Fresh

This year in an effort to break free of the bonds of chemically-treated produce and Wal-Mart, we joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in Sailsville, Ohio. We got in on the program two weeks late and had no real idea about what it would be like - all we knew was that our neighbors had new heaping bags of fresh vegetables every Saturday and they loved it.

We chose the Mott Family Farm based on our neighbor's recommendation. The owners were the sort of kind and welcoming you see on bad Lifetime movie - except they were very genuine. They warmly welcomed us into their embrace - we paid a modest fee for 17-weeks of the fressh veggies (we did a half share because we had no idea what we would receive) and agreed to make one run to the farm to pick up the vegetable crop for consumers based in our area. That was it.

Our first pick-up was surreal. "We get to just take this bag?" I asked the woman who hosts the drop off site. I couldn't believe these vegetables just magically appeared for us. I know it sounds stupid now, but in a world of grocery stores and credit card scans and plastic bags sure to outlive my great grandchildren's great grandchildren, the simplicity of it all was crazy to me.

In the car, we tore into the bag like children in an overloaded basket Easter morning. Raspberries, tomatoes, things we couldn't identify, they were all there waiting for us. We ate raspberries on the way home, giggling as if we'd done something wrong because they hadn't been washed yet. But it's organic we tried reminding ourselves. We were giddy.

It became my custom to go through our bag each Saturday after returning home and processing the veggies - taking stock and working to prepare dishes with them as soon as possible to ensure they wouldn't go to waste. The first bite of Arugula from The Mott Family Farm sent me into cheers for the peppery flavor - so much more vibrant than any store-bought variety I'd ever tasted. I started making cherry tomato salad with the seven or more varieties of heirloom cherry tomatoes we received, fresh basil, fresh onion...fresh fresh fresh!!!

Then, like all good things, the leaves started to change (hot peppers and squash were in abundance) and the supply dwindled until on week 17, we said goodbye to our CSA share for the season. I admit that with the other things happening right now - finalizing a successful fundraiser we put on in the community, getting the children adjusted to school, Swine Flu, training to walk 60-miles in three days - I hadn't much thought about out farm share. Then today the sun was shining brilliantly in the bright blue sky, a cool breeze blew across the area and we were out enjoying 71-degree temperatures when a week ago it was 30. And the urge for some cherry tomato salad hit me.

And I missed it.