By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer
Would signing up for a Community Supported Agriculture program change your life? Well, after picking up one of the bushel baskets shown here from Morning Song Farm at The Camp, one of their drop-off points, and then spending a week eating my way through it, I've got to believe I'd be healthier if I kept this up permanently. Maybe even a little thinner.
Here's what was in that basket: 1 bunch of red romaine, 1 bunch of red leaf lettuce, 1 bag of mesclun, 1 bag of arugula, 2 bunches of chard, 1 bunch of dandelion greens, 2 bunches of broccoli, 2 bunches of beets, 4 Hass avocados, 1 bag of macadamia nuts, and, below all those greens, so much citrus I didn't bother to count it, including blood oranges, limes, mandarins, pomello, and kumquats.
And here's what I did with it. Mesclun salad night one. A big salad with roasted beets and a little goat cheese night two. Small salads two more nights. Cooked greens with dinner several evenings -- chard one night; beet greens the next, dandelion greens--a first for me and a new addiction--the third. A blood orange and roast beet salad another night. Pomello sprinkled with red chili pepper, Vietnamese style, for an appetizer one evening. Ripe avocado instead of butter on toasted baguettes for breakfast. Avocado/walnut/sprout sandwiches for dinner one night. Mandarins and kumquats when I wanted a snack.
You get the idea. No problem getting my five recommended servings of fruits and vegetables per day under this program. Also acting a lot closer to the dictum Michael Pollan recommends in his book In Defense of Food: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
Does eating this way quickly become the norm? Or do you slide back into your old habits? I'd love to hear from some CSA supporters about your experience. I haven't signed up yet, but I am giving it serious thought.
To find a CSA near you, visit Local Harvest.
