EVER HEARD OF CSA?

No, not Confederate States of America!  It's Community Sustainable Agriculture and it's a way of putting our concern for the planet's future into action.  You make a contract with a farm or group of farms to provide you with a box of produce direct from them every so often.  This year, I decided to try this with our local asparagus farm because we love fresh asparagus spears and have been a little dissatisfied with the super market product.  So we paid about $300 for 10 weeks of boxes, plus a few pick-your-own events right in the fields.  We've now received our first five weeks of boxes, which contained superb asparagus, plus products from three associated farms: salad greens, zucchini squash (courgettes), sweet potatoes, berries, and LOTS of eggs, as well as some honey and blackberry jam.  There were so many eggs that I had to dig into my old quiche recipes and start freezing some of those, besides learning to pickle boiled eggs.  I realize that not everyone has a farm available to do this (here we have a choice of two) or the time to cook a lot of fresh products.  Yet I am very happy we did, because we are helping to preserve local farms that grow something besides corn, wheat and soybeans for Big Ag.  These family farms are an American tradition and a great way to get fresher, tastier, and less chemically-treated items for the diet.  All over the world, there is a need to encourage this sort of sustainable agriculture in order to restore the balance of nature and climate and to make a better world for coming generations.  I think you all should consider ways to consume local products raised by dependable local farms, both for your own personal benefit and that of the Earth.  (And yes, I did think of our own characters the Religious Dissenters on Domremy as I wrote this piece.)