by Jean Pfefferkorn

Eat your fresh vegetables, Mom would say. As vegetables offered in grocery stores are shipped from distant California or Florida, the dutiful child wonders where fresh veggies can be found.

Enter the CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture cooperative, where smart consumers can buy vegetables via subscription. As the growing season begins, each veggie lover buys a “share” to help a local farmer with costs such as seeds, fertilizer, and staff. Then, from late spring to late fall, the farmer delivers fresh veggies weekly to a central location, to be picked up by subscribers—or subscribers may go to the farm for pickup.

I have belonged to three different CSA’s. Although there is great variety amongst them, this is consistent: produce is very fresh, of high quality, and plentiful, with some to spare for the freezer. CSA’s might specialize in organic vegetables or add extra local food items such as farm eggs, cheese, meats, and locally-baked breads. Subscribers are able to buy shares customized to their families.

Besides the high quality of the produce, other benefits abound. Food dollars spent at a CSA circulate in Maryland, which helps our local merchants. And because these veggies have not trekked thousands of miles to your dinner table, the gasoline savings helps the environment. And for frugal consumers, the cost of a subscription is no more expensive than the cost of purchasing food at a farmers’ market.

A CSA also offers a community of fellow vegetable lovers, including shared recipes and an opportunity to link with a local farmer. Some CSA’s also donate leftover food to families in need or to local shelters.

For details, google “CSA Howard County Maryland,” which will take you to sites that can give you names of CSA’s and how they operate. Also keep your eye on upcoming newspapers, this month and next, when CSA’s are getting started.

Mom would be proud.

Jean has been working at Howard County Library System’s Central Branch for nearly nine years.

She walks in the Benjamin Banneker Park whenever she gets a chance.

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