Tastes of Spring

I love receiving my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share every week. I look forward to the fresh cut spinach and tender lettuces. The coarse greens: kale, chard and other unusual leafy greens are tasty and nutritious. The variety of farm fresh eggs from blue to brown to tan and even beige brings back memories of having fresh eggs on my family’s farm from chickens grown on food scraps and field corn. Their rich yellow yolks tastes like no other eggs bought in the grocery. Potatoes dug in the fall, washed and stored all winter long, and now sent out to hungry souls during spring mud season are a special treat. Fresh garlic shoots and crisp green onions add spice to a bowl of salad. And best of all, the broccoli sprouts, a sweet flavor of sunshine.

Spring CSA shares received in high mountain towns beginning in mid-March, when we can only dream of planting snap peas in our own gardens, is glorious. Food that is grown in greenhouses or under the snow cover at lower elevations in the western Colorado countryside, is the best food to be had during this time of year. There is a certain amount of connectedness and strong relationship to this place that I experience when I create a beautiful spinach salad with the many ripe ingredients that items from the grocery just can’t substitute.

Knowing the farm and the farmers and gardeners who work tirelessly planning, tilling, planting, weeding, watering, and praying over the food builds valuable relationships. The hands that wash my potatoes are of friends and neighbors who are a valuable part of my community. The love that is shared as the farm hands divide the harvest and box the shares is felt as I receive my weekly box of beautiful vegetables.

Knowing the place where my food is grown creates a deep long lasting love and passion for this place I call home. Realizing the correlation between the recent weather patterns and the contents of my weekly share builds a valuable relationship with the earth and its natural cycles. Connecting with the farm and the farmers who grow the food I eat forms an intense love and care for this place I call home.

Deciding what to eat for dinner is a daily occurrence for us all. Opening the refrigerator, eyeing the contents, the green vegetables and eggs stare back at me. Choosing between multiple varieties of greens, pale blue and beautiful brown farm eggs, and fresh grown sprouts is easy. It’s another vegetable quiche, large salad with green onions to spice it up, spinach frittata complete with garden potatoes, or steamed greens that all manifest the taste of spring.

There are multiple CSA shares available in the Roaring Fork Valley all with their own unique character and variety of local farm harvests. If you move quick, there may still be shares available for purchase for the upcoming summer season. A list of local CSA Farms can be found at http://aspencore.org/Community_Office_for_Resource_Efficiency/Local_Agriculture.html