Love my CSA!

My favorite 3 letter acronym lately is CSA. It stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Around Ithaca many folks know what these are and bunches belong to one and enjoy the bounty. Basically, people pay to own a share of a farm and in return they are given fresh, local, organic produce every week in return. I'll post a pic of this week's share soon which included salad stuff, spring turnips, garlic scapes, strawberries, snap peas, fresh flowers, herbs and kale. Sounds pretty cool, eh? Support local farmers, get really awesome healthy food that challenges our pallet. Spend some time picking your own food, cutting flowers, talking to neighbors. It's the next best thing to owning your own farm...no wait, better because I didn't have to do all the hard work.

It gets cooler. Some folks are allowed to pay less and still have a "full share". Everyone who comes to get their share is asked to take what they need, no more than a full grocery bag. So, we all pay what we can and we get what we need. Wow... what a concept. I'm sure most people pay full price. They also take donations to help offset the people who pay less. Our family took not quite a full bag and we will eat ourselves silly and still have leftovers while I'm sure other families take more than we do and eat every bit.

This whole concept is extremely foreign to Americans. American media would call it "socialist" and paint it in a totally horrible light. I call it heaven. Why can't health care be this way too? And quality day care? That's how it works in many other countries. Why are we so afraid to be good to each other?

Watch Sicko. Write a letter or call your congressman/woman or representative. If you don't know who they are find out. I'm going to. (But probably not until July) :)