5 Reasons To Invest In Your Local CSA

Today is Tuesday and in our house Tuesday's are an important and fun day! Each Tuesday we get all ready and head out to pick up our local CSA. What is a CSA you ask? CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. This means that our family actually "owns" a part of a local farm and gets the produce from that farm each week.

Each week we get a box full of this (or variation of this).

Not to mention that we also can attend local harvest events. This is how we got our sweet corn that we recently froze.

Looks amazing right? Oh believe me, it is! So today, I wanted to share with you 5 reasons why you should invest in your local CSA.

1. It forces you to eat your veggies! I'm a bit ashamed to admit this, but if it weren't for the CSA each week, I would not be eating nearly as many vegetables. I love fruits, but will readily admit that it is a bit harder for me to eat veggies. This has really helped me as I paid for it, and I am not one to let my food go to waste. Another plus is that my girls have fallen in love all over again with vegetables. Seeing mom and dad eat them daily makes them want to eat them daily. Win win!

2. It forces you to try different veggies you otherwise would not have eaten. This one is for my husband. He is pretty picky. Yet again, he put his hard earned money toward it and he will not let it go to waste. Thus, we have both tried many vegetables that we normally would not have (kohlrabi, beets, radishes) and we have found that we actually like some (although my husband still hates beets). ;)

3. You are supporting a local farm instead of a nationwide grocer. Since my husband owns two businesses and we value the support of people doing their business locally, I know how important it is to do the same for others.

4. You are getting fresh organic produce and you know exactly what has been used on it! Pretty sure this one explains itself. Buying a share of a CSA guarantees that you will have fresh, organic (if you are buying from a farm that is organic like we are) produce. So often at a grocery store you don't know what kind of chemicals have been used on your produce, or if that broccoli has been sitting out for days. Buying a CSA provides you with the assurance that you can ask any questions to your local farmer about the chemicals (or lack thereof) used on the vegetables.

5. No room for a big garden-no problem! If you are like me and have limited space and time to do a big garden, consider a CSA well worth your investment! You will have a plentiful supply of fresh vegetables all spring and summer long (and even into fall) and if you take advantage of any harvest events your local farm has, you can freeze or can and have produce all winter long as well!

Overall, I have been incredibly impressed each week with our share and I will be very sad to see winter come this year as I am going to miss the variety each week. I'll definitely be looking forward to spring for more reasons than one come next year!


Do you invest in a local CSA? Or do you do your own garden?