Kids Dish

I’ve always liked the idea of eating organic foods but it wasn’t until I read The Omnivore’s Dilemma that I realized eating locally is even better for the environment (and the economy) than eating organic. To support local farmers and to save myself from the pathetic produce at my local supermarket I planted my first small vegetable garden (which I’ll write about later) and joined a CSA, which stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Early in the spring I sent a check to a local farm. In return, for the next 26 weeks I’ll be able to select 10 items from a list and a box of produce will be delivered to my neighborhood.

Today I put Sam in his wagon and my friend Jen (who’s splitting the share with us) and I walked down to the pickup point a few blocks from my house to pick up our box. Back on my front porch we split up the produce. The box contained a quart of strawberries, a bag of spinach, two small bunches of broccoli, green onions, a head of green lettuce, a head of red leaf lettuce, swiss chard, dandelion greens, asian stir-fry greens, a basil plant, and a bunch of radishes. It’s a bit heavy on the greens but considering how early it is in the season I’m impressed with the selection. I’ve never cooked with swiss chard or the stir-fry greens which may or may not be bok choy, and I don’t know what to do with the dandelion greens (I guess you just put them in salad?) but I’m looking forward to cooking something new.

The best part of the box was the strawberries. The strawberries are a perfect example of why local is superior to organic. I recently picked up a box of organic California strawberries from the market. They tasted fine I guess, but the huge, refrigerated, washed-out, organic strawberries didn’t hold a candle to the tiny, freshly picked strawberries that dripped all over my kitchen floor when Sam got his hands on them. How could they? Who knows how long ago they’d been picked and how long it took them to get from the farm across the country to my supermarket? The strawberries I ate today were picked yesterday at the earliest and they were grown by a farmer interested in growing food that’s good for the community, not just his wallet.

It’s too late now to get a CSA share, but there are plenty of ways to support your local farmers. In Pennsylvania, The Buy Local PA website lists farms, farmers markets, restaurants, grocers, caterers and bakers that use and sell fresh, local food. ( I was pleased to see Honey’s Sit ‘N Eat, a restaurant owned by my friends Ellen and Jeb on the list. ) If you don’t live in Pennsylvania and don’t know where to start, check out Local Harvest where you can search for farmer’s markets by zip code. The Eat Local Challenge, a group blog written by bloggers across the United States who are interested in eating food grown and produced in their area, list 10 Reasons to Eat Local Food.

Now what should I do with the swiss chard?

Mac, a Philadelphia blogger who was kind enough to let me use the photo of the strawberries from her own garden, eats locally and has the pictures to prove it.

eat local, CSA, community supported agriculture, farm share, organic