I am a member of a CSA – a farm that has a Community Supported Agriculture program. Members pay either an upfront or monthly fee and get a share of the produce of the farm weekly throughout the growing season. You don’t always know what you’ll be getting, but you can be sure of where it came from.

Every Tuesday is a day of anticipation because it’s my CSA pick up day.  Before joining the CSA last year, I’d never eaten kale, or chard, or fresh celery, or fresh beets, or white radishes, or purple beans that turn green when you cook them.  It’s been fun to learn and to try new recipes. I’ve discovered that bok choy ribs make great, totally guilt free snacks, and that chard ribs taste a little too earthy for my tastes.

Having easy access to fresh, delicious, healthy produce all summer is inspiring in so many ways. I spend entirely too much time looking at recipes, reading reviews and thinking about what to cook. Almost every week I fill a gallon sized zip lock bag with awesome salad so there is always something tasty in the fridge, ready to eat. Kebobs and foil packs of chopped veggies are on the grill every time we use it.

Food is a challenge for me. Well, the challenge of course is behaving sensibly when consuming food. I abhor the idea of “fake cheese” yet will eat those little packs of crackers that come with a little red plastic stick for spreading processed cheese all day. High fructose corn syrup is dangerous and nasty, but Coca-Cola is yummy. I completely understand how sugar ravages the human body and the consequences of being overweight and poor nutrition, but that understanding doesn’t lessen the extreme cravings for sweets that are so much harder to overcome than cravings for nicotine ever were.

Having a fridge full of CSA goods inspires me to eat better. It inspires me to learn more, to experiement more and to be creative in the kitchen. Knowing that a farmer is making a living and even employing a few people inspires me to work harder writing because writing is so very much easier than farming.  Going to the farm to pick up my box every week forces me to leave the house and the computer and that is usually inspiring all by itself.

If you enjoy experiementing in your kitchen and you don’t mind having a bit of  the unknown on your menu each week, I encourage you seek out a CSA. Coming up with the money may be a challenge, but it’s well worth it if you can swing it.

On Twitter, I follow @jambutter.  He’s a knowledgeable guy who writes an interesting blog called Every Kitchen Table where he talks about the ProFood movement and  how changing the way we eat can be beneficial for our health as a nation, and how our economy, local food and local entrepreneurship are (or should be) intricately interwoven.  Rob often asks on Twitter why people don’t eat at home more? What is it that stops them from cooking?

I’ve pondered the question quite a bit and, admittedly, can dissect some of my own habits to find the answers–for our household, anyway.  Some of the most common reasons given have to do with the fact that it is time consuming, ingredients are hard to come by, people just don’t know how to prepare their own food.

I do know how to cook and really quite enjoy it, so that is not the reason I ate pizza for dinner. Ingredients are not that hard to get for me, although in order to get the best fresh stuff takes some planning because I have to seek out farmers’ markets that aren’t always open and aren’t on my normal route to and from work.

There are plenty of meals that can be prepared quickly, like stir fry, but no matter what anyone says, the entire process of planning, shopping, chopping, spicing, and cooking does take up much more time than driving thru and consuming. Not to say that the time is not well spent – it is, but the fact is it still takes time.

One of the biggest reasons people have a hard time eating at home consistently is the topic of this blog: it is difficult to motivate yourself to change habits.  Add to that our society’s collective addiction to sugar and you have the answer to why people don’t eat at home more.

Most thoughtful people know the benefits of eating well, but changing eating habits is tough, for a host of reasons.  I was a member of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm last summer, and it was awesome.  The food was unbelievably fresh and delicious, but I still ate burgers, pizza and potato chips. In fact, I eat junk food almost everyday because when I get home from work, I’m hungry enough to eat a shoe, so I grab whatever is handy. Sometimes, I’ve been to the grocery store and so have almonds or string cheese or something nutritious. But just as often, it’s a handful of chips or even a Little Debbie.

Other people maybe have the same struggle at lunch or at 3:00 every afternoon.  No matter when we are tempted to eat garbage, most of us do at least part of the time. It’s easy. And bad. But no matter what anyone tries to tell you, changing the way you eat is harder than changing some other habits. It involves also changing your shopping habits, your morning and evening routines and sometimes even your social life.

I am working on building good eating habits, and have been for several years.  The habit of writing everyday is much easier to maintain than the habit of cooking everyday. Maybe because writing doesn’t involve dish washing?

Food plays a big part in my thoughts about a better world.  This year, I joined a CSA program.  Most people have probably heard of CSAs or Community Supported Agriculture programs.  They have different requirements, but when you join, you pay for a share of a farm at the beginning of the season, then receive a share of the produce throughout the growing season.

I joined at the “half share” level, and for the farm I joined the price is around $400 for the year.  In return, I get a grocery bag of vegetables each week from May until October, either 24 or 26 weeks.  The farmer and I struck a barter deal, so I am not exactly a regular customer.  Also, the farmer is my neighbor, so I can drive past his beautiful fields anytime.  This CSA is a big one–I think around 100 families are members.  Some CSAs only allow for 15 or 20 members.  It is also a certified organic farm, which is nice to know.

The most outstanding factor is the TASTE.  I have never had such wonderful vegetables, including the ones I’ve grown myself.  Maybe my farmer is using exceptional seed or something, I don’t know, but the result is unbelievable.  The greens were crispy and green and now that it is the height of harvest season, the tomatoes, celery and carrots have the most tomato-y, carrot-y and celery-y flavors imaginable.  I am eating  much more raw food than normal, just so I can get the full taste of the veggies with no distractions.

Since this blog is about people and businesses that inspire me to imagine a better world, I have to include CSAs because in a perfect world, all food would be this good.  If there is a CSA farm near you, check into it.  The programs vary, the prices vary, the number of weeks produce is delivered varies, the payment options vary.  With all those variables, there might be a chance you could work fresh, local food into your life.