“Shipping is a terrible thing to do to vegetables.  They probably get jet-lagged, just like people.”

– Elizabeth Berry

The benefits  and delights in joining a CSA are infinite.  Among them, of course, is avoiding veggie jet-lag.  Another is creating a city full of happy and healthy foodies.  As the spring season erupts, so do bustling local CSA stands across New York City.

For those of you out of the CSA loop, here’s how they work:

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture.  A CSA is a system in which a group of people from a designated area loan a local farm money, allowing its farmers to plant crops, hire workers, and pay for machinery.  The farm then repays the group throughout the harvest season in the form of food.   Interested parties put down a deposit in the beginning of the season and then get whatever pops out of the ground in a box weekly.  You help out local farms (with soul) while getting nourishing, colorful boxes of yummy.

The challenge and fun part then is being handed a surprise package and getting to experiment with foods you normally wouldn’t cook with and having to learn how to put them together with whatever else is in your fridge.  This means lots of experimenting (probably a failure or two) and lots of adventures in cuisine.  Just as the contents of the share vary from week-to-week, so will the content of this blog.  Welcome.