What do Meryl Streep, Vogue magazine and our little CSA have in common? Well, it’s a stretch, but in the January 2012 issue, Meryl is on the cover, Annie Leibovitz was the photographer, and in the opening paragraphs it says Meryl supports and is a shareholder of a local CSA.

It seems the term CSA has come a long way since we started ours in 2002. Nobody knew what CSA stood for then, except a few who know it from history as Confederate States of America.

Streep lives in New York City and in Connecticut, and was photographed in Upstate New York striding through a crop of organic broccoli sustainably farmed by a local farmer. I love the little half-smile on her face. (She told Vogue’s Fashion Director, Tonne Goodman, that she “can’t smile and think at the same time,” which is [a] totally charming and [b] hard to believe.) She has been proselytizing for safe, organic, and ecologically sustainable food for more than a decade now (she fell out with the late Julia Child about wanton overfertilization), and since she is a shareholder in the Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) organization, I’m guessing it’s a supportive smile she is bestowing on the broccoli field at Sol Flower Farm; kale, cabbages, winter squash, and leeks are also available in broccoli season.
Read the rest of the article by Vicki Woods here.

So I read the rest of the article and went online to find out more. Turns out in addition to her award-winning acting career (The Iron Lady) and her support of CSA, Meryl Streep has a new favorite cause. Check out this behind the scenes video of her work to push Congress to fund construction of the long-debated National Women’s History Museum.

Google makes it easier to search for recipes, and even filter by any combination of ingredients, time to prepare and calories. You can even search for recipes by holiday or events such as Cinco de Mayo, baby shower, etc.

What’s the difference between food labeled organic and food labeled natural? The term natural is very loosely defined by the FDA and can encompass a wide swath of products, whereas Certified-Organic is a strictly defined and enforced standard.

In addition to those listed on the chart, there are other important advantages of organic. For example, with conventional (non-organic) farming, local waterways get polluted with run-off containing pesticides, herbicides, petroleum based chemical fertilizers and animal waste. Pesticides/herbicides also deplete the health of the soil. So conventional farms add increasingly more fertilizer to make up for it. Organic farms do not use pesticides, herbicides nor artificial fertilizers and their methods nourish and enhance the health of the soil.

We call it organic, our grandparents ate the same way, but at that time (before industrial farming) it was called food.

Erin Barnett, director of Local Harvest wrote a fascinating article in the Local Harvest newsletter. It begins:

Three years ago this month I started taking a new approach to meal planning. It sounds like an exaggeration, but it really has changed my life. If you’re like me, you like to cook, but don’t enjoy deciding what’s for supper, especially under duress. There is nothing that drains the energy and ratchets up the stress quite like arriving home after work tired and hungry, with no idea what to make. Add a couple of tired and hungry kids to the mix, and it is easy to see why there is often a long line at the drive-through.

My new approach takes about 30 minutes a month, 45 if I get fancy. Around the first of the month – ideally before the new month begins – I sit down with a calendar and jot down a supper menu for every night of the month ahead. Usually I have some idea of which nights are likely to be a little hectic or unusual around the dinner hour, so I can plan simple meals for those nights. (“Tacos and leftover squash”) Similarly, I can plan to do a little extra cooking on the weekends if it is going to be a particularly busy week. (“Quiche and salad; bake a squash for Tuesday.”) It really is not that hard, but it has changed how we eat. That far ahead, mood and whim do not factor in – it is easy and neutral. If need or craving arise, I can always change the menu on any given day, but usually I am so glad to have it decided that I just make whatever is on the calendar.

The benefits here are many. Looking at our diet a whole month at a time helps me balance out the protein sources and the kinds of vegetables to make sure we are getting a good variety. It helps me anticipate and create a steady flow of leftovers so we always have something to take for our lunches. I have also found that this method helps eliminate food waste. There are just three people in our family, so it takes us a few meals to get through a roasted chicken or a head of cabbage. By looking ahead, I can shop less often and make a plan to use everything.

Read the rest of the article here.

Sign up now for your Certified-Organic veggie share for Spring/Summer season. Also available, fruit shares, flower shares and herb shares, plus veggie share members can order additional items a la carte, such as milk, eggs, cheese, bread, meats, etc. Click Join for more details.

From Jennifer:

Peel and chop your root vegetables like beet and turnip into cubes. Then chop up your kale or spinach. Saute in olive oil with garlic. Then simmer in broth just enough to cover with white wine until tender. Meanwhile, boil your penne. Then drain the pasta and add the veggies. Toss with parmesan cheese. Then sprinkle more cheese on top and maybe some paprika.

Erin made it tonight and it was a total success. Yum.

Thanks to the nearly 400 CSA members who gave us their feedback on the 2011 Spring/Summer season. Click a chart to enlarge it.

Give us your feedback. We want to hear it all, the good, the bad and the in-between. Now’s your chance to rate the veggies, the delivery, our communication, etc. Speak your mind on which veggies you want more of and which you never want to see again.

Click here to begin the 10 question survey.