One of my favorite things about summer is all of the fresh, local produce that makes its way into my kitchen. We participate in a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, at Brad’s Produce in Churchville.
We register in March, paying a little over $300 for an entire season’s worth of food. (We purchase the smaller “half share” option, but larger packages are available.)
Every Tuesday from mid-May to late October, the boys and I head to Brad’s farm to pick up our “share” of fruits and vegetables. Yesterday’s share included a half dozen ears of corn, a quart of potatoes, four peaches, three tomatoes, and a cantaloupe.
We grilled the corn and sliced the tomatoes for dinner and devoured the cantaloupe for dessert.
There’s nothing better than eating fruits and vegetables that were grown a few miles from home and picked that morning. As a farm family ourselves, it’s also important that we support local agriculture for the sake of preserving not only some beautiful land, but to perpetuate the entire American food growth industry and its participants.
These are the values I want to impart upon my boys, who may end up choosing to become farmers themselves, like their father and grandfather. That’s why our Tuesdays at Brad’s are so important. They love playing on the wooden train, but being able to point to the fields where their food was grown and shake hands with the man who made it happen is a rather powerful experience. Plus, Collin gets to eat a tomato like an apple. It’s messy, but so worth it!
When we say grace before we eat dinner, we ask God to bless Brad, his family, and his employees. We ask for just the right amount of rain to nourish his fields. And we are eternally grateful for the summer harvest that God places before us throughout this awesome season!
More information about Brad’s produce can be found on his website, though you should be sure to check out other local farms in your area.