For me, there are sure signs of Spring–the beloved seed catalogs start arriving in the mail, friends start talking about what to plant in their gardens and when they can start, and it’s time to sign up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share, if your own veggie garden isn’t big enough or you want to support your local farmers, who need us now more than ever. Gardening and growing food is such a partner to cooking together.
This year, our first summer in Wisconsin, I can’t wait to experiment with the earth and sun here, and to learn from friends who are long-time midwest gardeners. I’m also joining a CSA, and will have fresh veggies and eggs delivered each week from a local farm. My next-door-neighbor and neighbor across the street are ordering from the same farm, and we’ve already talked about getting together to make “Stone Soup” from veggies that don’t make it into the week’s dinners. I’m sure we’ll have some creative cooking dates.
To find your local CSA, go to www.localharvest.org and type in your zip code. I also have another tip–ask your health insurer if they will reimburse you for all or part of your CSA veggie share. At least three insurers in Wisconsin (including ours, yea!) will reimburse us for up to $300 a year because they consider CSAs to be a step toward healthier living. Talk about huge savings! Happy (almost) Spring.
your article made me think of gardening and cooking not only like partners, but also like arts…Everyone of us can plant, but not everyone of us can make that seed grow or make it bloom. It has effects on the gardener psychologically. It manages stress and helps to unwind with reality. But Gardening also requires quality time, effort and knowledge as well (which luckily can be gained by learning; I downloaded great books by [url=http://rapid4me.com] rapidshare SE [/url] ) Gardening is doing it with passion. All the same applies to cooking!:)