existing members. New subscriptions for the best CSAs can be scarce, and get bought up quickly.

Now, don’t get me wrong: we all ought to be waking up bright and early Sunday mornings, grabbing our reusable cloth bags, and walking down to the neighborhood open-air market to shop. But for most of us, that’s neither possible nor golly bloody likely. So cut yourself a break, sign up for that CSA box, and enjoy a year’s worth of real, healthy, good food with no guilt attached.

You can thank me after the sweet corn and tomatoes start rolling in.